April 6, 2019
Los Angeles, California
I have just completed listening to the final episode (No. 8 “You Only Have One Family”) of the podcast, “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia.
My connection to this story began exactly eight months ago, to the day, by way of an email from an individual I had never heard of, he identified himself as, Zak Levitt, a documentarian.
Here is that original email:
August 6, 2018
Hello Steve!
My name is Zak Levitt, and I’m a documentary filmmaker. You may have heard from family members that I am endeavoring to tell the TRUE STORY of your complicated family, and of course, The Black Dahlia. However, I want to make sure that what I am setting out to do was properly represented to you. This is going to be all factual, nothing fictional, and your experiences and investigation are crucial to the story. The fictional series, “I Am The Night” on TNT has no bearing on my story. You can look at it like the two OJ series that came out around the same time period. One was a fictionalized account for FX, and the other was the true documentary series for ESPN.
I would really love the opportunity to speak to you over the phone to discuss.
Thank you very much,
Zak
I advised Mr. Levitt that I was currently working with others on putting together my own ten-part documentary as a miniseries for television with the intent to “tell the true story.”
My initial response was a “thank you, but I’m going to pass on any involvement in the podcast.”
Aug 9:
Zak persisted and followed up with several lengthy phone calls that included …”my main interest lies in the “why” you wrote BDA. This story is going to be a more sprawling look at the family, and how events can have a ripple effect through the generations, rather than only focusing on the Black Dahlia.”
Aug 11:
…OK. I’m speaking to so many members of your family. You’ve made so many appearances to speak over the years. It would be strange not to have you as even a small part of this story. I’m hoping we can figure something out. Looking forward to discussing further. Zak.
Aug 20:
…Following up again. Steve, I’m hoping at the very least that I can interview you, one on one, either in person or over the phone, about your findings/investigation detailed in your books. We can stick to what you’ve already written or spoken about. I want to make sure that the facts are represented correctly.
Aug 23:
I responded back to Zak by email:
…”Give me a call at my home number and we can discuss further. I’m not really clear on what your project is and we can take it from there depending. Best, Steve”
Aug 23:
Zak and I had an approximate ninety-minute conversation and after hearing how well backgrounded and prepared and knowledgeable he was,–I was hooked.
I agreed to do the family interviews and provide him with any and all material he required to in his words “to make sure the facts are represented correctly.”
The rest is, as they say, HISTORY.
I’m looking at my Gmail In-Box “Sent and Received” with Zak Levitt and incredibly it shows an exchange total of some “587 Emails” over the past eight months. (Quick math- Figure half his/half mine so that’s 294 emails each over 240 days= 1.2 emails per day. (That’s a far distance from, “I’ll pass.”)
To be clear, my “involvement” related to, in Zak’s words, “making sure the facts were represented correctly.” This would solely relate to my (Steve Hodel’s) personal knowledge of our family history, and my Black Dahlia investigation. I had no contact with other family members, so each interview was coming directly from that individual Hodel family member and was his or her subjective/objective knowledge as they experienced it, without influence from others.
Zak as Executive Producer, documentarian, writer, and editor then was tasked with the Herculean job of trying to take all of the hours of individual interviews (from my count ten Hodel family members along with another half dozen or more outside “experts”, and archival audio, and trying to piece them all together in a cohesive eight-hour podcast.
To my mind, and apparently based on the massive number of positive “reviews and comments” (over six-thousand on iTunes alone) along with the National No. 2 ranking for the Root of Evil Podcast, Zak’s production received extremely high acclaim and resulted in a massive amount of listener “downloads.” My congratulations to Zak and to all of the hard work he put into making the production as a huge success.
As many readers know, Zak’s production was hosted by my niece Fauna’s two children, (my grand nieces) Rasha and Yvette along with major cooperation and participation from their aunt/my niece, Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II). Also, interviewed throughout the eight episodes were my three nephews, Peace, Love and Joy Hodel, as well as my brother, Kelvin “Kelly” Hodel. Each one of them providing their unique and intensely personal insights into a major dysfunctional “pattern of abuse.”
As presented in its entirely the “True Story of the Hodel Family” as told by individual family members is almost beyond comprehension and the dysfunctionality is horrific and heartbreaking.
For myself, as the second eldest living Hodel family member, listening to my nieces and nephews “tell their individual experiences being raised by their mother,” Tamar, my half-sister was beyond heartbreaking.
