Black Dahlia Avenger II: Presenting the Follow-Up Investigation and Further Evidence Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel to Los Angeles’s Black Dahlia and other 1940s LONE WOMAN MURDERS

by Hodel, Steve

  In connection with the Parzyjegla investigation, Capt. Donahoe informed the press, “at least one of the notes sent in by the Dahlia killer in that case, used proof-sheet-paper, of a type commonly found in printing shops.”

  LAPD chief criminalist Ray Pinker made the comparison of the Dahlia proof sheet paper to the proof sheet paper found at Parzyjegla’s printing shop. But they did not match and were found to be of different stocks.

  George Hill Hodel-Printing Press and Proof-Sheet Papers

  “Among the anonymous notes sent police in the ‘Black Dahlia’ case,” said Donahoe, “there was one which was obviously prepared in a print shop. At the time we discounted its importance. Now, however, it may take on new significance.”

  Captain Jack Donahoe LAPD Homicide

  Los Angeles Times, February 17, 1947

  George Hodel, owned and operated his own home printing press, both before and after the 1947 murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.

  George first used his printing press in 1925 to publish his own avant-garde magazine, Fantasia, from his father’s home at 6512 Monterey Road in South Pasadena.

  In 1925, as editor-in-chief and publisher, he informed us that his magazine was dedicated:

  To the portrayal of bizarre beauty in the arts, to the delineation of the stranger harmonies and the rarer fragrances do we dedicate this our magazine.

  …

  Such beauty we may find in ….the noises of a city street; in a temple or a brothel or a gaol: in prayer or perversity or sin.

  1920s vintage small printing press similar in size to that used by George Hodel

  From 1946 through 1949, the small printing press was operational in the basement of our Hollywood Franklin house where father printed advertising materials and product labels for his “Five Dynasty Tea” business.

  My brothers, Michael and Kelvin, and I were the “work force,” for China International Exports, 5121 Franklin Avenue, happily earning our nickels and dimes for the weekend cowboy double-features at the Hitching Post theatre by packing Dad’s fancy Five Dynasty Lapsang Souchong Tea into one pound tins and then sticking on the freshly printed labels, preparing them for distribution and sale to many of Los Angeles’s top department stores and restaurants.

  Below, we see actual samples of George Hodel’s original home printed labels and brochures promoting Five Dynasty Tea. Also, shown is a list of George Hodel’s eighty-four separate “Accredited Retail Distributors” throughout California, which included many of the top department stores and restaurants. Local LA distributors included: All four Brown Derby restaurants [Wilshire, Vine Street, Los Feliz and Bronson Avenue], Bullocks, Don the Beachcomber’s, Jurgensen’s Market, Hollywood Farmer’s Market, Perino’s Restaurant, and the Jonathan Club.

  George Hodel used his home printing press to print these labels and brochures circa 1947 and 1948

  In 1948, George Hodel advertised his Five Dynasty Tea in many of the top magazines including: Vogue, The New Yorker, and House Beautiful. Seen below [top right] is original product label for Five Dynasty Lapsang Souchong Tea printed by George Hodel on his home printing press which my brothers and I placed on cylindrical tins for distribution to stores and restaurants.

  During my research, I happened upon an article written and printed in the Los Angeles Times on October 1, 1949, just four days before my father would be arrested by LAPD on the incest and child molestation charges.

  I am including it here because it demonstrates his skill and ability as a marketing genius, almost fifteen years before he would enter the field and develop INRA-Asia, which became Asia’s most respected market research firm.

  I strongly suspect he actually wrote the following article. If not, he certainly edited it for the writer, giving his special spin, transforming what was probably a rather ordinary, albeit smoky-tasting tea into something rare and exotic, creating his own legend to turn it into a “must have” product.

  Here is the original LA Times article as it appeared just days before his arrest:

  Los Angeles Times

  October 1, 1947

  Farmer’s

  Market

  Today

  …with Neill (Mrs.) Beek

  HOW GOOD can tea be, and how do you rate as a tea taster?

