Quote:
Originally Posted by gsjansen
The Elizabeth Short, "Black Dahlia" case gets all the attention, but there certainly were a number of similar murders that were never solved in Los Angeles during the 1940's;
7-23-43 Ora Murray 42 found nude, bludgeoned to death dumped in golf club parking lot after 2am, after a night of drinking and dancing in downtown bars.
10-12-44 Georgina Bauerdorf 20 (a friend of Elizabeth Short's) found nude strangled in her own apt. bathtub, after apparently being followed home from the Hollywood servicemans club.
1-15-47 Elizabeth (Beth) Short aka Black Dahlia 22, found nude, bludgeoned to death dumped in vacat lot on downtown LA Hollywood border, after leaving downtown LA Biltmore hotel with no apparent place to stay the night. Her body was also cut in 2 at the waist, she'd been sexually assaulted, and also tortured.
2-10-47 Jeanne French 40 found nude vacant lot bludgeoned, beat to death, strangled, signs of torture, after being seen in downtown/hollywood bars with brown haired man, a message written in lipstick possibly referring to the Short crime written on body.
3-12-47 Evelyn Winters 42 found nude, bludgeoned to death in vacant lot 2 miles from downtown, strangled, last seen in bars the night before.
5-11-47 Laura Trelstad (Telestad) 37 found nude strangled with strip of cloth, bludgeoned, dumped in vacant lot near oil rigs, after being last seen intoxicated bars Long Beach.
7-8-47 Rosenda Mondragon 20 found nude strangled with stocking signs of torture, dumped side of street 1 miles from Winters scene.
6-13-49 Louise Springer 28 abducted with her car while waiting in a downtown parking lot, found 2 days later in car bludgeoned, strangled with a cloth strip, sexually assulted/tortured.
8-11-49 Jean Spangler 27 starlet a onetime roomate of Beth Shorts, body never found, after going on date with new man, and being seen in bars with a brown haired men, or 2 men, purse found on street at Hollywood's Dell park.
8-18-49 Mimi Boombauer known as 'the happy widow' after going out on date to nightclubs, body never found, purse left in Wilshire phone booth with note written in lipstick
It certainly looks like Los Angeles had a serial killer on the loose in the 1940's who was never brought to justice...........................
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A very belated follow up to gsjansen’s post.
I added to the list; also included some case that that were solved through confession or conviction but seemed relevant as cases that might have been part of the great unsolved if not for a strong defense (or a good lawyer?). I bold-typed the unsolved cases. Some of the cases on the original list involved suspects who were tried and acquitted. The research is my own from newspapers and ancestry. I don’t look at crime blogs. Sometimes the papers got names and or ages wrong, tried to correct where such errors were known. I don’t see a lot of connection between these cases.
lapl. Detecive examines Dorothy Montgomery's golden butterfly brooch
09-13-41: Florence Frey Stricker, 48. Bludgeoned.
Found stuffed in coat closet of home, 2153 Moreno Dr., Silver Lake. An heiress with a considerable fortune. Robbery the apparent motive. Body found by husband, Dr. George H. Stricker, a “drugless physician” with offices at 1232 W. Sixth St. Rear door found ajar. Murder weapon was never found. No signs of struggle anywhere else in home. “Friend” of the family Ernest Booth, a mystery novelist who did time at San Quentin for robbery was arrested but released; lied about being out of the city at the time of the murder. Examined by police psychiatrist J. Paul Rivers, Dr. Stricker remained in a state of near collapse that prevented his being seriously questioned by detectives, backed up by lawyer Jerry Giesler. Despite discrepancies in his story he was never arrested. Inherited the bulk of his wife’s estate. He’d been spending time with a woman friend shortly before the murder; both denied any affair but the two did marry in Sept 1942.
05-26-43: Charleen Degley, 27. Bludgeoned.
Nude body found in a Long Beach “lover’s lane.” Clothing scattered about. Mother of two, expecting her 3rd. Husband Paul reported her missing, said she’d driven him to work that morning and wasn’t there when he got home. Police believed he beat Charleen unconscious in their home, 202 E. Mountain View St. then drove her to the spot and finished the job. He admitted beating her in the past but maintained his innocence for the murder. Found guilty of Second Degree murder, sentenced to life in prison.
