Dr. George Hodel - Black Dahlia Murderer? Part I

Dr. George Hodel, as might know, is long suspected by his son, Los Angeles Police Detective (Ret'd) Steve Hodel, to be the murder of Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia).  Dr. Hodel first blipped the police radar in October 1949, when his daughter Tamar accused him of molesting her.  Although acquited of the charges, the molestation case led LAPD to include Dr. Hodel, who specialized in public health and sexually transmitted diseases, among it's top suspects in the Dahlia case.  Authorities put Dr. Hodel under surveillance for two months in 1950, to ascertain whether there was a possibility of implicating him in the murder.  In the final report to the grand jury, dated Febraury 20, 1951, Lieutenant Frank Jemison of the LA County DA's office, wrote:

Doctor George Hodel, M.D. 5121 Franklin Avenue, at the time of this murder had a clinic at East First Street near Alameda. Lillian DeNorak [Lenorak] who lived with this doctor said he spent some time around the Biltmore Hotel and identified the photo of victim Short as a photo of one of the doctor's girl friends. Tamar Hodel, fifteen year old daughter, stated that her mother, Dorothy Hodel, has told her that her father had been out all night on a party the night of the murder and said, "They’ll never be able to prove I did that murder." Two microphones were placed in this suspect's home. 

Hodel's home was, as stated above, 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, California.  Below is the actual map from the surveillance report being conducted on Dr. Hodel at the time.  The locations that we visited (and will visit tomorrow) are all in this EXACT same area, as you will see from the various addresses of the photos that I will post (map below from www.stevehodel.com)

Akbar and I traveled to half of these locations, and will complete our journey tomorrow. But in the meantime, take a look at some of these interesting pictures.

The above article details murdered woman Gladys Kern, aged 50.  Gladys was murdered on February 17, 1948.  Ms. Kern was a realtor and was showing the the house pictured in the above newspaper article to a prospective male buyer.  Take a close look at the artist rendering in the newspaper article and a picture of George Hodel !!

The address is 4217 Cromwell Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90021.  Here is a picture I took of the house yesterday

Ms. Kern was stabbed multiple times in the back with a long-bladed knife after the suspect, posing as a prospective buyer,  met her at her office and had her take him to the above then-vacant house for sale.  

Shortly after the killing, the suspect, (using the same downtown L.A. mailbox from where the Black Dahlia letters were mailed, a box three blocks from George Hodel’s medical office) mailed a note to the police. The police had the killer’s note before the body was discovered the following day.

Numerous handwriting experts have evaluated the note and determined that the handwriting belongs to Dr. Hodel.

Dr. Hodel lived at 5121 Franklin Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027.  The drive from Dr. Hodel's house to Ms. Kern's house took us 5 minutes.  This is Dr. Hodel's house.  It is actually called "SOWDEN HOUSE" in historical references and documents

if you look at the top of the house, it almost looks like a weird kind of Mayan temple.Here is another shot I took

For obvious reasons, the house number is not obvious from street view (but I found it)

We crossed the street using the safety of a pedestrian crossing to get a better shot from further out. Spooky looking, isn't it?

While we were turning around on Normandie Ave, we suddenly realized that the alleyway we were turning in was probably the BACK of the Sowden House.  We drove along the narrow alleyway, and yep, Akbar spotted the "5121" on the side of some discreetly tucked away trash cans.  This is one of the back gate entrances with a large Buddha at the side...interesting that someone left the gate open...

Here is the other gate, firmly locked, and note the security cameras at both gates

Another mystery that occured was on August 18th, 1949.  It was know as "The Merry Widow" murder, although the missing woman, 48 year old Ms. Mimi Boomhower, has never been found.  The case is still unsolved by the LAPD.  Ms. Boomhower resided on the 700 Block of Nimes Road, Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California.  Her address, in Bel-Air should clue you into the fact that this was a VERY wealthy woman.  Below are the last photographs taken of Ms. Boomhower (taken at some time in 1949)

The Police Report given described Boomhower as a caucasian female with a heavy build. She had furs and diamond jewelery valued in the thousands of dollars.  Boomhower last talked to a friend from her home in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1949. The friend had telephoned between 7 and 8 p. m. to discuss an approaching social event. After the call, Boomhower changed her dress and tossed the discarded garment on her bed. She left her car in the garage and an uneaten salad on the dining room table. Then she disappeared.Mrs. Boomhower's white handbag was found in a telephone booth at a supermarket in Los Angeles five days after she disappeared. Scrawled in ink on a side of the purse was this message: Police Dept.—we found this at beach Thursday night." . That was the night of her disappearance. In the purse were a credit card , driver's license, car keys, compact and lipstick. The purse showed no evidence of exposure to sand or salt water".

