David Goodis analyzes "Black Dahlia" murder

3.  INSANE AT THE TIME

This killer had that dynamite inside himself. It may have been there for years -- dormant, waiting -- it is probable that he didn't even know it was there.  The way he went at his task shows conclusively that he was commpletedly insane at that time.  But when the fit -- and it was probably a schizophrenic fit -- had reached its breaking-point, the killer was no longer a raving madman, but a cold, caluclating murderer.  He took strategic steps to cover his crime.  He washed away the blood, he changed his clothing, he obliterated his tracks methodically, cleverly.

Pure logic points to the fact that the victim was murdered in a deserted shack or remote area, probably on the outskirts of the city.  We know, therefore, that the killer had a car.  And as we again examine the subconscous mind that on night he wold meet someone who he would want to kill in prcisely the same manner he eventually killed Elizabeth Short.

He knew exactly what he would do if and when that meeting occurred.  He would lure the girl into his car.  He would take her to that "place."  He would slaughter her.  All this, mind you, in his subconscious. (continued on right).

4.  APPROXIMATE PICTURE

To submit an exact description of what took place that night, is, of course, impossible.  But it isn't too difficult to draw up an approximate picture of the proceedings.

The man -- and I am certain it was a man -- met her on the street or in a bar.  They talked.  They found each other interesting.  Somewhere along the path of their conversation they fell into the channel of an erotic subject.  It grew.  Within the mind of the man it esxpanded and formed a chain between the conscious and the subconscious.  

Suddenly he was insane -- completely.  But Elizabeth Short did not notice this.  She was intrigued by the man.  There was something about him that magnetized her particular personality.  When he invited her to his "place", she offered 

no argument.  

Now, just what happened to set off the spark?  What gesture did she make?  Perhaps an usual way of lighting a cigarette or smoking.  Perhaps the way she held a highball glass.  Perhaps the pattern of her dress.  Or the way her hair was arranged.  Some "little thing" that has utterly no significance in the lives of normal people, but which was magnified a million times in the distorted mind of the killer.  (continued below)

5.  GESTURE OR WORD

It amounts to a choice -- whether it was a gesture or the spoken word that started him off, it could have been something like this --

". . . a lot of blood."

           ". . . seen a dog tearing a cat to pieces."

". . . never heard nothing like that before."

Her subconscious mind has expressed something that made contact with his subconscious.  She didn't know it, but at that moment she was literally asking to be murdered.

And the murderer himself didn't know it, but  for a long, long time he had been looking for the "Black Dahlia".  It was the tragic misfortune of Elizabeth Short that she fitted all the erried requirements.

This is a case wherein the killer must be baited rather than hunted.  And this brings us back to the algerbraic equation. Our symbols, however, do not involve the usual technical factors of murder, such as the geography of the crime, the time element, the material pieces of evidence.  

Inasmuch as this case was activated by an abnormal mind, the process of deduction and ultimate arrest must be analyzed with the ultimate aim of placeing her in a psychological category of microproportions.

(continued on right).

6.  IN THE NATURE OF TRAP

This category must be arranged in the nature of a trap.  As much as the killer wants his freedom, he wold much prefer to meet another "Black Dahlia".  He probably doubts that another exists.  But suppose another one did?  And suppose he found out about it?  Would he suspect that this was a trap?  Probably.  

And yet his lunacy would be dominant.  He wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.  

Sooner or later he would be sufficiently stimulated to catch a look at this new "Dahlia".   Upon seeing her, upon checking to make sure he was on safe ground, he would approach her just as he approached Elizabeth Short.  A wire-recorder, carefully arranged, would listen to the ensuring converation leading to the ultimate invitation to visit the "place."  Plain clothes men would move in at the feasible moment.

This technique of arriving at "X" is probably the most difficult and complex in the book.  It must be handled not only with delicacy, but with hair-line precision.  Either the equation balances or doesn't balance.  There's no guess work in algebra. 

Who killed the Black Dahlia? history.com

The Black Dahlia:  Los Angeles' most famous unsolved murder.  bbc.com

The Black Dahlia murder case hits 68 years unsolved.  time.com