An Open Letter/Response to Oxygen-True Crime Buzz Writer/Editor Connor Mannion on his Article Regarding My “Outlandish & Crazy Zodiac and Black Dahlia Theories”

March 7, 2020
Los Angeles, California
An Open Letter/Response to Oxygen-True Crime Buzz Writer/Editor Connor Mannion on his Article Regarding My “Outlandish & Crazy Zodiac and Black Dahlia Theories”
by Steve Hodel
Dear Mr. Mannion and the Reading Public:
Let me preface this response by first acknowledging that I am and always have been open to and welcome all constructive criticism as pertains to my now twenty-year ongoing investigations.
My only provision would be that the individual has based his or her critique on having read my books and familiarizing and backgrounding themselves with “the facts” as presented.
Clearly, this requirement has not been met by you, Connor Mannion, the author of the article, “So Who Actually Was The Zodiac Killer? Here Are Some Crazy Theories” (Oxygen-True Crime Buzz, March 6, 2020)
Let me begin by excerpting Mr. Mannion’s references to both my Black Dahlia and Zodiac investigations. After first discussing Zodiac suspects Ted Kaczynski and Bruce Davis, a member of the Charles Manson family, Mr. Mannion then addresses both my Black Dahlia and Zodiac investigations as follows:
(Excerpted references to my investigation begin below)

Retired police officer Steve Hodel already made waves in the true crime world by alleging his father, the physician George Hodel, was responsible for the 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short — more infamously known as the “Black Dahlia” — in his 2003 book “Black Dahlia Avenger.”
Hodel claimed that after years researching his theory that his father was Short’s murderer, a Los Angeles prosecutor agreed with him and told him Hodel would be prosecuted if he was still alive, according to a 2016 profile from The Guardian. But he soon claimed to see connections to his father in multiple unsolved murder cases across the world — including the Zodiac.
While Hodel received considerable interest in his first book linking his father to the Black Dahlia, a follow-up book – “Most Evil” – that claimed his father was also the Zodiac Killer received “middling” interest and “all of his investigations have produced precious little in the way of real results,” The Guardian reported.
“I was struck, in reading the book, by the fact that Hodel never sealed the deal,” Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez told The Guardian. “I thought he offered mostly circumstantial evidence, then acted as if the case was closed.”
Hodel’s theory that his father was the Zodiac Killer is also apparently only one node in a network of crimes he claims his father was responsible for. “Hodel also claims his father was the Black Dahlia murderer and the Lipstick Killer. Oh, and the Jigsaw Murderer in the Philippines,” The Atlantic wrote in 2014 of Hodel.
“For anyone who knows anything about historic crimes, this book is a joke. If ‘Black Dahlia Avenger’ was seeing the face of Jesus on a tortilla, then ‘Most Evil’ is the whole enchilada — with rice and beans,” The Los Angeles Times’ Daily Mirror blog wrote in 2009 about Hodel’s book arguing his father was also the Zodiac Killer.
“The book evidently relies heavily on handwriting analysis. Several of what ‘Most Evil’ claims are samples of George Hodel’s handwriting are actually the handwriting of Elizabeth Short. (Unless you think a grown man dots his “I’s” with little circles),” The Los Angeles Times’ Daily Mirror blog noted in a different post in 2009.
George Hodel died in 1999 at the age of 91 and Steve Hodel said he didn’t begin investigating his father’s past until after his death, he told The New York Post.
____________END OF ARTICLE ____________________________________
Oxygen’s writer/editor, Connor Mannion references long-retired copyeditor, Larry Harnisch, (who he quotes liberally in his criticism of my investigation) is apparently unaware that Harnisch bills HIMSELF as “the leading Black Dahlia Expert.”  And claims to be currently working diligently and is now into his eighteenth-year in writing and is about to present his own “I solved the Black Dahlia Murder book” and claims his own suspect, “Dr. Walter Bayley is the real Black Dahlia Killer.”