07-23-43: Ora M. Murray, 42. Bludgeoned. “The Gardenia Murder”Found partly nude, clothing and jewelry torn from body, face bashed in, dumped in the Fox Hills golf club parking lot, 5800 Slauson Ave. A crushed gardenia corsage was found under the body. Visiting her sister in LA from Camp McCain where her husband was stationed and she worked at the PX. She and sister met a man known as “Paul” at the Zenda Ballroom; Ora went off with him by herself. “Paul soon ID’d as Roger Louis/Lewis Gardner (alias Grant Terry), 26, then doing time in Leavenworth for impersonating a federal officer and fraud. He’d wooed and robbed a series of women around the country. His trial for Ora’s murder ended in a mistrial. At the outset of a retrial scheduled 12-19-1944 charges were dropped at request of DDA John Barnes. He was found guilty of grand theft, stealing from his erstwhile “fiancé” and got 1-10 at San Quentin.
Previous post on Ora:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5970821&postcount=11522
08-05-43: Loretta “Rhetta” Robinson nee Pitts, 23. Strangled, body mutilated.
Found nude, sprawled across the bed in her room after allegedly entertaining several men there. James Homer Burks, 27, arrested. Admitted he’d been in her room but claimed to have seen her afterward in a bar with several other men. Released. Later, “mutilation murderer” Otto Stephen Wilson denied having killed her. Rhetta had been married, with a daughter.
06-28-44 Olive Laura Hill Gase, 31. Shot. “Red Ribbon Murder”
Found slumped in her car in front of a garage at 622 W. 17th St. Clutched a red ribbon in her hand. A waitress in the Turf Café at Pico & Figueroa, living at 428 W. Second St., she had an LA record on morals charges. Aliases Olive Miller, Doris King, Dorothy Davis. Police initially suspected her estranged husband Leo Gase, 45. They’d separated 3 months ago. He insisted they were reconciling. Alibi that he was been home at the time of the murder satisfied police. Olive’s asserted boyfriend, a “red-haired man,” later ID’d as Ronald Hibbs, 40, left town the day after the murder; arrested in NY and extradited to CA June 1945, he was tried and acquitted 9-24-45.
10-12-44 Georgette Bauerdorf, 20. Strangled, raped.
Found partially nude in bathtub of her apartment, 8493 Fountain Ave. Robbery apparently not a motive.
Previous post on Georgette:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6324772&postcount=17406
11-15-44: Virginia “Virgie” Lee Griffin, 25 & Lillian Johnson, 48. Hacked to death; bodies mutilated.
Virgie was found in the closet of a hotel room at 103 W. 4th St. Lillian was found a few hours later in a hotel room at 310-1/2 S. Hill.
Otto Stephen Wilson, 34, a medically discharged Navy man, arrested and confessed to beating and killing both women. Had been arrested in LA back in March 1943 for a choking attack on a woman- she screamed and scared him away. Held in Oct 1944 as a suspected “room prowler” but released. If asked about the Bauerdorf case, it wasn’t reported. Inquiries poured in from other states and elsewhere in CA asking about Otto in connection with similar cases and he was questioned in other LA cases, but he denied any knowledge. Police believed he’d been in So Cal since his discharge in 1942. Executed 11-20-46.
03-17-45: Vivian Riley, 28. Bludgeoned; beaten in face and head.
Partially-clad body found in the rain in an alley behind a hand laundry at 703 W. Sixth St. Body ID’d by hubby, Charles Riley. Vernon E. Spangler, 28, resident of the Lovera Hotel next door, arrested by Harry Hanson; denied knowing Vivian. Said he loaned his room to a sailor, a “chance acquaintance;” came home, found Vivian on the floor unconscious and removed her to the alley. Found guilty 5-24-45, sentenced to 5-to-life at San Quentin.
Previous posts related to Vivian:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6058659&postcount=13399
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6058781&postcount=13401
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6059816&postcount=13419
12-30-45: Dorothy R. Eggers, 41. Shot; body mutilated; head and hands severed with saw. “The Torso Murder.”