  Before answering those two questions, please consider the following:

  The interesting study of tea, and its history, establishes that in one small district of Fukien Province, there has long been grown a tea—(Lapsang Souchong)—so superb that its use for centuries was confined to the Emperors of China, and those close to the emperors.

  This noble tea—this royal tea—was for the high and mighty. Its history is ancient.

  With the final fall of the Manchu Dynasty, J.P. Morgan the elder, a tea fancier, sent agents to China to acquire a supply of the tea—and in 1912 J.P. Morgan succeeded in making arrangement for the entire, and limited, output of the tea to be assigned to him.

  At Christmastime he would send small chests of the tea to his friends. It became known informally, as “Morgan’s Tea.”

  Upon J.P. Sr.’s death, the House of Morgan continued the custom. High and mighty Americans continued to receive Morgan’s Tea at Christmastime, for awhile. But the custom was dropped in the late 30’s, and oddly enough it was dropped while a final shipment of the rarest of all Lapsang Souchongs was in shipment. The final shipment was put in storage in San Francisco.

  A certain Doctor Hodel, of Los Angeles, a tea fancier, heard of the tea, managed to sample it, and was so elated over its quality that he bought the entire supply. Hodel packaged it, and began marketing it by mail through small advertisements in the luxury magazines. Meanwhile he took steps to obtain the supplies of the tea previously absorbed by the House of Morgan. Then—Pearl Harbor!

  It is only recently that Dr. Hodel has again been able to obtain the tea, which he is now marketing under the name Five Dynasty Tea.

  A rather nice name. There were four Chinese dynasties wherein tea held sway. The fifth tea dynasty is made up of you and me and all the other poor people who can afford expensive tea.

  The tea is sold in only a few places; Marshall Field, Bloomingdale’s, B. Altman, City of Paris, Bullock’s Pasadena, and Balzer’s. Oh yes—and at one more place—the Farmer’s Market. (Could you imagine B. Altman advertising that the Farmers Market also carries this tea?)

  It is R.B. Curl’s fancy groceries stall that has it in the Farmers Market.

  The 120-cup tin sells for $3.75—and a tin of 25 tea bags is $2.00. That’s expensive.

  If you will taste this tea you will learn how good tea can be. For a mere 25c we’ve arranged for you to taste Fifth Dynasty Tea. We have a 3-bag sampler at 25c—and a leaflet gives the instructions for its preparation.

  There is not enough Five Dynasty Tea in the world for it to become widely known. We shall not advertise it again. You may not care for Five Dynasty—but if you use tea, you should sample this brand. The Farmers Market is at 3rd and Fairfax.

  Shortly after his October 1949 arrest, and while on trial for incest, Dr. George Hodel used his home printing press to prepare the below sales brochure, advertising the Franklin house as a “SHANGRI-LA” putting his home on the market with an asking price of $44,500, indicating that its 1949 market appraisal was $60,000.

  [The Sowden/Franklin home just closed escrow in July 2011 showing a sale price of 3.85 million.]

  Proof Sheet Papers and Blue Ink

  During the late 1940s, reams of this unique “proof sheet paper” were stored in the basement of the Franklin house. The proof sheet paper was frequently used by my brothers and I to make our childhood drawings. My father kept several of my original drawings [I was then seven-years-old], and after saving them for over forty-five-year’s, returned them to me, circa 1995, after his permanent relocation to San Francisco.

  In 2001, after two-years of full time investigation, I came to realize that these original proof sheet papers could well be important forensic evidence, po
tentially linking directly the stock proof sheet papers mailed in by the Dahlia killer to these original papers now in my possession. I was confident that a spectrographic comparison of the size, texture, and fiber content could establish and link them as coming from the same unusual stock.

  In my 2003 post-publication briefing to LAPD “brass,” this was one of the first forensic comparisons I suggested be made. Both I and the senior staff officers were unaware at that time that “all the Dahlia evidence, including all the original Avenger mailings had disappeared from the locked evidence room.”

