While the Black Dahlia investigation officially remains open, the LAPD has "misplaced" all of the physical evidence in the case, eliminating, at least for now, the opportunity to apply modern forensic techniques to her personal effects and the few items gathered at the crime scene.

In spite of thousands of leads and multiple confessions, the murder of Elizabeth Short has never been solved. Or has it?

In Chapter 24, we take a look at my comments about the main suspects in the murder. I'll also share my comments about the investigation in general along with some tips on safely navigating the world of online dating. You can take a quiz to test your knowledge of the Black Dahlia case, enjoy some snarky humor, and peruse a list of references and cool sites.

Download the ebook version of all of Part 5 – Who Killed the Black Dahlia? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. Or buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

So who killed the Black Dahlia? In Chapter 23 of Anthrax to Zodiac, we take a look at the main suspects in the murder.

Could it have been Mark Hansen, a nightclub owner with connections deep in the underbelly of Hollywood who was said to have been obsessed with Short? Or was it Hansen’s associate, Artie Loy aka Jeff Connors, who admitted to police that he knew Short, was in LA at the time of her murder, and even claimed to have seen her at a bar the night before she was found dead. Or was the killer George Hodel, a polygamous venereal disease doctor with connections to the corrupt LAPD? Or could it have been Walter Bayley, a morphine-addicted surgeon with bizarre sexual proclivities who had lived near the dump site?

Download the ebook version of all of Part 5 – Who Killed the Black Dahlia? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. Or buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

In Chapter 22 of Anthrax to Zodiac, we take a deep dive into the massive investigation that followed the discovery of Elizabeth Short's bisected corpse. Read how the case was investigated in a quagmire of graft and public corruption by a police department and prosecutor’s office reeling from scandals and revelations that had been plaguing the city for a decade.

Learn how Short’s belongings were mailed to the Los Angeles Examiner after being soaked in gasoline, and see her purse and shoe that were retrieved from an LA landfill. And read about the stunning revelation that the LAPD is currently unable to locate any of the physical evidence in this open case.

While the entire book will be presented free of charge in these blog posts, you can obtain the ebook version of all of Part 5 – Who Killed the Black Dahlia? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

On January 15, 1947, a body was discovered in a vacant lot in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The corpse had been cut in two at the waist, eviscerated, and drained of blood. The woman’s face had been mutilated, and her neck and wrists were marred by ligature marks.

After the FBI identified the victim as Elizabeth Short, the LAPD launched one of the most extensive homicide investigations in the history of the department.
In spite of thousands of leads and multiple confessions, the murder of Elizabeth Short has never been solved. Or has it?

Chapter 21 of Anthrax to Zodiac takes a detailed look at the movements and activities of Elizabeth Short in the years, months, and days before her death.

For an easier reading experience, you can obtain the ebook version of all of Part 5 – Who Killed the Black Dahlia? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

In the last part of Chapter 18, we’ll explore some of the Zodiac’s most intriguing communications, and learn about the amazing amateur cryptographers who finally decoded the enigmatic 340 cipher over 50 years after the Zodiac sent it to the media.

In Chapter 19, we’ll examine the main suspects. Was the Zodiac a bizarre man living in a trailer full of dead animals swimming in jars of formaldehyde? Was he a brain-damaged psychiatric patient with a lengthy criminal record? Or was he an ordinary looking man who was questioned on the street by police minutes after the last murder, only to walk away and disappear forever?

Chapter 20 includes my comments, some tips for staying safe on the road, a quiz, some snarky humor, and a list of references and cool sites.

You can get the ebook version of all of Part 4 – Who Was the Zodiac Killer?< for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

In the final part of Chapter 17, we’ll examine the murder of the Zodiac’s final victim, taxi driver Paul Stine. Stine was a doctoral candidate at San Francisco State driving a hack to make ends meet until his graduation, scheduled for the following January. And learn about how police came within a hair's breadth of catching the Zodiac just minutes after the Stine murder.

In Chapter 18, learn about how the Zodiac sent multiple letters and mysterious ciphers to media outlets taunting police and terrorizing the public. See the documents and learn about the Salinas, California, couple who decoded his earliest coded messages.

While the entire book will be presented free of charge in these blog posts, for an easier reading experience, you can obtain the ebook version of all of Part 4 – Who Was the Zodiac Killer? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

This post contains more of Chapter 17 of Anthrax to Zodiac where we explore the Zodiac's second and third attacks and take a closer look at the lives of his victims.

We learn about the shooting of Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau at Blue Rock Springs and the knife attack on Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa.

We’ll consider the possibility that the Zodiac was known to Darlene Ferrin and that she recognized his car moments before she was killed. Then, we’ll examine the evidence left behind at the Lake Berryessa crime scene, including the Zodiac’s boot print and the note he left police written on the door of Hartnell’s white Karmann Ghia.

Get the ebook of all of Part 4 – Who Was the Zodiac Killer? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post or buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac in ebook, paperback, or audiobook at Amazon.com.

Between December 20, 1968, and October 11, 1969, the killer known as the Zodiac attacked at least seven victims, killing five of them. The Zodiac attacked three couples in remote areas of the northern California county of Napa before killing a taxi driver in the heart of San Francisco just outside the grounds of the Presidio.

Despite at least two surviving victims, numerous eyewitnesses, and one of the longest-running investigations in California history, the killer has never been identified, leaving us to wonder fifty-five years later, “Who was the Zodiac?”

In Chapter 16, we explore the chaotic social revolution that formed the backdrop of the attacks. In Chapter 17, we’ll look at the killings that launched the Zodiac’s reign of terror.

Get the ebook of all of Part 4 – Who Was the Zodiac Killer? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post or buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.