# "MY father killed the Black Dahlia!" "No, MY father did it!"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 20, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801 "2004-12-20T15:25:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/1 "2004-12-20T15:25:31Z")
From the _L.A. Times_, the death of a sad nutter:
For more than a decade, Janice Knowlton believed she knew the answer to a question that has long intrigued crime buffs: Who killed the Black Dahlia? Knowlton was 10 years old and living in Westminster when the nude body of Hollywood hopeful Elizabeth Short — bisected at the waist and drained of blood — was found Jan. 15, 1947, in a vacant lot in the Leimert Park district of southwest Los Angeles. More than 40 years later, Knowlton inserted herself into one of the city’s most sensational and gruesome unsolved murder mysteries. She said horrifying, long-repressed memories had convinced her that George Knowlton — her long-dead father — had murdered Short. . . appearances on “Larry King Live,” “Sally Jessy Raphael” and other TV shows followed, as did the 1995 book “Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer,” which Knowlton wrote with Michael Newton and which chronicles her lurid tale of incest, rape and multiple murders. “Any time we ran anything about the Black Dahlia case, she’d leave long, rambling voice messages on my answering machine at The Times,” said Larry Harnisch, a Times copy editor who wrote about the Black Dahlia for the paper in 1997 and is writing a book on the case.
But he did not hear from Knowlton after the 2003 publication of “Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder,” a book by retired LAPD Det. Steve Hodel that became a national bestseller. In it he makes a compelling but controversial case that it was his own father, the late physician George Hodel, who murdered Short. Recently, Harnisch’s curiosity was piqued by Knowlton’s silence after a Nov. 21 Los Angeles Times Magazine article on Hodel. Harnisch began investigating and discovered that Knowlton, 67, had died March 5 at her home. The Orange County coroner’s office classified the death, which escaped public notice, as a suicide from the combined effect of five drugs. Police in Los Angeles and Westminster placed little credence in Knowlton’s Black Dahlia story when it surfaced. “The things that she is saying are not consistent with the facts of the case,” John P. St. John, an LAPD homicide detective, told The Times in 1991.
—Infuriating that vultures like Larry King and Sally Jessy Raphael would exploit an obviously disturbed women like that. Besides, _my_ father killed the Black Dahlia. Let’s see, in January '47, he and my mother were living in Troy, NY. He could easily have “slipped out for a pack of cigarettes,” flown cross-country, killed Beth Short and dumped her corpse in the grassy lot and gotten home before my mother noticed he was gone.
Were _your_ fathers in on it, too?
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/2 "2004-12-20T15:33:35Z")
Mine must have been, He left (according to my late mother) 18 months before I was born in 1946, so he had plenty of time to get there.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/3 "2004-12-20T15:33:45Z")
Your father did it? The hell you say! _My_ father did it! At age 9, he left his home in a western Pennsylvania mining town, journeyed to the west coast, committed this murder (along with a several other high profile crimes) and then returned to Pennsylvania where he concealed these murders by having an adult career in law enforcement.
Those things you think you know about the deaths of Ramon Navarro, Lupe Velez, George Reeve and Bugsy Siegel? I know the _real_ truth.
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### Author:  [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/4 "2004-12-20T15:44:12Z")
I’ll have you know that my father did it! My grandmother turned her back for just 5 minutes, and he toddled all the way from Connecticut to LA. He was in his terrible two’s, and you know how much chaos kids can cause at that age!
Susan
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/5 "2004-12-20T15:47:02Z")
I guess it is time to come clean…my father didn’t have anything to do with the Black Dahlia murder.
I’m so ashamed - you don’t know what it has been like living with this terrible secret, gnawing at my insides.
Damn, you, Daddy! Why couldn’t you be a killer, too!
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/6 "2004-12-20T15:54:43Z")
> [@plnnr](#):
>
> I guess it is time to come clean…my father didn’t have anything to do with the Black Dahlia murder.
Oh, now, **plnnr** , you don’t know that for sure! My father could have picked up **picunurse** ’s dad on his way West, then snagged **susan\_foster** and **Scumpup** ’s widdle daddies on the way, where your father was creating a diversion so Janice Knowlton and George Hodel’s fathers got there _just an hour too late_ to kill her.
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### Author:  [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/7 "2004-12-20T15:58:19Z")
Not my daddy. My daddy was just a kid (10) at the time.
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### Author:  [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/8 "2004-12-20T16:03:25Z")
Nope. You’re _all_ wrong. Except **plnnr**.
_ **My** _ daddy didn’t do it (though he could have - He was just down the road, and 15, when she was killed. Anyway, it wasn’t my dad, it was my _grand daddy_ what did the killing. He was out for a cup o’mud after having boinked the wives of three city councilmen, two starlets, and the entire Rockets chorus line. The Dahlia was a nightcap for him.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/9 "2004-12-20T16:08:42Z")
MY Daddy did it. He was just 4, and he hopped a plane over from Jullundhar, India, and flew all the way to LA, took care of the job. No one ever suspected him because he was so young!
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/10 "2004-12-20T16:08:50Z")
My dad probably didn’t kill the black dahlia, but after having seen what he did to the tomatoes in his vegetable garden, I wouldn’t put it past him. The man just didn’t have a green thumb.
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### Author:  [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/11 "2004-12-20T16:09:29Z")
My father wasn’t born until five years later, and all evidence _still_ points to him!
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### Author:  [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/12 "2004-12-20T16:14:41Z")
I don’t know what all the fuss is about. The bitch had it coming. My daddy said so! 🆒
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/13 "2004-12-20T16:16:17Z")
You bastards - my daddy was the Black Dahlia.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/14 "2004-12-20T16:27:33Z")
> [@don't ask](#):
>
> You bastards - my daddy was the Black Dahlia.
You win.
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### Author:  [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/15 "2004-12-20T16:37:50Z")
When my father was 3 years old, he ran over the Black Dahlia with his tricycle. Beat _that_, bitches.
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### Author:  [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/16 "2004-12-20T16:47:12Z")
Couldn’t have been my dad… His first name isn’t George.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/17 "2004-12-20T17:17:08Z")
> [@DeVena](#):
>
> Couldn’t have been my dad… His first name isn’t George.
Are you _sure?_
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/18 "2004-12-20T17:20:13Z")
Maybe this poor woman was really Anastasia.
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### Author:  [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/19 "2004-12-20T17:27:16Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#):
>
> When my father was 3 years old, he ran over the Black Dahlia with his tricycle. Beat _that_, bitches.
Too bad he didn’t use a sled like my daddy did. 😃
screech (that’s miz “snap” beeach) -owl
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-killed-the-black-dahlia-no-my-father-did-it/280801/20 "2004-12-20T17:31:01Z")
My dad? Not unless she was killed with a .22 rifle or firecrackers. Besides, grandpa owned the county newspaper at the time, and we’d _definitely_ have saved _that_ clipping.
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