Black Dahlia City of Secrets

The Black Dahlia murder refers to the unsolved 1947 killing of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. ​ On January 15, 1947, her mutilated body was discovered in a vacant lot in Leimert Park, severed at the waist with surgical precision, drained of blood, and posed with a "Glasgow smile" carved into her face; she had been tortured, beaten, and possibly bound before death from cerebral hemorrhage and shock. Media dubbed her the "Black Dahlia" after her dark hair, black clothing, and a play on the film Blue Dahlia. The LAPD investigated over 150 suspects, including doctors due to the precise cuts, but false confessions, taunting letters with her belongings, and media frenzy led nowhere; no one was ever charged despite theories implicating figures like George Hodel. ​