HARNISCH SOURCE QUOTATIONS FOR MANNION’S ARTICLE

“For anyone who knows anything about historic crimes, this book is a joke. If ‘Black Dahlia Avenger’ was seeing the face of Jesus on a tortilla, then ‘Most Evil’ is the whole enchilada — with rice and beans,”

And,

“Note: I already found one major error. The book evidently relies heavily on handwriting analysis. Several of what “Most Evil” claims are samples of George Hodel’s handwriting are actually the handwriting of Elizabeth Short. (Unless you think a grown man dots his “I’s” with little circles).”
                                                                   Larry Harnisch
(
Retired copyeditor LA TIMES and self-professed, “Leading Expert on Black Dahlia Murder” and author of a pending true-crime book (now in its 18th year of being written) that will claim, “Dr. Walter Bayley is the Real Black Dahlia Killer”)
 My responses are as follows:
Response No. 1 
The assertion that I rely heavily on HW analysis to confirm my findings and to link GHH to the numerous serial crimes.
The truth is, throughout my now five investigative books, I remain continually skeptical on the value of HW as a “standalone” to prove my case. I suggest at best it is only supportive and circumstantial. That said, the fact is that no court-certified QDE (Questioned Document Expert) in the past twenty-years has offered an opinion that either in the Dahlia, Lipstick, or Zodiac mailings that the author of the notes IS NOT GEORGE HODEL. Several have opined that their examination/comparison is “inconclusive,” and they are not able to determine one way or the other. But, the fact remains that no court-certified HW Expert has come forward and stated that either the Black Dahlia Avenger, Zodiac, or Chicago Lipstick Killer’s HW is not George Hodel’s.
In the case of the Zodiac HW comparison to Dr. George Hodel’s the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) Questioned Document Expert, after examining the Hodel HW stated, “I am unable to eliminate George Hodel as the author of the Zodiac Letters.”
In furthering my skepticism of HW analysis, I investigated and pointed out that in the case of the Gary Stewart QDE his HW expert actually misidentified the HW of the priest as being that of ZODIAC. (See my blog of six years ago below.)
My 2014 Blog revealing Gary Stewart’s HW Expert, Michael Wakshull, actually “positively identified” the HW of the Baptist Minister who married Stewart’s father as being ZODIAC.
Mr. Wakshull in his own companion book and in Stewart’s “The Most Dangerous Animal of All “(HarperCollins 2014) wrote, “I am virtually certain that the writer of the marriage certificate between Earl Van Best Jr. and Judith Chandler is the same writer as the writer of the Zodiac letters.
https://stevehodel.com/2014/05/26/one-week-purporting-zodiac-case-solved-handwriting-expert-appears-inadvertently-accused-baptist-minister-zodiac-killer/
Here was Gary Stewart’s email response to my HW discovery in May 2014, which he emailed to me in January 2015:

