Quote:“He wants to live the rich, successful, freewheeling bachelor life. He can’t do that when he’s paying child support, alimony and everything else,” Distaso said. “He didn’t want to be tied to this kid the rest of his life. He didn’t want to be tied to Laci for the rest of his life. So he killed her.”

Quote:The Black Dahlia sounds extremely familiar but I can't quite place it but I have definitly heard about it before.

Quote:Born July 29, 1924, in Hyde Park, Mass., Beth Short was daughter of Phoebe and Cleo Short. They soon moved to Medford, Mass.
Her legal name was Elizabeth Short (no middle name). While a child, many called her Betty, and as she matured, she preferred to be called Beth.

In 1929, Cleo disappeared, many believing he had committed suicide, as his empty car was found near a bridge. He later sent a letter to his wife, apologizing for leaving. Phoebe refused to allow him to return.

Beth matured quickly. She grew up to become a beautiful teenager - she looked older and more sophisticated than others her age.

As a child, Beth frequently attended movies with her mother. And later, the girl's goal was to work in movies.

At age 19, Beth ventured to Vallejo, Calif., to live with her father. The stay did not last long, however. Her father asked her to leave because he said she was lazy and stayed out late.

Near Santa Barbara was Beth's next stop. It was here where she was arrested for underage drinking. After her arrest and fingerprinting, police instructed the young woman to return home to Medford.

At one time she had gone home for a visit, but Beth was determined to be in movies, and returned to Hollywood.

It was mid-January, 1947, when Beth was last seen alive at the Biltmore Hotel. It was reported that she was to meet a gentleman. After leaving the hotel, she was never again seen alive.

Her body was found, severed, in the Crenshaw District January 15, 1947.

The murder of Elizabeth Short has intrigued, mystified, even disgusted the city of Los Angeles for more than half a centruy.

Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old wannabe actress, spent several years moving around, gaining odd jobs. Her passion for servicemen and aspiration to be famous made her a "different" woman of her time. She reportedly hooked up with a variety of men and women (one reported to having been Marilyn Monroe).

Her name evolved from her black hair and black attire. Some say she was named the Black Dahlia before her murder in January of 1947, others say the name was applied by journalists to sensationalize the crime.

On January 15, 1947, a passerby spotted her nude body in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Grass had reportedly been forced into her vagina, and she had reportedly been sodomized after death. Rumors of henna in her hair and BD carved into her body, as of yet to this outlet, have not been verified.

Upon the release of the murder in the press, several men and women admitted to the crime. But the police could not validate anyone's story. The case, notoriously, attracted several false confessions, and later surfaced more interest when James Ellroy wrote The Black Dahlia in 1987.

To date, according to the LAPD, the case goes unsolved. Though Janice Knowlton has authored a book naming her father as the killer, police have not reported Ms. Knowlton's statements or information as holding any water at all.

Quote:What We Know

Beth Short was a wannabe actress who fled to California to make a go of it. She had a genital defect that rendered her incapable of having standard intercourse.