A woman taking a peaceful morning stroll in central Los Angeles with her three year-old daughter, came across what she thought was a mannequin broken in half. But as she got closer to the figure laying in the dirt face up, she realized that it wasn’t a broken mannequin, it was something far worse. It was a woman’s naked body, cut in half. Her hair was tattered, she had gashes cut into the corner of her mouth and her intestines were tucked into her buttocks. It was a very macabre scene. When the two detectives assigned to the case, Harry Hansen and Finnis Brown, arrived on the scene they lifted the woman’s fingerprints and sent them into the FBI headquarters. A match was quickly found. The dead woman lying in the vacant lot was Elizabeth Short, a beautiful, young aspiring actress. She had her whole life ahead of her, with nothing but big dreams. Who killed her and why ?
Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924, in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She was one of five girls to Cleo and Phoebe Short. She was raised in Medford, Massachusetts, where Cleo’s successful business of building miniature golf courses was booming. In 1929, however, the Great Depression hit and caused the Short family to go bankrupt. Cleo couldn’t continue to go through the agony of not being able to support his family. Cleo parked his car on a bridge and disappeared. A few years later Cleo wrote Phoebe a letter saying he saved up money to move her and the kids to California, but she shunned him, stating she never wanted to see him again. Phoebe continued to be a single mother and raised all five girls on her own. As Elizabeth got older, respiratory problems were occurring. She developed severe asthma and chronic bronchitis. By the time she was sixteen, her asthma go...
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...ew the affect she had on men and she used it frequently. Elizabeth moved back to California again, still aspiring to be an actress. She moved between many places. Staying for free at places she could. Elizabeth was always impecunious. Elizabeth never had close friends but always had company around. The last person to see Elizabeth alive was Robert Manley. He dropped her off at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles so she could, supposedly, meet up with her sister whom she was going to stay with. Robert Manley said his goodbyes, in the lobby, and went back home. Six days later, Elizabeth’s body was found in a desolate lot. Elizabeth had been killed by massive internal hemorrhaging caused by blows to the head.
Nearly 50 people confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Short but all of them have been acquitted. Many people believe that the murderer was Robert Manley.
Robert Baltovich was wrongly convicted of the murder of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, in Scarborough, Canada. He was arrested on November 19, 1990, and charged for first-degree murder. On March 31, 1992, he was convicted of second-degree murder. Finally, on April 22, 2008, he was found not guilty of the murder.
“Death's Acre” tells about the career of a forensic hero, Dr. Bill Bass, creator of the famous "Body Farm" at the University of Tennessee-the world's only research facility devoted to studying human decomposition. He tells about his life and how he became an anthropoligist. He tells about the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, explores the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity surprised police.
There is lots of evidence in the Lizzie Borden murders, but is it enough to say Lizzie Borden killed Mr. and Mrs. Borden? Mr. and Mrs. Borden were killed in their home on August 4th 1892. Their daughter Lizzie Borden was the suspected killer. She was found to be innocent, yet many people still think that Lizzie borden murdered her parents that day. There is a lot of evidence that points to Lizzie being the killer. A lot of things she did and said were very suspicious. Lizzie Borden is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
On August 23, 1980 in Conroe, Texas, is 40 miles north of Houston, a 16-year-old girl, Cheryl Fergeson, disappeared while searching for a women’s restroom at Conroe High School (Gores, 1991). Cheryl was the manager of the Bellville High girls’ volleyball team visiting Conroe High School for a preseason scrimmage. Later that day while searching for the girl two janitors, Clarence Brandley who is black, and Henry Peace who is white, found the girl’s body hidden under some scenery flats in the loft above the auditorium stage. Cheryl has been raped and strangled to death. Clarence and Henry were interrogated and made to sign statements. The two janitors were then taken to the hospital and made to give sperm, blood, and hair samples from their head
On June 7th 2008, Sarah May Ward was arrested for the murder of Eli Westlake after she ran him over in a motor vehicle in St. Leonards. Prior to the incident the offender had been driving the wrong way down Christine Lane which was a one way street. Whilst this was occurring she was intoxicated, under the influence of marijuana, valium, and ecstasy and was unlicensed to drive. The victim and his brother who were also intoxicated, where walking down the lane and where nearly hit by the offender. This prompted the victim to throw cheese balls at the car and make a few sarcastic remarks regarding her driving ability. After a brief confrontation between the two parties the victim and his brother turned away and proceeded to walk down Lithgow Street. The offender followed the victim into the street and drove into him while he was crossing a driveway.