As to Harnisch’s sarcastic quote claiming the HW belonged to Elizabeth Short, …” unless you think a grown man dots his “I’s” with little circles.” As noted in my blog of November 8, 2009, “Fact-Checking the Leading Black Dahlia Expert” that is exactly what Dr. George Hill Hodel (a grown man) did in his own HW and in his letters to the police and press in his Avenger, Lipstick and Zodiac mailings.
Response No. 2
“I was struck, in reading the book, by the fact that Hodel never sealed the deal,” Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez told The Guardian. “I thought he offered mostly circumstantial evidence, then acted as if the case was closed.”
Steve Lopez
Los Angeles Times columnist
As to Mr. Mannion’s above quote from LA Times reporter, Steve Lopez I would refer readers to my blog crediting Steve with majorly advancing the investigation linking my father to the Black Dahlia and other LA murders back in 2003 by opening the door to the Secret DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Transcripts and Electronic Surveillance Recordings.
While I don’t believe Mr. Lopez has read any of the follow-up books/investigation (he’s a busy man writing for one of the world’s largest newspapers) I do believe that were he aware of them he would agree that following up with connected publications, each a complete book, in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2019 is hardly acting as if I considered the “case closed” back in 2003.
See my 2019 blog on Steve Lopez, “LA Times Investigative Reporter/Columnist Steve “Watchdog For The People” Lopez’s Investigative Persistence Pays Off-  Helps Confirm LAPD’s Earlier Suspicions Dr. George Hodel Killed His Personal Secretary and the ‘Black Dahlia’.
https://stevehodel.com/2019/03/18/l-a-times-investigative-reporter-columnist-stevewatchdog-for-the-people-lopezs-investigative-persistence-pays-off-helps-confirm-lapds-earlier-suspicions-dr-george-hodel-killed-his-personal/
Also, reproduced below is the link to the complete and lengthy GUARDIAN article from which Mr. Mannion took his Steve Lopez quote. That excellent article was written by Alexis Sobel Fitts in 2016, entitled, I know who killed the Black Dahlia: my own father” and subtitled, “Former Los Angeles police department detective Steve Hodel has spent the last 15 years cataloguing evidence that his dad killed Elizabeth Short-and others.”

Click on photo or below for full article as it appeared in THE GUARDIAN publication on 26 May 2016.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/black-dahlia-murder-steve-hodel-elizabeth-short

Response No. 3
As to Mr. Mannion’s inclusion of my twenty-year-long investigations as part of the “crazy Zodiac theories” I would suggest before making such a claim and offering it to the public that he might at least take the time to read the investigation I present.
Had he done so, he would know that in MOST EVIL (Dutton 2009) I made no claim that Zodiac was in fact Dr. George Hill Hodel, but rather present a strong and compelling case that he might be Zodiac and suggested he be placed at the top of the suspect list and “let’s get some confirmed Zodiac DNA and compare it to my father’s full DNA profile, currently in my possession.
It was not until six years later after receiving additional powerful linkage from Mssr.Yves Person, a Paris, France high school teacher who “cracked a Zodiac Cipher” revealing that Zodiac in place of his signature in his mailings to the press he wrote, “You Ache To Know My Name” and signed his name using ancient Celtic alphabet (known as Ogham) that spelled out, H O D E L. that with additional compelling evidence received from Deputy Chief Inspector Sue Wilshire (London Police Department) related to the use of and additional connections to Surrealism and the “Alphabet For Adults” by George Hodel’s close friend, Man Ray, along with thirty-one additional Unique Crime Signature MO’s used by Zodiac that I then in 2015 published MOST EVIL II (Rare Bird Books) and made the claim that Dr. George Hill Hodel was Zodiac and again challenged Law Enforcement to obtain confirmed Zodiac DNA and make the comparison. (According to LE no confirmed Zodiac DNA has yet to be found.)
Response No. 4
As to Mr. Mannion’s selective quotes from Black Dahlia Theorist Harnisch’s references that my book, “Black Dahlia Avenger is seeing Jesus’ face in a pizza” and in my sequel, Zodiac, Most Evil, “is seeing the whole enchilada, including rice and beans.”
I will simply let a few of my readers and reviewers and the original LAPD and DA detectives assigned to the investigation, speak for me:
Excerpt from my 70th Anniversary Black Dahlia Retrospective: Summary of New Evidence 2004-2017 Further Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel as Her Killer (blog published January 15, 2017)
About 90% of my readers agree with then-Deputy Chief of Detectives McMurray and Head Deputy DA Steve Kay’s opinions that the “case was solved, and Dr. George Hill Hodel did it.”
Let me add a few additional names to that list of those who have publicly and privately stated that Dr. George Hodel killed Elizabeth Short and the “Case Is Solved”.
Stephen Kay, LADA Head Deputy District Attorney (Prosecuted Charles Manson and all remaining Manson family members)
James McMurray, LAPD Assistant Chief and Chief of Detective Bureau.
LAPD Chief of Police, William “Bill” Parker (top cop on the original 1947 investigation)
LAPD Chief of Detectives, “Thad” Brown (the senior detective in charge of the original 1947  ‘Black Dahlia’ investigation.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Commander, Tom Vetter (Also a retired USMC Lt. Coronel.)
LADA Detective Bureau Lt. Frank B. Jemison (DA detective in charge of reinvestigation and obtained bugging confession)
LADA Detective Sergeant Walter Morgan (DA detective and partner of Jemison, conducted original bugging at residence)
Beverly Hills PD Chief of Detectives, Jack Egger  (Later Chief of Security at Warner Brothers Studios. Identified GHH as being man showing him a “Chicago Police badge” with Elizabeth Short at CBS radio shows days before her murder.)
Michael Connelly, former LA Times crime reporter, and current bestselling mystery writer.  (His LAPD “Bosch” television miniseries, based on the fictional detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch is now in its 3rd season.)
Gerald Petievich, Bestselling mystery writer, and author of The Sentinel and To Live and Die in LA.
Jon L. Breen, Edgar Award-winning and bestselling mystery writer.
T-Bone Burnett, Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning musician-songwriter; Music Director for True Detective miniseries.
David Thomson, Film Critic, bestselling author, New York Times Book Reviewer
Ms. Madi Comfort, actress, top 1947 DA Dahlia witness, part-time lover of Dr. George Hodel.
Ms. Lillian Lenorak, actress. Top 1947 DA Dahlia witness, close acquaintance and trial witness for Dr. George Hodel.

