Author Claims to Solve Notorious 'Black Dahlia' Murder

Killer was a sadistic accused pimp, says Piu Eatwell
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2017 6:11 AM CDT
Updated Oct 26, 2017 6:35 AM CDT
Author Claims to Solve Notorious 'Black Dahlia' Murder
This photo shows Elizabeth Short, dubbed the Black Dahlia.   (Wikimedia)

It wasn't a doctor who tortured, killed, and carved a clown-like smile in the face of the Black Dahlia, but an accused pimp who escaped punishment as part of a police cover-up, according to a new book. After three years of scouring official documents and grand jury files, British author Piu Eatwell puts forth a new theory that aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was killed in 1947 by a man with links to organized crime who threatened to expose other Los Angeles murders if police arrested him, reports Opposing Views. According to Eatwell's Black Dahlia, Red Rose, Short had a falling out with Danish businessman and nightclub owner Mark Hansen, who then used his mob connections to ask accused pimp Leslie Dillon to get rid of her, reports the Sun.

Hansen, one of several suspects in Short's murder, may not have realized that Dillon was a sadistic psychopath who would use his experience as a mortician's assistant to torture and kill Short before cutting her body in two and draining it of blood, Eatwell writes. She believes the murder took place at the Aster Motel, whose owner hid a blood-stained room and a bundle of bloodied clothes found on the same day as Short's body for fear he'd become a suspect. Eatwell says police later questioned Dillon, who knew details of the murder even police did not, per People. But he was never arrested because he threatened to embarrass police by exposing the extent of organized crime in LA, says Eatwell, adding she's "confident" she's solved the case. (Here's another theory.)

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