Found in a ravine off Rim of the World Highway, San Bernardino. Before the Short case, this was LA's "torso murder." Eventually ID’d as Dorothy by her husband Arthur R. Eggers, 52 who had reported her missing. Eggers and a male lodger at the couple’s home were questioned. Eggers confessed to shooting and dismembering Dorothy, leading police to the gun and saw used, but later reversed himself. He admitted to an altercation with his wife after coming home and seeing a man run out of their home, 2020 N. Rosemead Blvd., Temple City and finding Dorothy in bed, nude. Dorothy’s lifestyle and alleged affairs were used by both sides as both a defense and a motive. Found guilty and executed 10-16-1948.
1-30-46: Alice Mieglitz, 55. Bludgeoned, right hand nearly severed by knife.
Found in an orange grove five miles north of Fontana. Brought there by automobile. Put up a terrible fight for her life. Not a sex crime, and robbery apparently not a motive as her jewelry was intact, though her purse was missing. Identified the next day by hubby Ernest, 59, who said she’d gone to Fontana to stay with a friend. For several days police searched frantically for an apparent maniac, but suspicion soon fell on Ernest due to major discrepancies in his story. A neighbor saw the couple drive away together in their car. He was found insane and committed to Mendocino State Hospital. Died in 1970.
03-13-46: Diane Sparks, 31. Shot in head and chest.Mutilated body found partially buried in an abandoned olive orchard/“lovers lane” area off Glenoaks Blvd., Lanark Canyon, Roscoe.
Detailed post on Diane here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5869970&postcount=9851
rcarlton had also asked about George’s alibi, and Bessie Hensley, and Ramon’s acquittal.
Hensley was the mother of one of the little girls who found the body but her story of witnessing the murder seems a little off.
George Sparks reported Dorothy missing 1-29-46 (the next day and for several after he’d have read about the apparent maniac on the loose near Fontana). He was at work at the time of her disappearance, returning to the home around noon. The car was found several miles from the couple’s home, 10822 Chandler Blvd. A neighbor woman had seen Diane drive away in the car earlier that day. George voluntarily submitted to a lie detector test, which went on for at least 6 hours, as well as questioning in a downtown hotel. He admitted Diane had been “restless” and that they had been discussing a possible separation. In all, they grilled him for 24 hours and cleared him as a suspect.
Diane’s dad did some amateur sleuthing and found through gas credit card receipts that Diane had bought gas the day she vanished. The station attendant identified the man who’d been with her as Ramon Gonzales. Confronted, Ramon said Diane called him the afternoon she vanished saying she’d run out of gas on Hollywood Way near Victory Blvd. He brought her some, then they went to the gas station and bought more. She suggested they go watch planes take off at Lockheed. Then she took him back to his truck and he went home. Police found inconsistencies in the gas story – newspaper accounts seem to bear this out- sometimes he says the car was stalled, another time he says it was out of gas, etc. He was booked on suspicion of murder but released then booked again when his sawed-off shotgun was found and ID’d as the murder weapon 3-19-46 Ramon said it had been stolen a month before Diane vanished. He was booked again on suspicion of murder.
Reports of the trial getting underway July 17 overlapped with articles about Gladys Landon’s body being found (misidentified in the
Times as “Gertrude)
Ramon testified that he’d been to a party at the Sparks’ the night before she’d vanished, and had heard them quarrelling, that Diane said she was sick of George and going to run away the next day with “someone she loved.” George denied there’d been a quarrel.
Unknown why the all-woman jury voted to acquit. But even the judge noted while the trial was still going on that the case against Gonzales was “weak.” Lack of motive one of the factors. Ramon denied any romantic involvement with Diane and was apparently convincing.
07-2-46: Annetta B. Jarvis, 67. Shot.
Found fully clothed inside her dressmaker’s shop, 553 S. Western Ave. Sept 1, 1946 Frances Paul Barnes, 21, a dishonorably discharged sailor, confessed to the crime as well as a summer long crime wave of robberies, kidnappings and rapes/sexual assaults on at least two other victims. Said he shot Mrs. Jarvis when she screamed. Found guilty by an all-woman jury and executed 11-15-47.
07-14-46: Gladys Evelyn Landon, 36. Strangled by hand.
Found semi-nude in a dump at Palos Verdes. Went missing 7-10-46 after leaving home, 9635 Hoover St., to mail a letter Husband Kenneth, a service station owner, was asleep at the time. A friend spotted her car a few days later parked on Menlo Ave. near Slauson Ave. It showed no sign of violence. Her clothing was never found.
