by James Ellroy
The area in which Long was last seen was described as having a “low crime rate” with no previous abductions, sexual assaults, or similar crimes reported.
Long’s risk level of becoming a victim of a violent crime was elevated by her assertive personality, involvement with gambling and subsequent indebtedness, and willingness to accept rides from strangers.
Overall, based upon the above circumstances in both cases, we believe the offender was socially acquainted with the victims to some degree, and that for some undefined initial period of time, the victims were willing to be in his company.
MEDICAL EXAMINER’S REPORT
The Medical Examiner’s Reports provided an evaluation of the injuries sustained by the victims and there is no need to reiterate those findings. However, a few points will be addressed and should be considered in the overall analysis of these crimes.
The pathologist listed victim Ellroy’s death as asphyxia due to ligature strangulation. She also had deep lacerations to the scalp, a minor abrasion to the upper lid of her right eye and her vaginal smear was positive for spermatozoa. The victim was noted to be in a late menstrual phase. The toxicological tests performed showed she had a blood alcohol level of .08 percent.
Victim Long’s cause of death was also asphyxia due to ligature strangulation. However, victim Long had a skull fracture with cerebral contusions as a result of distinct incision lacerations caused by blunt force trauma. These lacerations had a somewhat crescent shape with fairly incised like borders. The victim also had a fracture separation of the 6th cervical inter-vertebrate space.
Both victims were strangled with nylon stockings. In addition to the nylon stocking, victim Ellroy had a “clothes line” type cord tied tightly around her neck. Victim Long’s vagina also contained spermatozoa. Her blood alcohol content was zero percent.
CRIME SCENE ANALYSIS
Although no attempts will be made to construct precise chronological scenarios of these crimes, certain observations about the crime scenes and their significance as they relate to the offender will be described. When examined individually, the two crime scenes do not provide an abundance of forensic evidence. However, when analyzed, the behavior exhibited by the offender at the crime scenes becomes more significant.
Victim Ellroy was last seen alive at approximately 0215-0230 hours on June 22, 1958, in the company of a male she had been with earlier in the evening.
She was later discovered at 1000 hours the same day lying on the ivy covered parkway of a high school in the city of El Monte. The victim was dressed, however her underpants were missing and her brassiere was unfastened and pulled up around her neck. The stocking on her left leg was pulled down around her ankle and the other was tied around her neck along with a length of cord. The victim’s coat had been placed over the lower portion of her body.
It appears that the victim had engaged in consensual intercourse even though she was menstruating. A tampon was found in the victim’s vagina at the time of the autopsy.
Shortly after intercourse was completed the offender struck the victim with a blunt force object, which was readily accessible, after which he applied the cord and finally the victim’s stocking. Due to an obvious lack of defense wounds, it is unlikely that any struggle occurred initially. From witness reports the victim appeared at ease with the offender and she most likely never perceived the offender as posing a physical threat.
After leaving Stan’s Drive-In the offender most likely drove directly to the location where the victim was found. The offender was familiar with the location and selected it for its isolation from public view and because it had been used as a “lovers lane” and his vehicle would not necessarily stand out.
The sex act would have occurred inside the offender’s vehicle, hence the victim’s underpants remained in the vehicle because the victim never had the opportunity to put them back on. Whatever circumstances triggered the offender’s anger occurred after the victim had reinserted the tampon.
After the victim was strangled, the offender removed her from the vehicle and dumped her body on the ivy. In the process, the victim’s pearl necklace broke and fell in the street. The offender’s last act was to place the victim’s coat over the lower portion of her body.
In respect to the death of victim Bobbie Long, and in the absence of any witness information, the specific chronology of events leading to the death of this victim cannot be recounted with any degree of specificity and/or detail; therefore, no attempt will be made to reconstruct the crime. There are however certain factors that are relative to the crime scene that suggest specific activities.
A return bus ticket found in the victim’s purse supports witnesses’ statements that the victim had planned to attend the horse races at Santa Anita Race Track on January 22, 1959.
Assuming the victim went to the horse races, she may have met the offender at the races that day or even been previously acquainted with him and accepted a ride. Since the victim had accepted rides from men she did not know well in the past, she did not apparently worry about her personal safety.
The victim was secretive about her personal life, but what little was known about her indicates that she was willing to take whatever a man had to offer.
The victim appeared to have consumed a Mexican dinner sometime in the early evening as evidenced by the autopsy report. The victim appeared to have participated in consensual sex with the offender. She was fully dressed, with the exception of her stockings, and her clothing was intact and not torn.
The victim was found lying on the grass shoulder of a dirt access road one-tenth of a mile off of a main road in the city of La Puente. She was lying on her back and the lower portion of her body was covered with her coat (similar to victim Ellroy). It appears she too was dumped on the ground after her death had occurred.
Victim Long’s death occurred in very much the same manner as victim Ellroy’s. After consensual sex, which may have also taken place in the offender’s vehicle, she was unexpectedly struck with a blunt force object to the head numerous times, with an object the offender had readily accessible. After sustaining the blows, the offender applied what may have been one of the victim’s stockings, placed it around her neck, and strangled the victim.