This is the area of Bel-Air where she lived.  Her address in the records was given as 701 Nimes Road, but I did not see 701, only 700. Anyway, this photo gives you an idea of Bel Air homes.

From the top of Bel-Air you can see Downtown Los Angeles

And Century City

The disappearance of actress Jean Spangler has never been solved.  Steve Hodel firmly believes his father, Dr. George Hodel was the murderer. Here is a newspaper clipping from back in 1949

On October 7, 1949, Spangler left her home in Los Angeles around five p.m., leaving her daughter with her sister-in-law and telling her that she was going to meet her former husband to talk about his child support payment that had been due a week before, then on to work on a movie set. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said she appeared to be waiting for someone. She has not been seen again. Spangler's mother was visiting family in Kentucky at the time. Spangler's sister-in-law, Sophie, went to the police and filed a missing person report the next day.   Two days later on October 9, Spangler's purse was found near the entrance gate to Griffith Park in Los Angeles with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm.

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ENTRANCE TO GRIFFITH PARK IS TWO MINUTES FROM GLADYS KERN'S HOUSE !

Sixty police officers and over one hundred volunteers searched the 4,107-acre natural terrain park, but no other clues were found. There was no money in the purse (her sister-in-law said that she had no money when she left her house the evening of her disappearance) so the police ruled out robbery as a motive. There was an unfinished note in the purse addressed to a "Kirk," which read, "Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,". The note ended with a comma as if it hadn't been finished.

Neither "Kirk" or "Dr. Scott" could be located, and neither Spangler's family nor her friends knew anyone by those names. Spangler's mother, Florence, returned to Los Angeles and told police that someone named Kirk had picked up Jean at her house twice, but he stayed in his car and didn't come in. Police searched for Kirk and questioned every doctor with the last name Scott in Los Angeles, but none of them had a patient with the last name Spangler or Benner, Jean Spangler's former married name. Spangler had once been involved with a person she called Scotty,who had beaten her, threatening to kill her if she broke the relationship off, but her lawyer said she had not seen him since 1945.

Spangler had completed a bit part in the then unfinished film "Young Man with a Horn" tarring the actor Kirk Douglas.  Mr. Douglas was vacationing in Palm Springs and heard about the disappearance. He called the police and told them he was not the Kirk mentioned in the note before police knew there was any connection. Douglas was interviewed by the head of the investigating team and stated that he had heard the name and that Spangler had been an extra in his new film, but he didn't know her personally.

Friends of Spangler told police that she was three months pregnant when she disappeared and that she had talked about having an abortion, which was illegal at that time. The police talked with several people who frequented the same nightclubs and bars that Spangler did, who told them they had heard that there was a former medical student known as "Doc," who had said that he would perform abortions for money. Police searched for "Doc" with the idea that Spangler had gone to him to have an abortion and died as a result, but they not could locate him or anyone who would say that they had actually met him.  Jean Spangler was last seen on October 8, 1949, at 1:30am at a restaurant called "The Cheesebox".  She was witnessed to have been sitting with a "male, 35, tall, dark hair and clean cut".  The Cheese box was located at 8033 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90046.  This is what it looks like today:

It sits on the corner of Sunset Blvd/Lauren Canyon Blvd.  Here are some more shots I took, so you can see the street numbers. The Cleaners next door is 8031.

Well, that's all for now.....tomorrow, Akbar and I are heading back out on the road, and will focus on the areas nearer my house, which include Dr. Hodel's downtown Los Angeles office and private medical clinics, as well as the location of the body of Elizabeth Short "The Black Dahlia".