Old Dog New Trick – Rosco Rocks!

Rosco the Boxer begins read of  BDA Romanian translation at 80! Orange County, California Rosco the Boxer, who is rapidly approaching his 80th birthday, with bull-dogged determination rarely found in dogs half his age has recently enrolled at an Orange County Community College to learn Romanian. His motivation? Purely personal. It seems he wants to read the…

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Brother Mike – A Happier Time

My brother, Mike Hodel was much beloved by many Angelenos and listeners of Pacifica Radio.  Most knew him from the airwaves as a regular on KPFK radio. First as an investigative-reporter and news anchor, covering WATERGATE. (For which he won a “Golden Mike Award.”) For those of you who didn’t know his work, I recently came across a…

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New Baron Harringa Link found in DA Reports

Newly discovered research links Ernst von Harringa (“The Baron”) to vehicle at the Franklin House, and to the neighborhood, with his immediate family living just doors away from 1948 Lone Woman Murder victim, Gladys Kern.  Do new findings in the DA transcripts provide further confirmation that George Hodel was “well connected” to law-enforcement and more specifically, to L.A.’s “top cop”? Below we see…

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New DA Papers Show Basement Murder Suspected – McGrath-Morgan tail Dr. Hodel

  New found documents from the original 1950 Hodel-DA File reveal that DA investigators in 1950 were actively conducting a follow-up investigation to what they suspected may have been an actual “murder-in-progress” committed by George Hodel and Baron Harringa on the evening of February 18, 1950.  The DA transcripts for that 24-hour period clearly establish that an unidentified “sobbing” woman was “interrogated”…

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A Mixed Bag? More Crime Scene Evidence

 “Roll Call.  Kuster, O’Steen, Manocchia, Souza, Jones, Everheart, …..” As an occupation, nothing tops police work. Never routine.  Every day brings something new and exciting. Working Homicide you’re guaranteed there will always be a new whodunit just around the corner. Maybe tonight, tomorrow, or next week. You don’t know when, but you do know it’s coming. (I think my old partner and I…

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Architect Lloyd Wright Letters At UCLA Link Dr. George Hodel to Dahlia Crime Scene

   Sixty-two-years after they were written, documents preserved at UCLA’s Special Collections Department, literally establish a “paper trail” connecting Dr. George Hill Hodel to the Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia” crime-scene at the vacant lot, 3815 S. Norton Ave. Background: On January 22, 1947, an Inquest Hearing into the death of Elizabeth Short was held at the downtown Hall of Justice. The…

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GHH Hawaii 1951- "Preaching to the choir"

As we know from the DA Files, in April, 1950, George Hodel was being “stalked by DA Lt. Frank Jemison” and an arrest was imminent.   Tipped by confederates, he left the country sometime in 1950, and accepted a job offer as, “Staff Psychiatrist and Director of Rehabilitation Program” at the Territorial Hospital Kaneohe, Hawaii. Part of his job description included…

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Rowland Brown – Bugsy Siegel Anecdote

In an early chapter of  BDA I wrote somewhat reverently about a close family friend, film director Rowland Brown. As a young boy, I loved Rowland.  He was right up there with Atticus Finch, as my all-time hero. (Still is!)  But, unlike Atticus, Rowland was real. He had become a substitute father figure for dad, who had moved on to Asia. Rowland was big, friendly and showed tremendous respect…

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Baron Harringa writes for L.A. Times 1931-32

In an earlier  blog “Bugging Tapes Baron Identified”  I referenced two (2) separate articles written by “The Baron” for  the Los Angeles Times in 1932 (I Fought Americans—But, They Healed My Hate)  and 1933 (I Was A Banker In China).  Here are those articles as PDF files which give some additional insight into Ernst Harringa’s character and personality. Harringa LAT…

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