In closing, I’m not really one to “toot my own horn” but as a rebuttal to Mr. Mannion’s source quotations from Black Dahlia Theorist, Larry Harnisch, here are a few press reviews/source quotes of my own, collected over the past twenty years referencing and supporting both my Black Dahlia and Zodiac books and Investigations:
“From this distance, there is no doubt that George Hodel committed/performed theatrical murders in several cities over several decades. That a mad doctor’s son grew up to be a detective and solved a master criminal’s surrealist crimes—and it was his father—is mind-blowing. But, there it is. My deepest and sincerest respect for [Steve’s] fearless and brilliant investigation into a profound darkness that [he has] brought into a penetrating light.”
T BONE BURNETT, Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe Award-winning musician-songwriter; Music Director, True Detective
“The most haunting murder mystery in Los Angeles country during the 20th century has finally been solved in the 21st century.”
Stephen R. Kay, L.A. County Head Deputy District Attorney (July 2001)
“Los Angeles is the construct of its mythologies good and bad, fact and fiction. The legend of Elizabeth Short is one of the most enduring. But now Steve Hodel has come to put the Black Dahlia painfully to rest. With the tenacity and patience of the veteran homicide detective he once was, Hodel goes from odd coincidence to rock-solid conclusion. Taking us on the intriguing and unsettling journey every step of the way. Hodel’s investigation is thoroughly and completely convincing. So too is this book. As far as I am concerned, this case is closed. Elizabeth Short’s legend is now shared with a killer who has been pulled from the shadows of time and into the light. Everybody counts or nobody counts, and that includes the people shrouded in our myths. Steve Hodel knows this. And now we do, too.”
Michael Connelly, —New York Times Bestselling author of The Harry Bosch Series
“Fascinating.” Johnny Depp
“Steve Hodel’s hunt for the Black Dahlia murderer and the Zodiac killer is the grand cinemascope version of every unsolved serial murder case. Now, in his new nonfiction thriller, he delves into codes and ciphers, the world of the kinky avant-garde, and new and shocking secrets about the investigation of the Zodiac killer. Most Evil II is as compelling as his other books and adds to the body of work that is, without a doubt, both the strangest and the most compelling investigation of our day.”
GERALD PETIEVICH, author of The Sentinel and To Live and Die in L.A.
“A whodunit masterpiece that solves one of the most infamous series of murders of the last century. Shockingly, but sans a shadow of doubt, former Hollywood homicide detective Steve Hodel fingers a man he well knew: his own father. For fans of true crime and police procedurals, Most Evil II is a must read.”
BRUCE HENDERSON, Author of the New York Times bestseller, Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazi and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler.
“Crime was rampant as musicals in Los Angeles in the postwar years—this is the age of Bugsy Siegel, the founding of Las Vegas, Mickey Cohen and gun battles on Sunset Boulevard…and it’s the age of film noir…George Hodel, I think is fit company for some of noir’s most civilized villains—like Waldo Lydecker in Laura, Harry Lime in The Third Man, or even Noah Cross in Chinatown.”
DAVID THOMSON, New York Times Book Review
“[Hodel] gives us a fascinating family psychodrama; we watch his image of his father morph from flawed-but-lovable ladies’ man to monster.”
NEWSWEEK
Black Dahlia Avenger is the best nonfiction book about L.A. crime I have ever read. Former LAPD detective Steve Hodel’s journey into the heart of a brutal crime and into the dark places of his soul stayed with me after I read it. Black Dahlia Avenger has it all: suspense, intrigue, bizarre sex, moral ambiguity, all set against a backdrop of the L.A. of Mickey Cohen, Bill Parker, and Tony Cornero. the words ‘compelling’ and ‘riveting,’ though accurate, do not do justice to this nonfiction tour de force.”
Gerald Petievich, author of The Sentinel and To Live and Die in L.A.