07-20-46: Angelina Loya, 24. Raped, beaten, body slashed and mutilated.
Found dying amid rubbish in a vacant lot at 1026 E. Olympic. Had been at the Avodon Ballroom, 9th & Spring the night before and left with a man named Peter. Initial reports said police were looking for a middle-aged man driving a delivery truck who supposedly fled after telling passerby to call an ambulance. They arrested the man she'd met at the dance hall, Peter J. Hernandez, 25, a butcher. He admitted walking her home but denied having killed her. Said blood found on his clothing was due to Angelina having fallen down and cutting herself several times on their walk. In other report, she was walking to a friend’s house to discuss plans for her upcoming marriage. Hernandez was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in Aug 1946.
01-15-47: Elizabeth (Beth) Short, 22. Bludgeoned, body cut in 2 at the waist, sexually assaulted, tortured. “The Black Dahlia”
Many posts on this case already- list probably not complete:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6003163&postcount=12304
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=6003658&postcount=12308
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5127546&postcount=2505
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5127564&postcount=2507
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5118309&postcount=2456
01-18-47: Mary Tate, 37. Strangled with a stocking.
Found murdered in her room, 107 Weller St., Los Angeles. Mary, a black woman, didn’t warrant much coverage in the wake of the Short case. Oscar Johan Hallgren, 40, was arrested for her murder July 1, 1947, but released. He’d been a patient at Moose Lake State Hospital, MN in 1940 and died in Long Beach, CA in 1976.
02-10-47: Jeanne French, 40. Bludgeoned/beaten, strangled, body dragged, kicked and trampled, mouth edges gashed, other gash marks on body. “The Lipstick Murder”
Found nude in vacant lot off Grand View Blvd in a remote West L.A. area known as “The Moors.” Obscene words and the initials BD written in lipstick on her body led police to speculate it might refer to the Short crime. A former Army Air nurse, stewardess and sometimes movie extra, she and second husband Frank, a former Marine, had separated about 2 weeks earlier after he allegedly beat her. Seen in bars and café’s around town that night, she later went to her husband’s rooms and they quarreled, then she left. Frank was arrested and questioned but released.
Previous posts about Jeanne
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5049360&postcount=1949
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=5049864&postcount=1950
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9854
03-11-47: Mae Lorene Lund aka Lorena Preston/Mae Preston, 46. Strangled with electrical cord, head smashed in.
Body found partially nude, dumped in tall grass on a river embankment. Wearing a diamond ring and gold watch. Police believed she’d been strangled in bed in her home, 15 Burton St. Bellflower, after fighting with her assailant. Former Army MP Myron Lee Funk, 23, confessed to the crime. Said he’d had a drunken argument with Mae, “his father’s girlfriend.” The father questioned and released. Myron was indicted, outcome of trial not found. He died in 1959.
03-12-47: Evelyn Winters, 42. Bludgeoned, strangled.
Found partially nude in a railroad right of way on Ducommun St. A Vassar graduate and former a legal secretary in the movie industry, her life spiraled downward due to alcoholism. Homeless, she divided her time between the library and bars. Had left bags of clothing at a liquor store for safe keeping. Last seen with James Joseph Tiernan, 30, a red-headed former pin boy a bowling alley at 924 S. Olive. Booked on suspicion of murder but released.
Previous post about Evelyn:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=9854
05-02-47: Dorothy Montgomery, 36. Choked by hand, bludgeoned. “The Butterfly Murder.”
Found nude in a vacant lot on a “pepper tree lane” across from 9115 Grape St. Clothes ripped from body in shreds led police to speculate that the killer was a sex fiend. A gold butterfly brooch she often found under the body. She’d left home, 8110 Alix Ave., Firestone Park area, to go pick up their 15-year old daughter at a playground but never showed up. Husband Thomas, 39, reported her missing at 11:30 that night. The daughter looked for car in the morning and found it near the playground gate- it had not been there the night before. Police didn’t think she’d been killed in the vacant lot or in the car. Papers pointed out that “unlike other victims of recent mutilation murders,” Dorothy didn’t frequent bars and was in fact opposed to drinking. Husband Thomas was arrested for the murder. A witness ID’d him as the man who left the victim’s car in front of his house, 6112 Hooper St. Neighbors testified of hearing screams in the vicinity of the couple’s home the fatal night and that the car had been there then. Thomas admitted they’d had “three big arguments” before she was found dead but denied killing her. He was acquitted.
