Archive · 4 Sep 2026
Elizabeth Short’s Murder Remains Unsolved After Nearly 80 Years
Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old woman who lived in Los Angeles.
She disappeared after being left at a hotel on January 9, 1947.
Six days later, someone found her body in an empty lot.
Her body had been cleaned, cut apart after death and arranged there.
A person claiming to be the killer sent some of her belongings to a newspaper.
That person promised to surrender but never appeared.
Police investigated many suspects, including people connected to Short and people with medical knowledge.
Hundreds of people later confessed, but nearly all of the confessions were false.
The case remains unsolved, and many details about Short’s final six days are unknown.
Elizabeth Short was found dead and mutilated in a Los Angeles vacant lot on January 15, 1947.
Investigators concluded she had been killed elsewhere, then washed, severed, transported and posed at the site.
Her last confirmed sighting came six days earlier, when Robert Manley left her at the Biltmore Hotel.
A caller and letter writer claiming to be the killer sent Short’s belongings to the Los Angeles Examiner and promised to surrender, but never did.
Hundreds of confessions and numerous theories have failed to establish who killed Short.
- Who
- Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old woman; her killer has never been identified.
- What
- Short was murdered, her body was mutilated and displayed, and her belongings were later mailed to a newspaper.
- When
- Short was last confirmed alive on January 9, 1947; her body was found on January 15, 1947.
- Where
- Her body was found in a vacant lot on South Norton Avenue in Los Angeles, between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street.
- Why
- The motive remains unknown. Investigators considered possible motives involving personal relationships, but no explanation was proven.
Established Findings
Later Theories And Claims
Where Short was killed
Established Findings
Investigators concluded that Short was killed somewhere else because her body had been washed, drained of blood and transported to the vacant lot.
Later Theories And Claims
Author Piu Eatwell argued that Short was killed at the Aster Motel and that her body was later moved, but the theory remains disputed.
The killer’s possible expertise
Established Findings
The precise division of the body led investigators to examine surgeons, doctors, medical students and others with anatomical knowledge, but no useful evidence emerged.
Later Theories And Claims
Later theories, including accusations against physician George Hodel, have proposed medically trained killers, but Hodel was never charged and no suspect has been conclusively linked to the crime.
Claims about torture and assault
Established Findings
The official autopsy documented fatal head and facial injuries and found no sperm in samples; it did not support several lurid newspaper claims about prolonged torture.
Later Theories And Claims
Newspapers and later retellings circulated claims of extended torture and other abuse, but the article states that several of these allegations lacked reliable support.
- Victim
- Elizabeth Short, born July 29, 1924
- Age at death
- 22
- Discovery date
- January 15, 1947
- Discovery location
- A vacant lot on South Norton Avenue in Los Angeles
- Last confirmed sighting
- January 9, 1947, when Robert Manley left her at the Biltmore Hotel
- Official cause of death
- Hemorrhaging from facial wounds and shock from blows to the head and face
- Confessions
- About 60 during the original investigation and more than 500 over subsequent decades