The offender then removed the victim from his vehicle and dumped her on the grass shoulder along with her purse. Again, the offender’s last act was to place the victim’s coat over the lower portion of her body, very similar to what had occurred to victim Ellroy.
The distance between the location of where victim Ellroy’s body was found to that of victim Long’s is approximately four and one-half miles. Victim Ellroy’s body was found approximately one and one-half miles from the area where she was seen dancing and eating prior to her death. This area was less than a mile away from where victim Long’s body was discovered.
In both deaths robbery did not appear to be the motive. We believe that in victim Ellroy’s case, the offender simply forgot to discard the victim’s purse prior to leaving. The sex acts, blunt force trauma followed by strangulation with the victims’ nylons, and the covering of their lower bodies, appear to be the offender’s signature or calling card.
OFFENDER CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAITS
Statistically, crimes of violence are intraracial in nature, white on white, black on black. Therefore, without any physical evidence to the contrary, we would expect this offender to be a white male.
In consideration of the offender’s age, a number of facts pertinent to the crime are examined. The victim’s age, amount of control or lack of control exhibited by the offender, the degree of trauma inflicted, evidence taken or left behind, as well as sexual interaction, if any, with the victim, all become important factors. Based upon these factors we would anticipate this offender to have been in his late thirties. Age, however, is one of the most difficult categories to evaluate, as chronological and emotional age are frequently quite different. As we are evaluating age on the basis of behavior, which is a direct result
of emotional and mental maturity, no suspect should be eliminated based upon age alone.
The offender in all probability is capable of having relationships with women. We would expect him to be single, however, and if he was married it was a troubled relationship and possibly marred by outbursts which may have included domestic violence. The offender could have been living with a woman in a common-law type relationship, but he would have continued to have sexual encounters with other women.
We would expect the offender to be of average to above average intelligence, to have completed high school, and been capable of college level work. He is more than likely employed and his employment history will be consistent with his academic background.
The offender in all likelihood is sufficiently familiar with the area where the victims’ bodies were found to know they would be “reasonably safe” places to dispose of the bodies. It has been our experience in analyzing similar cases that offenders such as these dispose of bodies where they have some degree of association and/or knowledge. Therefore, the offender lived, worked or frequently visited the area where the victims were found. If seen, he would be able to provide a reasonable explanation for being in the area.
The offender will be conscious of his appearance and clothing and be in good physical condition. Since crime scenes generally reflect the offender’s personality and life-style, we would expect the offender to be methodical and neat in his appearance. He has few close friends, but numerous acquaintances. He is frequently impulsive and seeks immediate self-gratification. He is a “lone wolf” rather than a loner.
The offender will appear to be confident but not overly “macho” to his peers. In his dealings with women, he will seek dominance and appear to be a very controlling individual. The offender might attempt to portray himself as being passive. He would avoid the appearance of having an explosive temper or being assaultive in nature. Episodes of explosive temper are intermingled with an indifference towards others. He will have shown aggressiveness in his dealings with people.
The offender will drink alcoholic beverages and may use drugs, but not to the point of total impairment. There is no indication of excessive use of alcohol or drugs at the time of the crimes, although he may have used one or both of these substances to lower his inhibitions.
The offender probably has a well-maintained vehicle which is consistent with the economic status of the individuals the victims previously dated. The offender enjoys driving and would be willing to travel outside the immediate area in which he resides to seek entertainment.
We don’t believe the offender has an extensive criminal history. However, he may have been arrested for domestic disturbances or assault.
The offender’s weapons of choice are believed to be items already on hand: a crescent shaped tool he most likely stored in his automobile; a piece of rope; and the victims’ nylon hosiery. This, considered along with the fact that the offender struck each victim repeatedly in the head as a means of control, shows that the murders were probably not planned for a significant period of time before they were actually committed.
POST OFFENSE BEHAVIOR
In view of the time lapse since the commission of these crimes, post offense behavior, which is often the most enlightening aspect of the analysis, will take on a lesser significance in this case. The specifics of this section will be to analyze that behavior which would have occurred immediately following the commission of these crimes.
The offender would have gone directly home or to some other safe place following these crimes. He most likely soiled his clothing and vehicle from the blunt force trauma delivered to both victims and the menstrual blood of victim Ellroy.
Having committed what he considered to be an unwitnessed murder on each occasion, the offender would not have been overly concerned or stressed for any length of time. He may have briefly feigned illness in an attempt to isolate himself and he may have called in sick the following day if he was scheduled to work. Other than this initial withdrawal, your offender’s daily routine would not have been altered significantly.
He would have avoided places he had been seen with either victim just prior to their death. These places include the Desert Inn, Stan’s Drive-ln and the Mexican restaurant he and victim Long may have gone to the night of her death.
He may have exhibited interest in television news accounts of the killings but would not have interjected himself into the police investigations. It is unlikely that he would volunteer theories about what happened. He would claim to have only vicarious knowledge of the crimes, gained through friends or the media.