“BLACK DAHLIA” BOOK A MUST-READ . . . A BLOCKBUSTER.”
LIZ SMITH, New York Post
“The gruesome slaying transfixed postwar Los Angeles the way the double homicides of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman did a generation later. It was film noir come to life, a glimpse into a shadow world of macabre kink and psychosis and corruption that ripped up the sunny postcards of suburban idylls and Hollywood dreams. It was the Manson murders before the invention of television.”
Washington Post
“It’s a story that’s fascinated crime buffs for decades. There have been almost as many potential murderers put forward as fictionalized versions of the long-unsolved case. Now, a onetime Van Nuys cop has penned a book that names the latest suspect in 1947’s grisly “Black Dahlia” mutilation slaying — his own father.”
Los Angeles Daily News
“The Black Dahlia mystery is to Los Angeles what the Jack the Ripper saga is to the East End. Fictionalised in a novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the story boasts all the glamour and sinister mystique of film noir.”
The Daily Telegraph (London)
“What makes Steve Hodel’s new book, Black Dahlia Avenger,a little different is that the man he believes responsible for slicing the aspiring actress Betty Short, 22, in half and dumping her in a vacant lot is his father.”
Independent (London)
“Hodel goes not for the splashy confession, but builds evidence painstakingly into what is an extremely plausible case. . . .This unsparing, chilling account of the actions of a perfect psychopath grips to the end.”
Toronto Globe and Mail
“Hodel tells the story well and with incredible objectivity. . . .a real-life tale of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder is stuffed with every kind of sensation you could ask for: sex, serial murder, star power, evil genius, corruption, family betrayal, and even some perversely arousing avant-garde art.”
East Bay Express, East Bay Express
“Former Los Angeles police detective Steve Hodel has written one of the most compelling true-crime books of all time in Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story….the most noir of noir stories.”
Seattle Weekly, Seattle Weekly
“Steve Hodel, a private investigator who served in the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years, reveals the chilling discovery in his gripping new book Black Dahlia Avenger.
Rob Gibson, Florida Globe
“The book, a fascinating read regardless of which side you take, has been the subject of passionate debate in American newspapers from the New York Times to the L.A. Times, and on television programs like Dateline NBC.”
Nick Miliokas, Leader-Post
“This remarkable book will keep readers riveted from the first page to the very last.”Tuscon Citizen
“Black Dahlia Avenger” is a fascinating and horrifying tale of 1940s Los Angeles—as Steve Hodel says, a real-life “L.A. Confidential.”
San Jose Mercury News
“A fascinating and horrifying tale of 1940s Los Angeles.”The State, Columbia, SC
“A noteworthy work . . . a certified page-turner. Hodel is quite the writer, as well.” —Lake Arrowhead Mountain News
“Fascinating for reasons the author never intended, “Black Dahlia Avenger” offers the opportunity to follow the extraordinary obsessions of a son who believes “nothing more than a hair-trigger separates the heaven of Dr. Schweitzer from the hell of a Dr. Hodel.”
Santa Barbara News-Press
“This is an amazing story. . . . Readers that appreciate the mind and style of presentation of a seasoned professional will really enjoy this book. . .This book is worth the read just for the incredible facts presented, the descriptions of L.A. in that era and the startling conclusion reached. . .  Perhaps Black Dahlia Avenger is most important for its psychological profiles of defiant behavior.”
St. Augustine Record
“This remarkable book solves one of California’s most baffling murder cases. . .  It is must reading, especially for those who appreciate true-crime writing.”
Tucson Citizen
My apologies for this lengthy response, but as most of you who have actually read my books and investigations know, it is extremely important that  the Truth Be Known and I thank you for indulging me and taking the time to read this response.
Most Sincerely,

