L.A. Lone Woman Victim Ruth Spaulding—and Two Forgotten Portraits

June 8, 2026
Birch Bay, Washington

After more than two decades of research into the George Hodel story, I have learned that some of the most interesting discoveries arrive unexpectedly.

Today, researcher Eddie Lepper brought to my attention something I had never seen before: two portraits of Ruth Spaulding painted during the 1930s by noted California artist Mabel Alvarez.

Most readers of my books will recognize Ruth Spaulding’s name. Ruth served as George Hodel’s secretary and, as I have detailed elsewhere, I believe substantial evidence exists that her 1945 death was not properly investigated. That assessment was reinforced by Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office Lieutenant Frank Jemison, whose March 1950 investigative notes indicate he intended to reinvestigate the case and reinterview witnesses connected to Ruth Spaulding’s 1945 LAPD-listed “suicide” overdose.

What I had never encountered, however, were these remarkable images of Ruth as a young woman years before her association with George Hodel.

Images Courtesy: The Estate of Mabel Alvarez. Copyright and reproduction rights are retained by the Estates of Glenn Bassett and Mabel Alvarez. For reproduction inquiries, contact estate representative Masaaki Nakano at masaakigb@ares.eonet.ne.jp.

The reason these portraits exist appears to be a family connection. Ruth’s stepmother was Florence Alvarez Spaulding, sister of artist Mabel Alvarez.
That relationship apparently brought Ruth into the Alvarez family circle and resulted in Mabel painting her on at least two occasions.

For students of Los Angeles history, the discovery is interesting for another reason. Mabel Alvarez was part of the Southern California modernist art movement and associated with artists including Morgan Russell and Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Researchers familiar with my work will also recognize the name Fred Sexton, who later became a prominent figure within that same Southern California art world.

The overlap is intriguing, but it should not be overstated. At present, I know of no evidence directly linking Ruth Spaulding to Fred Sexton or to the later events surrounding the Black Dahlia investigation. Any such connection remains speculative and unsupported by the historical record.

A more plausible avenue through which Ruth may have intersected with figures connected to the Dahlia case lies elsewhere—George Hodel’s downtown Los Angeles clinic. We know that Elizabeth Short was treated for a Bartholin gland cyst by an “unknown downtown Los Angeles physician.” As detailed elsewhere in this investigation, I believe that physician was Dr. George Hodel, who likely treated Short for a sexually transmitted disease. During this same period, Ruth Spaulding was employed as Hodel’s clinic secretary. If that conclusion is correct, Ruth may well have encountered or known Elizabeth Short through the clinic prior to Ruth’s death in 1945. To date, however, no documentary evidence has surfaced confirming such contact.

What these portraits do provide is something much more concrete: a rare visual record of Ruth Spaulding during the 1930s.

Many of the individuals who appear in historic criminal investigations survive only as names in police reports, newspaper accounts, court transcripts, and death certificates. Occasionally a photograph emerges. More rarely, a portrait painted by a respected artist survives to show us how that person appeared during their lifetime.

For that reason alone, I believe these paintings deserve to be preserved and shared.

My thanks to researcher Eddie Lepper for bringing these portraits to my attention.

I am reproducing Eddie’s email below so that readers interested in California art history, the Alvarez family, or Ruth Spaulding herself may pursue the subject further if they wish.

Source:

Mabel Alvarez Estate Collection Website
https://mabelalvarez.com