  Below are copies of my original child drawings drawn on proof sheet paper from the basement of the Franklin house stock. All the handwriting on the “Chinese Chicken, Apr.1949” was written by my father using a ballpoint pen with blue ink.

  Father asked me what the drawing represented and then handwrote my response using his ballpoint pen with blue ink. It reads:

  Steven Apr 1940 7-5 [my age in years and months]

  “Chinese Chicken” (Mountains, Sun)

  “Biggest chicken in China—they’ve been looking for him a thousand years.”

  Dad returned all of the below drawings to me, circa 1995. All were drawn by me using proof-sheet-paper from the Franklin house basement, which also served as the Five Dynasty Tea packing and “printing office.”

  In these five drawings returned to me by my father, three contain my father’s handwriting and two show my mother’s handwriting. The additional four drawings read:

  [Top left] “Joe lying Down-Steven 7-6” [Handwriting of Dorothy Hodel. “Joe” would have been our then tenant/roomer, artist Joe Barrett. My age-“7-6” would convert to April 1949.]

  [Top right] “King on the Throne” Steven [Handwriting of Dorothy Hodel]

  [Middle left] “Little Me Steven” – Steven Self-Portrait 7.7 [Handwriting of George Hodel. 7.7 would convert to May 1949]

  [Middle right] “Chinese Chicken-Steven 7-3” [Handwriting of George Hodel. 7.3 would convert to January 1949]

  [Bottom center] “Chinese Chicken” - Detailed previously

  In February 1947, Homicide commander, Capt. Jack Donahoe, was in charge and control of the Black Dahlia investigation. During that time period, he made a number of important public statements related to the investigation. They included:

  1. Elizabeth Short was most likely slain in a bathtub at a private residence.

  2. The Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French murders were committed by the same man.

  3. The killer wrote his “Turning myself in…” message using a ballpoint with blue ink.

  4. The fact that it was the only undisguised note led detectives to believe the suspect was actually going to give himself up to police.

  5. The killer was likely connected with a printing company as some of the notes were “obviously prepared in a print shop.”

  6. Wrote a letter to be published in all the newspapers, offering to “meet the killer anytime, anywhere.”

  Shortly after making these statements, Capt. Donahoe was transferred from Homicide and placed in charge of the Robbery Detail.

  Why the unexpected change in command? Were there ulterior motives in his transfer, or was it because the brass simply felt Donahoe was both “grandstanding,” as well as releasing vital confidential information that could put the investigation in jeopardy? [Incidentally, I would agree. In my opinion, none of the above details should have been made public.]

  That said, the information that Capt. Donahoe released in both the Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French murders, did ultimately result in helping to link Dr. George Hill Hodel to both of those crimes.

  Chapter 18

  Handwriting Update

  As part of my original investigation, readers are aware that I hired a court certified questioned document examiner, Ms. Hannah McFarland, to examine many of the 1947 Black Dahlia Avenger notes, as well as the lipstick handwriting on the body of Mrs. Jeanne French in the Red Lipstick Murder.

  The results of her findings were that, in her expert opinion, it was “highly probable” that Dr. George Hill Hodel wrote at least four of the Avenger notes, as well as the writing on the body of Jeanne French. [A finding of “highly probable” is the highest finding an expert can provide as to authorship without having the original documents in their possession. It is equivalent to the forensic term of being “virtually certain.”]

  In subsequent examinations of additional Lone Woman Murder handwritings, it was also her expert opinion that it was “highly probable” that George Hodel also wrote the printing found on the purse of murder victim Mimi Boomhower who was kidnapped in August 1949.

  In a later examination and comparison of the murder note on victim, Gladys Kern, QDE McFarland found that it was “probable” that the note mailed to the police was written by George Hill Hodel. This finding is one degree below the other opinions and is defined as, “The evidence found in the handwriting points rather strongly toward the questioned and the known writings having been written by the same individual; however, it falls short of the “virtually certain” degree of confidence. [Journal of Forensic Sciences, Letter to the Editor, March 1991.]

  In a previous chapter, I made mention of the August 2006 CBS hour-show Black Dahlia Confidential in which that network consulted with their own experts to reinvestigate several aspects of my investigation.