Steve Hodel,
Los Angeles, California

 

 
 
 

15 Comments

  1. Luigi Warren on March 8, 2020 at 1:02 am

    These guys are so far behind the curve it’s not even funny. -LW

  2. Derek Andrews on March 8, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    Masterful Steve and one hopes it does the trick. These doubters probably think Elvis shot JFK.

    Derek Andrews
    Colne
    Lancashire
    England

    • Steve Hodel on March 8, 2020 at 4:13 pm

      Hi Derek. Thanks. It won’t change any of their made-up, “Don’t Mess with My Myth” minds, but at least it may prevent them from using 17-year-old screengrab quotes as if they were “today’s news” hot off the press and will maybe have writer/editor Mannion come up for Oxygen, and do a little research (like old school journalists did) before submitting his next true crime article. (pun intended)

      • Steve Hodel on March 8, 2020 at 6:07 pm

        Kris: The answer to your question of “Would I change my own mind?” is most certainly and I have during my two decades of active investigation. After initially stating I believed that “Maganda” the second photo in my father’s album with the woman standing by the horse statue was a second photo of Elizabeth Short I received a majority of readers’ opinions, “Don’t think so, you’re wrong on that.” I pursued it and was eventually able to identify/locate/and interview “Maganda” and establish her true identity and eliminate her and correct my earlier findings and in fact “change my mind.” No one else brought this to me and I did it on my own and made the self-correction in my followup book, BDA II. As far as the “LAPD Conspiracy/Coverup”, this is no longer in question or in doubt. The secret second copy of the Hodel/Black Dahlia Surveillance Files along with all the top brass confirming “we solved the case and Dr. Hodel did it” proves that. All mention of Dr. Hodel removed from LAPD files and he remained a non-suspect for fifty-three years until LA Times reporter Steve Lopez, then myself, were able to access “the second set of books” hidden in the DA vault. Plus the statements by all the top cops (Chiefs Parker and Thad Brown, Undersheriff James Downey and Lt. Frank Jemison that “We solved the case and Dr. George Hodel killed her.” Today’s LAPD when asked about Dr. Hodel during my investigation prior to publication “had never heard his name and indicated he had nothing to do with the investigation.” So, no conspiracy theory there, that is PROVEN FACT.

      • Jenny on March 9, 2020 at 5:54 pm

        Get ‘em Steve!! Hope this gets published on the heels of his article…doubtful unfortunately though. I haven’t quite made it to the Zodiac evidence as of yet, but you definitely sealed the case as far as I am concerned on the Dahlia case – and clearly anyone with a brain that takes the time to read your work. Great job!

