The Author, A Former Los Angeles Police Officer, Recounts How He Concluded That His Late Father, Dr. George Hodel, Was The Black Dahlia Avenger, The Serial Killer Responsible For The Death Of Elizabeth Short In 1947 And Other Murders. More Than Fifty Years After What Has Been Called The Most Notorious Unsolved Murder Of The 20th Century, The Case Has Finally Been Solved. On January 15, 1947, The Body Of Beautiful 22-year-old Elizabeth Short Dubbed The Black Dahlia Because Of Her Black Clothing And The Dahlia She Wore In Her Hair Was Discovered On A Vacant Lot In Downtown Los Angeles, Her Body Surgically Bisected, Horribly Mutilated, And Posed As If For Display. Even The Most Hardened Homicide Detectives Were Shocked And Sickened By The Sadistic Murder. Thus Began The Largest Manhunt In La History. For Weeks The Killer Taunted The Police And Public Much As His Infamous English Counterpart Jack The Ripper Had Done In London 60 Years Before, Sending Tantalizing Notes, Urging Them To Catch Me If You Can. And For Weeks And Months The Lapd Came Up Empty. Charges Of Police Ineptitude Soon Gave Way To Rumors Of Corruption And Cover-up At The Highest Levels. Meanwhile, A Rash Of Lone Women In La Were Brutally Murdered, And Their Cases Also Remained Mysteriously Unsolved. Could The Black Dahlia Avenger Be, In Fact, A Serial Killer Stalking The City Streets? Introduction -- Biltmore -- Jane Doe Number 1 -- Death In The Family -- Voice From Beyond The Grave -- Dr. George Hill Hodel Jr., 1907-1999 -- George And Dorero -- Hollywood Scandal -- Gypsies -- Subic Bay -- Kiyo -- Dahlia Witnesses -- Lapd And The Press: Joint Investigation -- Lapd And The Press: Avenger Mailings -- Red Lipstick Murder -- Tamar, Joe Barrett, And Duncan Hodel -- Fred Sexton: Suspect Number 2 -- Lapd Secrets And The Marquis De Sade -- Elizabeth Short's Missing Week -- Final Connections: May Ray Thoughtprints -- Franklin House Revisited -- Watch, The Proof-sheet Papers, The Fbi Files, And The Voice -- Handwriting Analysis -- More 1940s L.a. Murdered Women Cases -- Boomhower-spangler Kidnap-murders -- Sergeant Stoker, Lapd's Gangster Squad, And The Abortion Ring -- George Hodel: Underworld Roots-hinkies -- Dahliagate: Double Cover-up -- Grand Jury -- Dahlia Myths -- Dahlia Investigation, 2001-2002 -- Forgotten Victims, 1940s: Probables -- Forgotten Victims, 1950s: Probables -- George Hodel-elizabeth Short: Reconstructed Timeline -- Filing My Case With The District Attorney's Office -- Final Thoughtprint -- Epilogue -- Author's Postscript. Steve Hodel. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [469]-481)

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