The story dwindled to a few paragraphs and was about to fade out altogether when one day I answered the phone and heard the voice I'll never forget.
"Is this the city editor?" it asked.
"Yes."
"What is your name, please?"
"Richardson."
"Well, Mr. Richardson, I must congratulate you on what the
Examiner
has done in the Black Dahlia case."
"Thank you," I said, and there was a slight pause before the voice spoke again.
"You seem to have run out of material," it said.
"That's right."
A soft laugh sounded in the earpiece.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance," the voice said.
There was something in the way he said it that sent a shiver up my spine.
"We need it," I said and there was that soft laugh again.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," the voice said. "I'll send you some of the things she had with her when she, shall we say, disappeared?"
It was difficult for me to control my voice. I began scribbling on a sheet of paper the words: "Trace this call."
"What kind of things?" I asked as I tossed the paper to my assistant on the desk. I could see him read and start jiggling the receiver arm on his phone to get the attention of the switchboard girl.
"Oh say, her address book and her birth certificate and a few other things she had in her handbag."
"When will I get them?" I asked, and I could hear my assistant telling Mae Northern the switchboard girl to trace my call.
"Oh, within the next day or so. See how far you can get with them. And now I must say goodbye. You may be trying to trace this call."
"Wait a minute," I said but I heard the click and the phone was dead.
Richardson concluded his book with some observations and reflections about the caller/killer he had spoken with seven years earlier. He was, Richardson was convinced, an egomaniac who planned the murder to show the world he was a superman, someone who could "outwit and outthink the whole world." He also stated — and again he was right — that the killer had placed the body where it would be quickly found, and mutilated it so horribly to attract the greatest attention on the part of the police and public. "He would be one against the world," he wrote, "the perpetrator of the perfect crime."
Richardson was also certain the killer would strike again, and in the same manner, but that ultimately he would make a mistake that would result in his capture. Richardson hoped that the Dahlia killer would again pick up the phone, dial the city desk, and ask for him. He revealed that his switchboard operators had developed a sixth sense and screened the "nuts and crackpots," but every now and then did put through a call to him, which invariably was important. He said he still believed that one day he would pick up the receiver and "again hear that soft, sly voice."
Friday, January 24, 1947
Police claimed a major break in the case when they learned that the suspect originally had left Elizabeth Short's purse and shoes atop an open trashcan in front of a restaurant and motel located at 1136 South Crenshaw Boulevard, approximately twenty blocks north of 39th and Norton. Robert Hyman, the manager of a cafe at 1136 South Crenshaw, the witness who found the purse and shoes, said he observed a pair of women's shoes inside a black handbag just as the garbage truck was picking up the trash in front of his cafe. Hyman described the purse as "large and oblong, and the shoes as black with very high heels."
Hyman spoke to the trash collector and suggested that "perhaps the purse and shoes should be turned over to the police."
"Oh, we find lots of things like this, and they never amount to anything," the city employee responded. The man then dumped the purse and shoes in his truck along with the other trash and drove away.
Hyman called LAPD, and officers were dispatched to the city dump, where, after an extensive search, the purse and shoes were found. An LAPD unit brought them to University Division police station, where, as noted, Red Manley identified them.
* investigator's note: An alternative theory, which LAPD hadn't seemed to consider, is that the killer, who we know had washed the body clean, could have placed it at the location while it was still wet, which could explain their observations yet still account for a later — 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. — placement of the body, which would be consistent with a sighting of a possible suspect vehicle parked near the body at that time.
* LAPD in the following weeks would send detectives to San Diego to pursue this lead and search the paper trail of phone records.
*Investigator's note: This official public statement was of immediate and grave concern to me when I first read it. A seasoned homicide detective would never make such a statement. The absence of the victim's prints on the bottle indicated absolutely nothing. Neither did these detectives address or comment on the possibility that the unidentified prints could have belonged to the suspect, "Mr. Barnes." By making this statement it seemed as if they were attempting to publicly discredit Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's identification and statements. Why?
13
The LAPD and the Press: The Avenger Mailings
Saturday, January 25, 1947
THE LOS ANGELES EXAMINER REPORTED that someone, presumably the killer, had sent a package containing some of the contents of the victim's purse to the paper by mail, postmarked January 24, 1947, at 6:30 p.m. from downtown Los Angeles. The killer included Elizabeth Short's identification, an address book, her birth certificate, and her social security card. Along with the victim's personal effects, the sender had assembled a note pasted out of various-size letters taken from the Los Angeles Examiner and other L.A. papers. It read:
Exhibit 17
Here is Dahlia's belongings. Letter to follow
The package was opened in the presence of LAPD detectives and postal inspectors who had intercepted it before it was delivered to the newspaper office. The detectives found fingerprints on the package, which were sent to the FBI office for examination and possible identification.
The address book was of particular interest to detectives, because it contained over seventy-five names. Also of note, the name "Mark Hansen" was embossed in gold lettering on the cover. One page of the book had been torn out. Police theorized that the murderer himself may well have torn it out before mailing the address book to the newspaper.
That same day, in response to questions from reporters, Captain Donahoe said of the widening investigation, "This is the big push. Our men are fanning out now to bring in the killer. We will bring in all sorts of people for questioning, and eliminate them so long as they can eliminate themselves."
Mark Hansen
Mark Hansen was a part owner of the Florentine Gardens, a well-known Hollywood landmark and popular nightspot that featured a popular burlesque show for patrons, who included some of the city's powerful politicians, underworld figures, and many of the rich and famous in the entertainment industry. Hansen was also Anne Toth's boyfriend at the time of the murder. Toth was one of a number of attractive young women Hansen employed at the club, Hollywood's answer to New York's nightlife and chorus lines. Hansen's manager and master of ceremonies was Nils Thor Granlund, known as "N.T.G.," a familiar personality in the world of Hollywood clubs. Many of Hansen's Hollywood chorus girls were trying to break into the movies and, like Toth, were struggling to pay their rent. Some of them, like Yvonne De Carlo, Marie "the Body" McDonald, Jean Wallace, Gwen Verdon, and Lili St. Cyr, would graduate from the Florentine Gardens stage to become familiar names on the screen and the New York musical stage. Mark Hansen would have been exactly the kind of person Elizabeth was looking for when she said she had aspirations of meeting "the right Hollywood people," who could possibly help her "break into the business."