        • Steve Hodel on March 9, 2020 at 6:00 pm

          Jenny: Thanks much appreciated. Steve

  3. Jess Waid Woodruff on March 8, 2020 at 4:43 pm

    Actually, quite sad that there are any doubters; probably for self-aggrandizement reasons. As a twelve-year-old, I vividly recall the banner “headlines” of the Elizabeth Short (the Black Dahlia) homicide. And learning that Dr. Hodel resided in the Franklin House (in my childhood neighborhood) was shocking, as I often passed by the house in those days.
    Jess Waid Woodruff, LtII (ret.) Robbery-Homicide Division, LAPD.

    • Steve Hodel on March 8, 2020 at 5:46 pm

      Jess W: Hi Jess. Yes, it was a fun place to live as a kid and a cool part of LA/Hollywood. And thanks for your many good years of professional and dedicated service to the citizens of LA during those “Golden Years”. Check out LAPD Jess’ author promo video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=72&v=Un18FPYdu0M&feature=emb_title

    • Dan Lackey on March 15, 2020 at 3:08 pm

      Hi. Steve,
      The naysayers are still out there and obviously consider themselves quite clever. They can’t disprove your findings so they throw insults out. Dr. Walter Bayley was a Dr. with advanced dementia whose daughter knew Eliz. Short’s sister. This does not explain the wounds on Short’s body that connects to numerous surrealistic works, or the connections by street names to Degnan (Short) and Mountain View Dr. (French), Zodiac Dr. in Manila in the jigsaw case. The same personality shows through in the Black Dahlia Avenger & the Zodiac letters not to mention the handwriting. Too many more connections than I can mention here. If Harnisch is so sure your investigation if flawed, why hasn’t finished his book about Bayley being the killer? He knows that it would be a waste of time.
      All the Best,
      Dan

  4. Mark Schorr on March 8, 2020 at 5:26 pm

    You eloquently and definitively proved your case using skills developed in years as a homicide detective. He proved only he can write snark.

    • Steve Hodel on March 8, 2020 at 5:43 pm

      Mark S:
      Thanks Mark. I appreciate your longtime support. S.

  5. Dennis Effle on April 5, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    There will always be doubters of your work. Many have agendas of their own that they advance and the majority of those fall into the category of “Myths.” Yours is the only hypothesis that is backed by historical records, “in the know” confirmations and fits the pathology of unique crime signatures found in all these cases. As a native of the city of Angels and an historian of this city’s past, I am well grounded in the reality of the corruption of law enforcement, the Media and political structure of Los Angeles during the time of which you write. Not only does the case you present fit seamlessly into that backdrop but it also reveals a fascinating insight into the creative aspects of the Dada movement in the arts in post WW II Los Angeles. The artists in that movement and their, “smarter than you,” attitude and use of symbolism and codes is far more easily understood due to your dillegent work in that area. The profile you present, a murderer as a fine artist, is both chilling and convincing. Your work is the one that will withstand the test of time and Outlast all the Myths!

    • Steve Hodel on April 5, 2020 at 2:30 pm

      Dennis E:
      Thanks Dennis. Appreciate your longtime support of my investigation both as a Los Angeles Historian and as a friend. Stay Safe out there. Steve

  6. Zach Goode on November 18, 2020 at 5:46 pm

    Hi Steve

    Big fan! I’ve read and love all the books. Can you explain why this guy claims to have “debunked” your Zodiac theory? I don’t even see a byline on this article…

    https://zodiackillerfacts.com/zodiac-theories/the-accused-the-accusers/george-hodel-most-evil/steve-hodel-most-evil-debunked/

    “Steve Hodel has never acknowledged, corrected or explained the many geographic, geometric and factual errors in his book Most Evil. To admit that his book is filled with such errors would be admitting that he did not conduct legitimate research, he created his claims without any basis in fact, he never checked his own work, and he has no regard for the facts.”

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