In The Murder of Helen Jewett, Patricia Cohen uses one of the most trivial murders during the 1800’s to illustrate the sexiest society accommodations to the privileged, hypocritical tunneled views toward sexual behavior, and the exploitation of legal codes, use of tabloid journalism, and politics. Taking the fact that woman was made from taking a rib from man was more than biblical knowledge, but incorporated into the male belief that a woman’s place is determined by the man. Helen had the proper rearing a maid servant, but how did she fall so far from grace. Judge Weston properly takes credit for rearing her with the proper strictness and education. Was Helen seduced at an early age and introduced to sexual perversions that were more persuasive that the bible belt life that the Weston’s tried to live? Was Helen simply a woman who knew how to use what she had to get what she wanted? Through personal correspondence, legal documentation, census reports, paintings, and newspapers we are able to make our own determinations. Cohen provides more than enough background and history to allow any one to make their own opinion how the murder of a woman could be turned into a side show at a circus.
Numerous murders have taken place throughout history and sadly, plenty of these murders go unsolved. One of these unsolved murders is the murders of Barbara and Patricia Grimes in 1957. There have been plenty of suspects, but nobody was ever convicted of the murders of the sisters. However, after reviewing possible suspects for the murders of the Grimes sisters, the true identity of the killer has been revealed as Max Fleig.
On the morning of September 4, 1957, Elizabeth was getting ready to go to her first day of school at Little Rock Central High School. She didn?t have a phone at her house, so she didn?t know that the other 8 students were going to meet at Daisy Bates? house and to go school together as a group. She got off the bus and walked down Park street in Little Rock, Arkansas and into a screaming mob with military police around her and she began her quest to attend Central High School in Little Rock. She thought the police were there to protect her, but they were ...
Self-motivation and determination are two of the main ideals of being journalist. If a journalist does not have the desire to find and report a story, he has no career. A journalist depends on finding the facts, getting to the bottom of the story and reporting to the public, whether it’s positive or negative. Janet Malcom states in the book The Journalist and the Murderer, “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” (Malcolm, 3) Her starting words speak volumes about “the Journalist and the Murderer” and the lessons that can be learned.
Could you ever imagine what it would be liked to be taken from the once place you are supposed to feel the safest and then being held captive under excruciating fear? More people than anyone would care to think about know exactly what it's like, one of those many being Elizabeth Smart. Elizabeth Smart had to overcome many obstacles throughout the entire ordeal, the main portion of the hard times lasting nine months. Elizabeth went through many emotional high points; fear, the pure will to survive, and her quest for freedom and putting it all behind her.
Elizabeth try’s the easiest way out of things. She cannot control what she does. She’ll have the loud cry for help without saying the words. Her actions speak so much louder than her words. Elizabeth had never once told someone to help her, she would just be screaming crying throwing a fit on the bathroom floor, almost killing herself.
Elizabeth Short was a beautiful young woman who dreamed of becoming a movie actress. She looked like a porcelain doll with her black curls, her full hips, her light skin, and her light blue eyes (Scheeres 3). People said Short didn’t smoke, drink or swear even though she spent most of her time at nightclubs with men (Crime & Investigation Network 1). Most people knew Elizabeth Short by her nickname the “Black Dahlia.” Most people say that Short got this nickname from the movie “The Blue Dahlia,” and her love for the color black (Scheeres 3). However, Short didn’t know that this nickname would stick with her long after her death. The Black Dahlia was gruesomely murdered in the late 1940s and the murder is still unsolved today.
Love is generally thought of as a sweet or passionate idea. However, when a love dies, it can take on a much more menacing and terrifying aura. In “Annabel Lee,” by Edgar Allen Poe, we discover that when a perfect love perishes, the results can be absolutely terrifying. When the narrator loses his ideal love, he is unable to move on and resorts to cursing the heavens and even sleeping with his dead love. Poe is able to express this dark side of love that the narrator experiences through structure, symbols, setting, and imagery.
Throughout the novel, the reader follows Elizabeth through her struggle to maintain her personal identity, despite what her mother, sisters, and other women in society think of her. Elizabeth enjoys physical activities, such as walking , which is uncommon for women in the society in which she lives. “She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really looked almost wild.” (Austen, 24). The women often look upon Elizabeth negatively due to her behaviour and personality, especially for her outspokenness, which was especially uncommon and unacceptable upon women. “‘Lizzy’, cried...
Judith Wright's poem `The Killer' explores the relationship between Humans and Nature, and provides an insight into the primitive instincts which characterize both the speaker and the subject. These aspects of the poem find expression in the irony of the title and are also underlined by the various technical devices employed by the poet.