On the Record: Law Enforcement Statements on the Black Dahlia Case

January 26, 2026
Birch Bay, Washington

In response to a public question regarding my investigation, Alex Baber stated the following:

“Detectives Jackson and Roberts informed me that the Los Angeles Police Department had formally debunked this theory [Steve Hodel’s Black Dahlia Avenger] approximately twenty years ago, although that determination was not disclosed publicly.”
— Alex Baber, Facebook, January 22, 2026

LAPD Detective Mitzi Roberts, officer in charge of the Black Dahlia Investigation from 2012, until her retirement in 2024,  stated in a KMEX interview, exactly ten years after the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger:

“I actually agree with you. I think he [Hodel] has made a very compelling theory. I think there’s a lot of things that look like it, and his dad could actually be responsible for the murder of the Black Dahlia.”
— LAPD Detective II Mitzi Roberts, KMEX, La Dahlia Negra, April 2013

Confidential statements made separately and independent of each other,  by senior law enforcement officials to trusted individuals were later reported independently to the author during the course of his investigation.

Then Active Head Deputy District Attorney Steve Kay statement regarding “Case Solved”

Top Law Enforcement Statements NOW

Then (2003) LAPD Deputy Chief, Chief of Detectives James McMurray directing the Robbery/Homicide Cold Case Unit:

“Unless you can find major holes in Hodel’s investgation go ahead and clear the Black Dahlia Murder.”

Alex Baber’s claim is incorrect. No formal LAPD debunking of my investigation has ever been issued or documented.