Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
It's among the most notorious unsolved murders in the long history of LA crime. And a lifetime later, the case still fascinates people all over the world.
Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old drifter. Gruesome doesn't begin to describe her murder. Her mouth was slashed from ear-to-ear. Her body was cut in two, and drained of blood, before being washed clean and placed in a lot near Leimert Park.
The press jumped on the story and didn't let go, embellishing it in dozens of ways, and coining a sobriquet for Short - The Black Dahia. Suspects came and went, dozens of people confessed to the crime, and a small library of books have been written about the case. Yet, it remains open.
Now, at the 70th anniversary of the murder, we look back with crime historian and mystery writer Kim Cooper.
Click on the blue bar to listen to the entire conversation.