The Black Dahlia Murder Mystery

Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 - approx. January 15, 1947) was an American woman who was a victim of a horrible and highly publicized murder. Nicknamed the Black Dahlia, Short was found maimed, with their bodies broken on January 15, 1947 in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. The murder, which remains unsolved, has been the source of widespread speculation as well as several books and film adaptations. (Smith, 9)

Elizabeth Short was the third of five girls. She was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and his father built miniature golf courses in 1929 until the stock market crash. In 1930, parked his car on a bridge and disappeared , leading some to believe he had committed suicide. Subsequently, it was discovered that he was alive. Elizabeth Short was raised in Medford, by her mother, Phoebe Mae, who moved the family to a small apartment and found work as an accountant. Concerned about asthma and bronchitis, Elizabeth was sent to Florida to 16 for the winter, and spent the next three years living there during the cold months in Medford and the rest of the year, while working as a waitress. He was 5'5 "and 115 pounds, with bad teeth, light blue eyes and brown hair. At age 19, went to Vallejo, California, to live with her father, who worked at the Naval Shipyard Mare Island. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but after an argument, that the left and got a job at one of the posts at Camp Cooke exchanges (now Base Vandenberg Air Force) near Lompoc. Then he moved to Santa Barbara, where he was arrested on September 23, 1943 by a minor alcohol and was sent back to Medford by juvenile authorities. In the few years that followed, she lived in Florida, with occasional trips back to Massachusetts, the most money as a waitress. (Smith, 9) In Florida, Short met Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr., who was part of the 2nd Air Commandos and training for deployment in the China Burma India theater of operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote a letter proposing marriage to India while recovering from a crash he suffered while trying to rescue a downed flyer. (He was, according to his obituary in the Pueblo, Colorado newspaper, awarded a Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Air Medal with 15 oak leaf clusters and the Purple Heart). She accepted his proposal, but died in an accident on August 10, 1945, before he could return to the U.S. Subsequently, embellished the story, saying that they were married and had a son who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirm that Gordon were engaged in short and then his family denies any connection after Short's murder. (Smith, 9)

Elizabeth Short returned to Southern California in July 1946 to see an old boyfriend she met in Florida during the war, Lt. Gordon Fickling, who was stationed in Long Beach. For the six months preceding his death, which remained in ...