“Inference” Poem Written and Published By 18-Year-Old George Hodel Describes Himself as “Conceived in Sin..Somber Skys Darkened Dismally, and I Was Born”

February 18, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Below poem “Inference” was written by eighteen-year-old George Hodel in 1925 and describes how he was “born in sin”..on a dark night as the sky darkened dismally.” Young George published his poem under the pseudonym, “Vernon Morel.”  The poem is excerpted from my audiobook, “The Early Years- Part I (1920s) and is read by Malcolm Hillgartner. 

George Hodel aka “Vernon Morel”

George Hodel’s Review of Ben Hecht’s novel, “The Kingdom of Evil”

In the weeks following the Black Dahlia murder on January 15, 1947, my mother, Dorothy Huston Hodel was having an ongoing affair with well-known screenwriter, Rowland Brown. Rowland had worked with and was good friends with fellow Hollywood screenwriters, Ben Hecht and Steve Fisher.  Brown would have very likely been “the source” for both Hecht and Fisher knowing that George Hodel was the actual killer.

Screenwriter Ben Hecht

A close friend of Steve Fisher and Rowland Brown, screenwriter, Ben Hecht (his 1925 novel “Kingdom of Evil” reviewed by George Hodel) reveals he knows the killer’s name.

Los Angeles Herald-Express
February 1, 1947

“I know the name of the killer and the psychology of his deed. There is only one form of hatred that can equal in violence the symbolizing rage of the lunatic–and what that hatred is I will leave unsaid.”

Screenwriter Steve Fisher

A close friend of Ben Hecht and Rowland Brown, screenwriter, Steve Fisher reveals he knows the killer’s name and believes police also know the identity of the man who slew Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.

Herald Express, February 3, 1947
“Noted Film Scenarist Predicts ‘Dahlia Killer Will Soon Be in Toils”

“By following the case in the Evening Herald I think I know who the killer is, and think the police do also, and in a very short time will have his name. When the killer’s name is published I think all of his friends will be very surprised and terrified. I think he is still in Los Angeles. When arrested his attorneys will plead insanity, but the killer will be his own worst enemy. He will not want people to think he is crazy. He is an egomaniac.
I believe that the killer believed that the Dahlia had wronged him, and because of his punctured ego, she had to be exposed. People had to know it. Vengeance had to complete itself. That is why he tortured her and chopped her up in ways so gruesome that many of the revolting details have not been revealed, even with all that has been printed about the Dahia.
… I believe the police right now have a definite “line” on the real killer…Look for a thriller finish to this case.”

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