The murder of Elizabeth Short has intrigued, mystified, even disgusted the city of Los Angeles for more than half a centruy.

Elizabeth Short, a beautiful 22-year-old aspiring actress, spent several years moving around, gaining odd jobs. Her passion for servicemen and aspiration to be famous made her a "different" woman of her time. She reportedly hooked up with a variety of men and women (one reported to having been Marilyn Monroe).

Her name evolved from her black hair and black attire. Some say she was named the Black Dahlia before her murder in January of 1947, others say the name was applied by journalists to sensationalize the crime.

On January 15, 1947, a passerby spotted her nude body in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Upon the release of the murder in the press, several men and women admitted to the crime. But the police could not validate anyone's story. The case, notoriously, attracted several false confessions, and later surfaced more interest when James Ellroy wrote The Black Dahlia in 1987.

To date, according to the LAPD, the case goes unsolved. Though Janice Knowlton has authored a book naming her father as the killer, police have not reported Ms. Knowlton's statements or information as holding any water at all.

Elizabeth is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.