What is the Black Dahlia case, who was Elizabeth Short and what do we know about the grisly murder?
A grim murder back in 1947 is one of the most famous unsolved cases in the world
A GRIM murder back in 1947 is one of the most famous unsolved cases in the world.
The case has been the subject of countless books, intriguing confessions and even a Hollywood film starring Scarlett Johansson.
What is the Black Dahlia Case?
The Black Dahlia case is an unsolved murder dating back to 1947.
On the morning of January 15, 1947, a lady out for a walk in a suburb of Los Angeles with her young daughter spotted what looked like a mannequin cut into two halves on a patch of undeveloped ground just a few feet from the pavement.
It turned out not to be a mannequin but the naked body of Elizabeth Short who had been murdered and her corpse butchered in a gruesome manner.
Despite huge publicity and an extensive investigation, the murderer was never found and the case still remains open.
Who was Elizabeth Short?
Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old aspiring actress born in Boston.
She was living in Los Angeles and working as a waitress while trying to get her big break into Hollywood.
She led an active social life which involved dating lots of different men, and the sensationalist tabloids in Los Angeles at the time played on this and wrongly described that she had been wearing tight clothes during her last sighting, implying she was a prostitute.
She was dubbed 'Black Dahlia' by the newspapers after her murder in reference to a dark noir movie named Blue Dahlia released a year before.
What do we know about the murder?
The last time Short was seen alive was on January 9, 1947, at the Biltmore Hotel - six days before her body was discovered.
Her corpse had been severely mutilated. She had been cut in half very neatly at the waist and drained of blood.
Her intestines had been removed and tucked neatly under her head and a cement bag of watery blood was found nearby. Her mouth was cut from ear to ear and her body had been washed before being dumped on the empty wasteland.
The only clue was a single heel print on the ground amid tyre tracks.
The killer mysteriously sent various letters and clues to the local newspaper including a package purported to contain the contents of her handbag.
There were numerous false reports during the murder enquiry and even several false confessions. Her shoe and handbag were later found but not much else to go on.
The sole witness reported seeing a black sedan parked in the area in the early hours of the morning and little else.
Are there any suspects?
One of the original detectives, Harry Hansen, said that he thought the murderer was a "medical man", because of the precision in the way the body was mutilated.
There have been many claims about the identity of the murderer with one woman even claiming she was going to use her psychic abilities to solve the crime, and another coming forward to say that regression therapy had recovered memories of her father forcing her to watch him torture and kill Short.
Over the years there have been 25 viable suspects, including Walter Bayley - a surgeon who lived in a house one block south of the vacant lot Short's body was found in.
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Another man, an Army corporal, claimed to have been out drinking with Short a few days before her body was discovered. He said he had blacked out and come round in a cab in New York City - however, he was later found to have been on his military base on the day she died.
As recently as 2013, police were still following up leads on the case.
Steve Hodel, a former homicide detective, came forward claiming his father George, who was a physician, was responsible for the murder.
A police dog specially trained in sniffing out human remains searched George Hodel's former home and apparently became excited by something it discovered.
Soil samples were submitted for lab testing but nothing came of the lead.