I had no idea, no comprehension of just how much each one of them, Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II), Peace, Love, and Joy had individually suffered at the hands of their mother, Tamar.
My brothers and I had experienced child neglect and had been regularly subjected to our mother’s alcoholism and on at least three separate occasions as young children were “taken into protective custody by law enforcement” and placed in Juvenile Hall. But, that abuse was different. It was our mother harming herself and consequently we three boys needing to be protected by the State and be provided food and lodging.
That was far different from the kind of harm that was forced upon Tamar’s four children. Their abuse, their harm was DIRECT. It was ongoing, active and immediate.
My niece and nephews suffered far more than I could have imagined and to hear it related by each one of them, tore at my heart. I had never cried for them before because I never knew.
Listening to them tell their individual stories of child neglect, sexual abuse and being raised in a home without experiencing any real love was painful.
When I heard it from their mouths on the podcast for the very first time it was visceral, it hurt, and it hurts me now.
All four children had it BAD. Fauna II the worst.
I knew from my later research into my half-sister’s life that Tamar was a lousy mother, had elevated manipulation to an “art form” and that all of her children had suffered. But, until hearing it out of their own mouths, I just didn’t know how bad it had really been for them.
The Cycle of Abuse was passed on from father to daughter and Tamar passed it on to all four of her children. Her first child Fauna, adopted at birth, and raised by a Black family in Sparks, Nevada, who renamed her “White Patty” was as correctly observed by her daughters, “Saved by the Ghetto.”
Of course, Fauna, and her two daughters, Yvette and Rasha had their own heartbreaks and difficulties spawned as a result of Tamar’s lies that “Fauna’s father was Black.”
But, in a very real sense, that’s another story as told in Fauna’s own biography, “One Day She’ll Darken” and as later presented in the yet unreleased 1991 film, “Pretty Hattie’s Baby.”
The “Good News” as revealed in the Root of Evil podcast is that I believe the cycle of abuse IS NOW BROKEN.
Speaking for Tamar’s children, for Peace, for Joy, for Love, and for Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II) it is my confident belief that all four are DOING NO HARM.
In adulthood, they, each in their own way have become strong and independent. They love their children and each has become a positive, caring human being.
I say, BRAVO to each one of you. Born to the DARKSIDE each one of you has independently walked through the fires and into the LIGHT. A huge hug and kiss to each of you.
And to Yvette and Rasha, who I know even less than my nieces and nephews, I say the same. Both of you are clearly survivors. You too have been tested and survived.
Thank you for hosting the Hodel Story. Both of you were amazing and your contributions cannot be underestimated.
Together, the two of you, with the untimely death of your mother in 2017, “carried on for your mother in a time of great grief and sadness.”
Still, you were able to bring Zak’s words to the public and give them Life and Feeling and Love.
Hugs and kisses to you and your loved ones from a great-uncle who is most proud of your contributions to the Hodel Story.
Finally, one very important question needs to be addressed and answered as relates to both the TNT miniseries “I Am The Night” and its companion podcast, “Root of Evil.”
Was Dr. George Hill Hodel the father of Fauna Hodel?
We are now at the end of the podcast and the question remains?
This comes as a surprise. Why? Because, to my knowledge, that very question was asked and answered during the research and investigation conducted by Executive Producer, Zak Levitt.
As I understand it, both Tamar’s and Fauna’s children, my nieces and nephews were all present in one room at the conclusion of Episode Eight.
They were gathered together and asked the following question–Do you believe George Hodel was the father of Fauna Hodel?”
Some answered, “yes” others “no.”
After having been given Fauna Hodel’s DNA profile, Zak Levitt presented Rasha and Yvette and their aunt and uncles the opportunity to find out the answer together. The results proved to a scientific certainty that Fauna Hodel’s parents were not related, therefore Dr. George Hill Hodel was not the parent of Fauna.” He was NOT HER FATHER.
This information was originally intended to be included and revealed to the public in the final Episode Eight of Root of Evil, but was removed or omitted apparently at the request of TNT?
2018 DNA Test Eliminates George Hodel as Parent of Fauna Hodel
The post Anatomy of a Podcast: Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia- DNA Test Answers Question of Fauna Hodel’s Paternity appeared first on Steve Hodel.