Vera and Dorothy French
Elizabeth Short's last known address before she was driven back to Los Angeles on January 9, 1947, and into the arms of her killer, was in San Diego at the home of Elvera (Vera) French, whose daughter, Dorothy, had befriended Elizabeth after she met her at a local movie theater. When she learned that Elizabeth had no money or a place to stay, Dorothy invited her to stay temporarily with her and her mother, because she felt sorry for her. Reporters learned about Vera and Dorothy from the victim's mother, Phoebe Short, and quickly drove the three hours south from L.A. to interview them.
Vera French described Elizabeth as "a shy and somewhat mysterious" person "my daughter, Dorothy, brought home one night as a friendly act because she was down and out." Elizabeth told the Frenches that she "had been married to a major in the Army who had been killed in action," adding that she had "borne him a child, but the child had died."
Elizabeth also mentioned to the Frenches "her friendship with a Hollywood celebrity, who helped her out," but never revealed a name. Mrs. French told reporters, and also later the LAPD, that during the month Elizabeth had stayed at her home in December 1946 she had "dated a different man each night after December 21 through the New Year." During her stay, both Frenches noted, "Elizabeth colored her black hair with henna-blond streaks."
Mrs. French also recalled that "Elizabeth had received a one-hundred-dollar money order from a friend, a Lieutenant Fickling from North Carolina," which Fickling mailed to her at the French residence in December of 1946. Mrs. French also gave detectives a black hat that Elizabeth had left behind at the house, which, she had told Vera, she'd received because "she had modeled for a Los Angeles milliner and he gave her the hat as payment."
The last time Vera French saw Elizabeth was on January 8, 1947, when she left her home in the company of a man named "Red," who, Elizabeth had told her, was an "airline employee." Elizabeth had received a telegram from Red on January 7, the day before he arrived to pick her up. She packed her two suitcases and they left together in his car. The next time they heard about Elizabeth was over a week later when she was identified as the mutilated murder victim who'd made headlines in all the California papers.
Both French women recalled having met Red, or "Bob," as he sometimes referred to himself, at their house in December, shortly after Dorothy had brought Elizabeth home. They described him as a handsome, well-dressed man about twenty-five years old, who had taken Elizabeth out on a date in December after she had introduced him when he came to pick her up at the house. He seemed well-spoken and had been kind enough to drive Elizabeth back to Los Angeles on January 8, 1947.
During her stay, Elizabeth "frequently spoke of an ex-boyfriend from whom she was hiding out of fear," but gave no reason why she was so afraid.
After police identified "Red" as Robert Manley, whose identity had been corroborated by the Frenches, they were interviewed again by LAPD detectives at University Division police station, after which Lieutenant Jess Haskins told reporters that the women verified what Manley had told the police. Both he and the Frenches repeatedly said that Elizabeth "was living in fear of a jealous boyfriend." Mrs. French described to the police an "alarming" incident that had taken place the night before Elizabeth's departure. It had been witnessed by Mrs. French's neighbor, who remains to this day unidentified.
The neighbor told Mrs. French that at a very late hour on the night of January 7, 1946, she observed "three individuals, two men and a woman, drive up, park a car, then walk to the front door of the French residence and knock." Possibly because it was so late, the neighbor kept watching. "The three waited for a few minutes, then all three of them ran to the parked car and drove off." The following morning, after her neighbor told her what she had seen, Mrs. French asked Elizabeth what she thought. Elizabeth said she too had seen the nighttime visitors: she had peeped through the window when the three had come to the door, but she had made no move to answer the door or acknowledge her presence.
Mrs. French described Elizabeth's alarm over the incident to detectives, telling Lieutenant Haskins that "Elizabeth was constantly in fear of someone, and was very frightened when anyone came to the door." Mrs. French tried to find out what or who Elizabeth was afraid of, but was unable to, simply saying, "Elizabeth was very evasive and would not talk to me about the people, so finally I just gave up asking."
Glen Chanslor
Even though Elizabeth Short had lived at Vera French's house in San Diego from December 12, 1946, to January 8, 1947, she had, according to the statements of other witnesses, gone back to L.A. for a few nights around Christmas. One witness was Glen Chanslor, who identified the woman he drove to a hotel in downtown Los Angeles on December 29 as Elizabeth Short. Chanslor, a taxi-stand manager with an office at 115 North Garfield Avenue in East Los Angeles, described an incident that occurred on December 29 at approximately 7:30 p.m., when Elizabeth Short came running up to his taxi stand seeking help from a man who had just assaulted her.
The woman, whom Chanslor positively identified as Elizabeth, ran to his stand "wild eyed and hysterical, bleeding from her knees." He said her "clothing was torn and her shoes were missing." He remembered her saying that she had just gotten a ride from some strangers who dropped her off at his cab stand. She said that "a well-dressed man she knew and worked with had offered to take her to Long Beach so she could cash her weekly paycheck." But instead "the man drove her to a lonely road south of Garvey Boulevard, near Garfield Avenue, parked his car, and tried to attack her."
Chanslor calmed Elizabeth down, then drove her to a hotel where she was staying in downtown Los Angeles, at 512 South Wall Street. He waited at the hotel while she went to her room and then she returned "all dolled up, but didn't have the cab fare." Chanslor figured he "wouldn't get the money from her, and just wrote it off." Chanslor was positive that the individual was Elizabeth Short, who told him "she was a waitress."
Chanslor said he could not remember whether "she was cut or bruised or scratched elsewhere on her body," as he just saw her bleeding from her knees.
Robert "Red" Manley
One of the most important witnesses police were able to identify and question was Robert Manley, who had met Elizabeth in San Diego and spent an evening with her in a hotel, had driven her back to Los Angeles the day she disappeared, and, police thought at first, might have been the last person to see her alive. The twenty-five-year-old salesman from Huntington Park, California, initially became the LAPD's prime suspect, but after days of intense questioning and repeated polygraph examinations administered by LAPD criminalist Ray Pinker, he was cleared of any involvement in the case.
Police at the Hollenbeck Station allowed Herald Express chief crime reporter and veteran newswoman Agness Underwood a chance to soften up Manley in an initial interview in the hope he might open up to a woman. Initiating her conversation with a smile, a cigarette, and a warm handshake, Underwood got the full story, complete with photograph, within the hour, just in time for the evening edition, published as a four-page Herald Express exclusive feature under the headline "Red Tells Own Story of Romance with Dahlia." The other dailies were quick to follow, summarizing Manley's statements to police and press.
Manley began his statement with a complete denial of any involvement in the murder of Elizabeth Short and provided a chronological account of his contact with the victim from the day he first met her in mid-December until he left her in the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel on the late afternoon of January 9, 1947. Manley said he "drove to San Diego about ten days before Christmas in December of 1946" because his employer had sent him to San Diego to make business sales calls. "After hitting all of my sales spots," he said, "I saw Elizabeth Short standing on a corner, across the street from Western Airlines in San Diego."