{"id":12610,"date":"2023-02-02T18:52:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T02:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derangedlacrimes.com\/?p=12610"},"modified":"2023-02-02T19:01:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T03:01:22","slug":"black-dahlia-false-confessors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derangedlacrimes.com\/?p=12610","title":{"rendered":"Black Dahlia: False Confessors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every high-profile murder case gets its share of false confessors. The police have no choice but to check them out, no matter how ludicrous the claim is. It is frustrating for investigators to travel down dead-ends, but they never know from where, or from whom, a break will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In late January 1947, two female confessors contacted LAPD detectives to confess their guilt. Minnie Sepulveda telephoned LAPD\u2019s University Station from a bar. She said, \u201cI just stabbed a girl. I killed Elizabeth Short.\u201d They quickly dismissed her claim. Police also dismissed Emily Williams\u2019 confession. Williams, a former WAC, suffered from an undescribed mental ailment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
False confessor, Minnie Sepulveda. [Photo courtesy of LAPL]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The confessions kept coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty-three-year-old Daniel Voorhees of Phoenix, Arizona, telephoned the LAPD homicide squad room and told them he murdered Elizabeth Short. He said he would surrender to them at the corner of 4th<\/sup> and Hill downtown. At first, he refused to elaborate on his claim. Detective Lieutenant Charles King, with Dr. Paul De River, police psychiatrist, postponed a lie detector test until Voorhies recovered from his \u201cbewildered and befuddled\u201d state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Daniel Voorhees. Photo courtesy LAPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Voorhees said he arrived in town on January 15 and checked into a hotel at 1012 E. Seventh Street at 10:45 a.m. He checked out the next day. He said he met Short on Hill Street \u201ctwo weeks ago\u201d (about the time of the murder) and took her for a ride on a Wilshire bus. He claimed he dated Short in 1941. Not only was she a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 1941, she didn\u2019t arrive in Los Angeles until 1943. In his confession note, Voorhees misspelled his alleged victim\u2019s last name. Police, who never actually believed his ramblings, released him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo courtesy LAPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marvin Hart, a thirty-five-year-old physical culture instructor, didn\u2019t learn his lesson from the war-time mantra, \u201cLoose Lips Sink Ships.\u201d The drunk chatterbox told a taxicab driver, \u201cGet me out of here; I have just killed a man.\u201d The driver picked Hart up on Wilshire near the Los Angeles Country Club and drove him to a rooming house at 1842 N. Cherokee Street in Hollywood. The same building in which Short lived for a time. Rattled, the taxi driver went to the police and gave his statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Detectives brought Hart in for questioning. That he lived in the same building as Short and took her out a few times piqued their interest. They asked him to explain nis torn coat. \u201cI had a fight with my girlfriend. We were at a party in West Los Angeles last night, and I guess I got pretty drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marvin Hart. Photo courtesy LAPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hart was a bone-headed blabbermouth, but he wasn\u2019t a killer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LAPD Vice Squad officers arrested Altadena resident Hugh Torbert Jr., on April 17, after trailing him and a female companion to a downtown hotel. While the officers waited for the perfect moment to break down the door and make a bust, they overheard Torbert tell the woman with him he knew Short, but didn\u2019t want to get involved in the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hugh Torbert. Photo courtesy LAPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Captain Jack Donohoe, head of LAPD\u2019s homicide detail, checked into Torbert\u2019s background. Torbert was in the Army and served at Camp Cooke, where Short worked at the Post Exchange. Tantalizing bits of information; leading to another blind alley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One confessor made front page news. Joseph Dumais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The February 8, 1947 edition of the Herald, announced that the army had the Black Dahlia\u2019s killer in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Herald<\/em> story began with a definitive statement. \u201cArmy Corporal Joseph Dumais, 29, of Fort Dix, N.J., is definitely the murderer of the Black Dahlia, army authorities at Fort Dix announced today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dumais, a combat veteran, returned from leave wearing blood-stained trousers with his pockets crammed full of clippings about Short\u2019s murder. According to the Herald, <\/em>Dumais made a 50-page confession in which he claimed to have had a mental blackout after dating Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles five days before Betty Bersinger discovered the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Joseph Dumais. Photo courtesy LAPL. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The good-looking corporal seemed like the real deal. He told the cops, \u201cWhen I get drunk, I get pretty rough with women.\u201d Unfortunately, when police checked his story against known facts, the confession didn\u2019t hold up. The Army sent Dumais to a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time passed, and the investigation faded from the headlines. So, too, did the steady stream of confessors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 8, 1950, a thirty-five-year-old movie bit player and member of the Screen Actor\u2019s Guild, Max Handler, became the twenty-fifth person to confess to murdering Elizabeth Short (one man confessed four times).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handler phoned LAPD homicide and said he was \u201ccracking up.\u201d In his signed confession, he said, \u201cI killed the Black Dahlia girl, for which I am sorry.\u201d He said he didn\u2019t recall committing the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Max Handler with Det. Ed Barrett (in hat and glasses). Photo courtesy LAPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Detectives revealed that a man resembling Handler and a young woman resembling Short were seen together in a Hollywood bar and at a motel on or about the date of her murder, January 15, 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One clue gave detectives hope. In Short\u2019s purse, found several days after her murder, was the business card of a local real estate company. The same company Handler worked for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police abandoned a lie detector test because Handler was so distraught, they knew they would never get an accurate reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several days in police custody, Handler recanted his confession. He said the reason he confessed is he wanted police protection. From whom? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Handler, \u201cA lot of little men with violins have been chasing me around. I wanted police protection. I knew they\u2019d only laugh at me if I\u2019d tell them about the men with the violins. So, I figured out another way to get the protection I needed.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detective Lieutenants Harry Hansen and Ed Barrett, referred Handler for a sanity test before the county Lunacy Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The personal demons that caused Handler to confess to the Black Dahlia murder didn\u2019t keep him from appearing in movies. He had an interesting career<\/a>. He appeared in many B movies, but he also turned up in productions like The Asphalt Jungle<\/em>, From Here to Eternity<\/em>, and my favorite, Crime Wave<\/em>. His last film credit, in 1960, is for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handler died in 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even seventy-six years after the murder, people still phone LAPD about the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every high-profile murder case gets its share of false confessors. The police have no choice but to check them out, no matter how ludicrous the claim is. It is frustrating for investigators to travel down dead-ends, but they never know … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2649,994],"tags":[65,400,81,2849,2868,2860,2862,2866,2865,541,80,2861,2869,2864,367,2859,2863,1490,1488,2870,2867],"class_list":["post-12610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-los-angeles-county","category-unsolved-crimes-of-los-angeles","tag-65","tag-400","tag-black-dahlia","tag-capt-jack-donohoe","tag-crime-wave","tag-daniel-voorhees","tag-det-lt-charles-king","tag-det-lt-ed-barrett","tag-det-lt-harry-hansen","tag-dr-j-paul-de-river","tag-elizabeth-short","tag-emily-williams","tag-from-here-to-eternity","tag-hugh-torbert-jr","tag-lunacy-commission","tag-mack-chandler","tag-marvin-hart","tag-max-handler","tag-minnie-sepulveda","tag-the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn","tag-the-asphalt-jungle"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack Dahlia: False Confessors - Deranged LA Crimes \u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/derangedlacrimes.com\/?p=12610\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Dahlia: False Confessors - Deranged LA Crimes \u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every high-profile murder case gets its share of false confessors. 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