On the Latest Claims Linking the Black Dahlia and Zodiac Murders

December 23, 2025
Birch Bay, Washington

This article addresses the longstanding Black Dahlia Zodiac connection, examines whether the Zodiac Killer has been identified, and documents why the Black Dahlia case was solved decades ago through the LAPD Black Dahlia investigation.

Recent media reports have renewed claims that the same individual committed both the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short—the Black Dahlia—and the Zodiac killings of the late 1960s., in Northern California. These claims are being presented as new. They are not.

I first presented this conclusion in Most Evil (Dutton, 2009), which reached #2 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. In that book, I identified my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, as the common suspect in both cases.

The Zodiac Investigation

At the time Most Evil was published, my conclusions regarding the Zodiac crimes were necessarily cautious. As with any responsible homicide investigation, evidence must be weighed and presented incrementally. I therefore urged law enforcement to compare confirmed Zodiac DNA—once obtained—with Dr. Hodel’s DNA profile, which I published.

By the completion of Most Evil II, in 2015, some 10 years ago, the accumulated evidence supported a definitive conclusion. New linkage analysis and independent findings led to the cracking of a known Zodiac cipher. Using the ancient Celtic language Ogham, the cipher concealed—and ultimately spelled—the name HODEL.

The Black Dahlia Investigation

My Black Dahlia investigation followed a different and more formal path. In 2003, the findings of Black Dahlia Avenger were presented to senior members of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

That investigation identified Dr. George Hill Hodel and uncovered previously undisclosed LAPD and DA files, including recorded confessions in which Hodel admitted killing Elizabeth Short, murdering his personal secretary Ruth Spaulding, performing illegal abortions at his downtown Los Angeles clinic, and paying off police.

The investigation was not dismissed as speculative. Instead, LAPD Deputy Chief of Detectives James McMurray ordered homicide detectives to “go ahead and clear the Black Dahlia case” based on the findings and the recommendation of then-active Head Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay and myself.

That order was never carried out. The detectives assigned later stated they were “too busy.” Chief McMurray retired six months later, and his directive has been ignored for more than twenty years.

Present Claims

Accordingly, with respect to current articles asserting that the Zodiac killer and the Black Dahlia murderer were the same individual, I unequivocally agree.

That conclusion was reached years ago, documented, and formally presented. Senior LAPD commanders—both active and retired—have already concluded that the Black Dahlia case was solved and that the killer was Dr. George Hill Hodel.

As the killer himself stated on recorded DA wiretaps:

“Supposing I did kill the Black Dahlia, they can’t prove it now. My secretary’s dead.”
—Dr. George Hill Hodel

This response is intended to clarify the historical record. I will not engage in interviews or debates over speculative claims. The documentation, evidence, and conclusions reached in my published works speak for themselves.

Additional independent law-enforcement confirmations and critical assessments are documented below.

The following statements are excerpted from contemporaneous interviews, sworn testimony, official records, and published critical reviews. They are included here solely to document independent confirmations regarding the identity of the Black Dahlia murderer.

Law-Enforcement Confirmations

Stephen Kay
Head Deputy District Attorney, Los Angeles County (2003–2006):

“The hardcover book was pretty compelling. Then when all the transcripts and stuff came out from the D.A.’s office, that took it over the top for me. That would have been enough for me to bring a case against Dr. Hodel.”
— Los Angeles Times Magazine, Nov. 21, 2004

“I have no doubt in my mind that George Hodel murdered Elizabeth Short. If the witnesses were alive today, I believe if I took that case in front of a jury, that I would convict him.”
— The Truth About the Black Dahlia, Rue 13, Nov. 6, 2006

James McMurray
Deputy Chief of Detectives, Los Angeles Police Department:

Ordered homicide detectives to “go ahead and clear the Black Dahlia case” based on the findings and recommendation of Head Deputy DA Stephen Kay and Detective III Steve Hodel following a formal presentation of the evidence at Parker Center in 2003.

William H. Parker
Chief of Police, LAPD (via his personal physician):

“We identified the Black Dahlia suspect. He was a doctor.”

Thad Brown
Deputy Chief, Chief of Detectives, LAPD (via actor Jack Webb, of “Dragnet” fame.)

“The Black Dahlia case was solved. He was a doctor who lived on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.”

(Dr. George Hill Hodel owned and resided and committed the Elizabeth Short, “Black Dahlia” murder at the Sowden House, 5121 Franklin Avenue.)

Frank Jemison
Lieutenant, Los Angeles County DA Bureau of Investigation in charge of 1949 Black Dahlia case:

“We know who the Black Dahlia killer was. He was a doctor, but we didn’t have enough to put him away.”

Thomas Vetter
Commander, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office; Lt. Colonel, USMC (CBS Television interview, Oct. 2004):

“In 1962 I was a detective and the driver for Undersheriff James Downey. One day the Black Dahlia case came up. I heard Downey say, ‘Oh, that was solved—but it will never come out. It was some doctor they all knew out in Hollywood.’ In my professional opinion, Hodel has put the pieces together and solved the case.”

Investigative & Critical Authority

Michael Connelly
Author; former Los Angeles Times crime reporter:

“Hodel goes from odd coincidence to rock-solid conclusion. As far as the Black Dahlia case goes, this case is closed.”

David Thomson, The New York Times Book Review:

“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… And what had Cross done? Raped his daughter and his city, and lived into old age.”

— “L.A. Confidential,” review of Black Dahlia Avenger 2003

These statements were made independently, across decades, by senior law-enforcement officials, investigative journalists, and national critics. Together, they document a convergence of professional judgment regarding the identity of the Black Dahlia murderer.