  I noted that their medical expert, Dr. Mark Wallack, chief of surgery at New York’s St. Vincent Hospital after reviewing the killer’s skill at bisection stated, “In my opinion, a doctor did it.”

  On that same program, CBS also consulted an independent questioned document expert, Mr. John Osborn, and hired him to review and compare some of my father’s known handwriting samples to the notes written and mailed in by the Black Dahlia Avenger.

  He gave his opinion, and, as a result, some viewers and a few of my most vocal critics claimed that Mr. Osborn contradicted my expert, claiming “George Hodel did not write the Avenger notes.”

  John Osborn gave no such finding. Here is his verbatim, expert opinion, as stated on the program:

  “There is simply not enough evidence to prove one way or the other whether his father is the writer, or is not the writer.”

  When asked by the network to conduct his comparison, QDE Osborn was likely provided with only a very limited number of known samples of Dr. Hodel’s handwriting. Perhaps as few as only two or three documents. As is usually the case with television, he was likely only given a short time span to review and provide his analysis and results to the network.

  Based on those factors, his examination was INCONCLUSIVE.

  Due to the limited amount of comparative questioned documents provided him for analysis, Mr. Osborn arrived at the only correct finding possible—Insufficient Evidence, Inconclusive.

  Whereas, my QDE, Ms. Hannah McFarland, was provided several dozen [approximately twenty-four] separate known documents written by Dr. George Hill Hodel and studied and reviewed them over a six-month period before rendering her expert opinion that George Hodel wrote at least four of the Avenger notes, as well as the Red Lipstick message on the body of Jeanne French. [It is unknown if QDE Osborn reviewed that separate handwriting, as no mention was made of it in his on-air interview.]

  Mr. Osborn did discuss a difference in handwriting styles between Dr. Hodel and the Black Dahlia Avenger, specifically pointing to the Avenger’s printed block letter “N.”

  He showed comparative samples of both writings and demonstrated that Dr. Hodel’s letter “N,” in his words, was “more classic in style, whereas the Avenger’s writing was much narrower.”

  QDE John Osborn on CBS’s 48 Hours-Black Dahlia Confidential, August 2006

  Here is a sample of the difference is the two writings of the letter “N” as pointed out by Mr. Osborn:

  George Hodel [top] Black Dahlia Avenger; Disguised HW [bottom]

  Below are additional samples of George Hodel’s known handwriting that were not shown, and apparently not seen or used in Os
born’s comparison. [Although these exact same samples were available and printed in my book.]

  Note in these samples how my father writes the letter “N,” as compared to the Avenger’s letter “N.” Though known to be written by George Hodel, it is quite dissimilar to his “Classic N,” as described by Osborn and quite similar to the Avenger’s style of writing the letter “N.” I am confident that had their expert seen these George Hodel handwriting documents, it would have altered or at least modified his opinion regarding George Hodel’s handwriting of the letter “N.”

  George Hill Hodel Handwriting

  Those of you that have read BDA and Most Evil know that I am not a huge fan of handwriting analysis. That is not to say that I totally discredit it—I DO NOT. It has its place and can be a very effective tool in the investigative process—just as long as the QDE (Questioned Document Examiner) findings are not elevated to an absolute.

  For me, handwriting analysis remains an inexact half science. Why?

  Because of its subjectivity. HW is like the polygraph. A useful investigative tool, but cannot and should not be relied on by itself. Two different QDE’s of equal stature will and often do provide “expert testimony” that a specific questioned document “WAS” and “WAS NOT” written by a specific individual. Who to believe? Flip a coin. That’s not science. The same is true with polygraph examiners’ testimony. Examiner #1 say’s, “He’s lying.” Examiner #2, “No, he’s telling the truth and was not at the crime-scene.”

  The same can be said of psychiatric experts. The prosecutor’s doctors testified, “He’s sane. He knew right from wrong when he stabbed her.” The defense psychiatrist countered, “Psychotic and insane during the commission of the crime.”