Once the investigations began to wane, the offender would have been reassured that he was not seen with the victims and that he was not a suspect. He would not have felt any guilt or remorse for what he had done. These women were seen as “throw aways” and he had justified it in his mind that they were somehow to blame for making him do it. His only concern would be for himself and what effect the crimes could have on his life. By this time, he had probably forgotten most of the details of these incidents.
Unless the offender was arrested and incarcerated for some extended period of time, we would expect the offender to have continued killing, if not in this state, in others.
Carlos Avila
Criminal Investigative Profiler/Consultant
Avila thought we had a serial killer. He thought my mother fucked the Swarthy Man willingly. He hedged to a slight degree:
“It appears that the victim had engaged in consensual intercourse.”
“Whatever circumstances triggered the offender’s anger occurred after the victim had reinserted the tampon.”
Bill and I discussed the profile in general and the consensual-sex-versus-rape point in specific. We agreed with Avila’s take on the killer’s psychology. Bill went along with his serial killer conclusion. I disputed it. I conceded one point only. My mother might have been the first victim in a serial killer chain. Carlos Avila was an established criminological expert. I wasn’t. I distrusted his conclusion because it was based on an aggregate knowledge of similar criminal cases and their common pathological underpinnings. I distrusted the logical strictures and the encapsulated knowledge that prompted him to the conclusion. The conclusion undermined my basic law of murder: Criminal passion derived from long-suppressed fears brought to momentary consciousness by the unique alchemy of killer and victim. Two unconscious states dovetail and create an explicative flashpoint. The killer knows. The killer goes ahead—“It just felt like something I had to do.” The victim feeds the killer the knowledge. Female victims tap out signals in sex semaphore. Look at that chipped nail polish. Look at how sordid lovemaking is two seconds after you come. Sex semaphore is all misogynist subtext. All men hate all women for tried-and-true reasons they share in jokes and banter every day. Now you know. You know that half the world will condone what you are just about to do. Look at the bags under the redhead’s eyes. Look at her stretch marks. She’s putting that cunt rag back in. She’s getting blood all over your seat covers—
He killed her that night. He could not have killed any other woman. He did not seek out a woman to kill that night. She could not have prompted any other man to that explicative flashpoint. Their alchemy was binding and mutually exclusive.
Bill thought it was rape. I thought it was rape. Bill said we had to keep an open mind. I embraced the serial killer theory momentarily. I asked Bill if we could run a statewide or nationwide records check and catalog choke murders back to our time frame. He said most of the records weren’t computerized. A lot of hand-filed records had already been destroyed. There was no systematic way to access the information. The big FBI computer did not store data that old. Publicity was still our best shot. The LA. Weekly piece was coming out in mid-February. Day One was set to air in April. Some old cops might read the piece or see the program. They might call us and say, “I had a case like that….”
We put the profile aside. We chased more names.
We found an
old doctor. He had an office near the Desert Inn. He gave us the name Harry7 Bullard. Harry owned the Coconino. He mentioned the Pitkin brothers. They owned a couple of gas stations near Five Points.
We found the Pitkin brothers. They didn’t give us any names. They told us Harry Bullard was dead.
We wanted to spark a name landslide. We were name-deprived and intractably determined to grab more names. The investigation was now three and a half months old.
Helen came out for Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Bill and Ann Stoner. Bill and I discussed the case by the Christmas tree. I ignored all the holiday chitchat. Helen knew the case inside out. We’d talked every night for three-plus months. She sent me out to chase a redheaded ghost. She didn’t treat the ghost as a rival or a threat. She monitored her evolution through my thoughts and talked murder theory as precisely as Bill and I did. Helen was Geneva’s deconstructor. She warned me not to judge her or glamorize her. Helen satirized Geneva’s appetites. Helen fixed Geneva up with skeevy politicians and got some righteous laughs. Bill Clinton left Hillary for Geneva and blew the ’96 election. Hillary moved to El Monte and started fucking Jim Boss Bennett. The Swarthy Man was big in the Right to Life movement. The Blonde had Newt Gingrich’s love child.
Bill spent a week with his family. I spent a week with Helen. We put the case on temporary hold. I went into murder withdrawal. I talked to the boss at Sheriff’s Homicide and went out on some active calls.
I carried a beeper. I got beeped and directed out to two crime scenes. I caught two gang killings. I saw bloodstains and bullet holes and grieving families. I wanted to write a magazine essay. I wanted to slam this new mechanistic horror up against my old sex horror. My thoughts didn’t jell. I caught two male victims. I looked at spattered brain fluids and saw my mother on King’s Row. I looked at a dead gangbanger’s brother and saw my father poised and pleased at the El Monte Station. The old Sheriff’s Homicide squad fielded 14 men. The current squad was a full-fledged division. L.A. County had 43 homicides in 1958. L.A. County had 500 this year. Sheriff’s Homicide was a class-A unit. They called themselves the Bulldogs. The Sheriff’s Homicide squad room was a fucking Bulldog pen. Bulldog regalia reigned. The place was submerged in desk clutter marked with Bulldog emblems. A plaque covered the front wall. It listed every detective who ever worked the unit.
