Forty uniformed police officers began a house-to-house search around Norton Avenue, Coliseum Drive and 39th<\/sup> Street, where Elizabeth Short\u2019s body was found. The killer left no evidence at the body dump site, so the police wanted to find the \u201ctorture chamber\u201d where Beth was murdered and cut in half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Detective Lieutenant P. P. Freestone said, \u201cWe hope to find someone who saw her during the blank period preceding her death, or who might have heard screams when she was being tortured. The police are in uniform so that housewives won\u2019t refuse to answer their rings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officers found many people willing to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Paul Simone, a painting contractor, told officers he overheard a bitter quarrel between someone he thought was Beth and another woman. The women argued in apartment 501 at 1842 N. Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood, where Beth had lived with several roommates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simone said, \u201cIt was pretty hard language.\u201d He said the last thing he heard was \u201cOh, nuts to you,\u201d from the other woman. \u201cNuts to you\u201d must have been harsh language for women in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem with Simone\u2019s story is he claimed to have heard the altercation on January 11th<\/sup>. Later, they proved there were no credible sightings of Beth from January 9th until the 15th, when Betty Bersinger found her body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In desperation, police rousted anyone who looked suspicious to them. They arrested one man, only to find out he was distraught because his dog was sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police sought women, too. They launched a \u201cwoman hunt\u201d for a pair of brunettes seen with Beth in Hollywood. Newspapers hinted the two women might be lesbians. They described the places the women visited as \u201cHollywood women\u2019s hangouts.\u201d Nothing came of the brunettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nMinie Sepulveda, one of the women who falsely confessed to Beth’s murder. Photo courtesy LAPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Walter A. Johnson, of 3815 Welland Steen, told officers on Tuesday, January 14, he was burning trash across the street from the vacant lot where they found Beth\u2019s body the next morning. He noticed a light tan or cream four-door sedan, possibly a 1935, and a man standing near it. The man\u2019s behavior piqued Johnson\u2019s curiosity. \u201cHe walked a little way up the street, then came back, crossed over and looked into my car, and finally got into his own and drove off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson got in his car and followed the mystery man, but lost him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police asked why he had not come forward earlier. Johnson said he reported the incident, \u201cbut nothing came of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another witness surfaced. A cab driver, I. A. Jorgenson, told detectives he believed he picked Beth and a man friend at Sixth and Main Street on the night of January 11. He said he was \u201calmost positive\u201d the woman was Beth. Jorgenson said the couple hailed his cab, and they instructed him to take them to a Hollywood motel. The police withheld the motel’s name but told reporters they would question the employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of the tips gleaned from the neighborhood sweep resulted in a solid lead. The police questioned hundreds of people, asking questions like the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you know anybody in the neighborhood who is mentally unbalanced?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnybody of whom you were suspicious after reading about the Elizabeth Short murder?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you know of any medical students?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDid you find any strange items in your yard or incinerator?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police chemist Ray Pinker worked long hours to bring a solution to the murder. He sought to establish Beth\u2019s blood type after a gray, bloodstained blanket turned up late on January 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bloodstained tarp, 3 by 6 feet, found near Indio, was also being examined in the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Desperate to solve the case, the Los Angeles City Council offered a $10,000 (equivalent to $141,368.00 in current USD) reward; but the city attorney felt it to be inappropriate. City council member Ed Davenport, perhaps naively, said an informer \u201cshould be prepared to talk without being paid by the city. Maybe now he will come forward without waiting for any reward to be offered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If such an informer existed, he or she has never come forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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