{"id":14500,"date":"2026-01-09T19:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/derangedlacrimes.com\/?p=14500"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T03:20:12","slug":"black-dahlia-last-seen-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derangedlacrimes.com\/?p=14500","title":{"rendered":"Black Dahlia: Last Seen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two men and a woman came to the door of the French home on January 7, 1947. Elizabeth Short saw them, but didn\u2019t open the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their visit rattled her. Who were they? If she knew, she didn\u2019t say. Instead, she contacted Robert \u201cRed\u201d Manley, the salesman she\u2019d dated a couple of times, and asked him to come and get her.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Elizabeth Short<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Red arrived at the French home at 7:30 p.m. He loaded Beth\u2019s two suitcases in the car. Neighbors who saw them said they seemed in high spirits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They headed north, hugging the coast, and checked into a motel a few hours later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an evening of dinner and dancing, they returned to the motel. Beth curled up in the chair. Red took the bed\u2014alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, they left the motel and started north. What was said on that drive to Los Angeles? Red noticed some scratches on Beth’s arms and asked her about them.\u00a0She spun a story about a jealous boyfriend. An Italian with a temper. He had scratched her. Maybe he never existed. Maybe she made the scratches herself. It wasn\u2019t the last lie she told him that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beth spent much of the drive in silence. She may have wondered what she would do once she hit L.A. She had calls to make. Maybe one of her Hollywood friends had a couch. But first\u2014she needed to ditch Red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they arrived in the city, Beth told Red that she needed to check her luggage at the bus depot. He took her there, but refused to leave her in that neighborhood on her own. She insisted she would be fine, but he wouldn’t hear of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beth had a few minutes while she checked her bags to come up with a plan. When they returned to his car, she told him she needed to go to the Biltmore Hotel to wait for her sister. It was a lie. Her sister Virginia was in Oakland, hundreds of miles to the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red drove her several blocks to the hotel. The main lobby was on Olive Street, directly opposite Pershing Square. She expected to be dropped off, but he wouldn\u2019t leave her. He may have wanted to postpone seeing Harriet. He hadn\u2019t spoken to her for days.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sat in the Biltmore\u2019s grand lobby, surrounded by velvet chairs and marble silence. They made small talk. Nothing important. Nothing honest. Red finally said he had to go. She assured him she would be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Biltmore Hotel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At 6:30 p.m. Beth watched him go. She waited a few moments, eyes on the clock. Then she rose and walked out. She turned right onto Olive Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did she stop at the Crown Grill at Eighth and Olive? She\u2019d been there before. Maybe she\u2019d find a familiar face\u2014or a place to sleep. Some of the Grill\u2019s patrons thought they saw her that night. None were certain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime after 6:30 p.m. on January 9, 1947, Elizabeth Short met her killer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEXT TIME<\/strong>: The missing week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE: <\/strong>For a glimpse into Los Angeles as Beth Short would have seen it, here is some amazing B-roll<\/a> from shot for a Rita Hayworth film, Down to Earth<\/a>, via the Internet Archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two men and a woman came to the door of the French home on January 7, 1947. Elizabeth Short saw them, but didn\u2019t open the door. Their visit rattled her. Who were they? If she knew, she didn\u2019t say. Instead, … 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":[6,2649,2645,994],"tags":[229,65,83,1475,1478,80,1477,82],"class_list":["post-14500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1940s","category-los-angeles-county","category-san-diego-county","category-unsolved-crimes-of-los-angeles","tag-229","tag-65","tag-biltmore-hotel","tag-crown-grill","tag-dorothy-french","tag-elizabeth-short","tag-elvera-french","tag-robert-red-manley"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack Dahlia: Last Seen - 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=14500\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Dahlia: Last Seen - Deranged LA Crimes \u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two men and a woman came to the door of the French home on January 7, 1947. 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