Black Dahlia: Elizabeth Short

Image via Wikipedia Elizabeth Short “The Black Dahlia”

Elizabeth Short was her name and she was born in a town called Hyde Park, Massachusetts.  She was an ordinary girl.  Sickly as a child.  She was sent to Florida in her younger years because she suffered from asthma and bronchitis.  She would move back and forth between a place called Medford and Florida serving as a waitress.  She seemed to be an unassuming young women.  Raised by her mother Phoebe May Sawyer.

The father, Cleo Short skipped town faking is death after the 1929 crash.  He moved to California.  Later his daughter would find out he was alive and join him there.

She would encounter the law for drinking under age in 1940’s then be sent back to her mother and the authorities in Medford.  Her life would lead her down a different path later on in California.

She was a vagabond moving from one place to another.  Never staying in this apartment or that rooming house for very long.  She was in Southern California and dating around this time in July 1946.  Six months later she would be dead.

She would die a victim of one of the most savage murders of its day.  Her mutilated body would be found in a vacant lot.  One of the most descriptive cases of its day.  She would be forever known as the Black Dahlia.  It is one of the most unsolved cases of the century.  Never solved to this day.  Only speculation.  Most of the evidence destroyed from what the documentaries say on the television.

Many speculate how she received the name.  Some say before her death and some reports give an assessment that it was by reporters.  One thing is for sure the name stuck and she would be famous for one of the most gruesome detective stories of its time.

Many people are suspected of the crime.  The list includes two well known doctors in the lineup.  One of the doctors is the father of a retired detective as portrayed on one documentary.

Many rumors abound that she was a prostitute and that her murder was linked to other famous cases in the country at the time.  This is not true of course but part of the sensationalism of the case.

She was a young, vulnerable girl and perhaps a little naive as most are and she will be forever famous for an unsolved case.  She is frozen in the annals of historical detective crime.

Her mother stayed near her grave for many years but went back east and lived into her 90’s.  Elizabeth’s family has since gone on with their lives. 

Image via Wikipedia Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland California

Elizabeth is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland California.  May she rest in peace.