05-11-47: Laura Eliza Trelstad, 37. Bludgeoned, strangled with the cloth waistband torn from a pair of men’s shorts or pajamas, raped.
Found nude/ seminude in a vacant lot in the 3400 block of Locust Ave. Clothing appeared to have been flung from a car, 1 shoe missing. The mother of three kids ages 3-8, she was not in the habit of frequenting bars. She and husband Ingram were visiting friends; Laura left alone, saying she was going out dancing. Seen at a bar 322 E. 1st St., with a sailor, or two men “pestering” her, or an elderly man according to various witnesses. A cab driver noticed her “staggering” down Locust Ave., only blocks from her home at 2211 Locust, then saw her get on a bus. The bus driver said she had been followed by a tall man.
07-08-47: Rosenda Josephine Mondragon, 20. Strangled with stocking.
Found nude dumped on Elmyra St. near N. Main, possibly from a speeding car. Clothing found scattered around the neighborhood, underwear and black suede shoes missing. Had served husband Antonio with divorce papers only hours earlier and they quarreled. He said she was intoxicated. A clerk in a market at Mission Rd. and N. Main said a woman matching her description came in to call a taxi but left with a man in a car before it arrived. The husband was booked on suspicion of murder but released.
02-16-48: Gladys Kern, 42. Stabbed.
Found murdered in a vacant house at 4217 Cromwell Ave., Los Feliz that she, a realtor, was showing. Robbery the apparent motive. Seen with a man, believe to be a client, shortly before the murder. Her black book of clients missing. Mysterious “alibi” note mailed to police from a man claiming he was a “front man” for a “racketeer” who wanted to buy the house. Husband not a suspect.
06-13-49: Louise Springer, 35. Bludgeoned, strangled, sexually assaulted/tortured.
Found face down in the family car in front of 126 W. 38th St. Las seen by husband two days earlier when she and the car vanished from a parking lot at Crenshaw & Santa Barbara Ave. while he was in a store for about 20 minutes. She was a beauty shop operator, he was a noted hairdresser. They had a 21-month old son. The couple’s past lifestyle in Los Gatos, San Jose and Santa Barbara checked into as a possible motive but nothing came of it. Many suspects questioned but no serious leads.
08-11-49: Jean Elizabeth Spangler, 27. Missing. Body never found.
Purse found on street at Hollywood's Dell park. Involved in a custody battle with her ex-husband. Vanished around the same time as Mickey Cohen’s henchman Dave Ogel who was out on bail; supposedly seen in Palm Springs with him. Ogel, Spangler and another missing Cohen henchman Frank Niccolli supposedly seen in Texas together in Mar 1950.
Details of Jean in this post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=18375
08-18-49: Mimi Boomhower, 48. Missing, body never found.
Purse found a phone booth at Ralphs market, 9331 Wilshire, with note written on it saying it had been found at the beach the night she vanished; no traces of sand or salt water found on it, however. Ostensibly wealthy widow of congoleum inventor Novice E. Boomhower, friends said she liked to go out almost every night with different “boyfriends.” Left home, a Monterey-style mansion at 701 Nimes Rd., Bel Air, with the lights burning and was never seen again. Known to wear a fortune in jewels, robbery was the suspected motive, though it was later found that Mimi herself had pawned some jewelry prior to her disappearance. She had also recently decided to sell the mansion, leading to speculation about a link to the Kern murder. Declared legally dead in 1956.
Photos I compiled from AP or other wire press services. Many of the cases received national coverage.
L-R: Florence Stricker, Charleen Degley, Ora Murray. Olive Gase, Georgette Bauerdorf
L-R: Virgie Griffin, Lillian Johnson, Dorothy Eggers, Diane Sparks, Gladys (not Gertrude) Landon
L-R: Elizabeth Short, Jeanne French, Evelyn Winters, Dorothy Montgomery, Laura Trelstad
L-R: Rosenda Mondragon, Gladys Kern, Louise Springer, Jean Spangler, Mimi Boomhower