Black Dahlia Killer: Lost FBI Reports Expose Criminal Cover-Up!

FBI documents claim Hollywood cops covered up the infamous 1947 murder of the woman known as “The Black Dahlia” — because it was one of their own who did it! Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was just 22 when her nude and mutilated body was found in an empty L.A. lot on Jan. 15, 1947. The woman who discovered the grisly remains even thought the bisected corpse had to be a store mannequin! [WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS...]

FBI documents claim Hollywood cops covered up the infamous 1947 murder of the woman known as “The Black Dahlia” — because it was one of their own who did it! Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was just 22 when her nude and mutilated body was found in an empty L.A. lot on Jan. 15, 1947. The woman who discovered the grisly remains even thought the bisected corpse had to be a store mannequin! [WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS...]

All of Elizabeth's blood had been drained, and her body wiped clean with a brush. The would-be starlet's mouth was slit ear to ear. The initials “B.D.” — later inspiring Elizabeth's tragic nickname — were carved in one thigh. The sickening details of the brutal murder sparked a national media frenzy, with forgotten documents now revealing the troubling charges that went ignored by L.A. detectives!

Not long after Elizabeth’s funeral, a package containing her purse, ID and the address book of a local nightclub owner was delivered to the police. The items had been washed in gasoline, and cops determined “no possible lead could come from the evidence,” a source said at the time. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI mostly left the investigation to local police, but helped with fingerprint analyses and passed along tips from people claiming to know the killer’s identity.

One tip came from a woman named Edith Thomas, who wrote to Hoover himself in February 1947 and fingered a man nick- named “the Old Policeman” — possibly a current or retired cop — who lived in her boardinghouse on South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. The home was several miles from where Elizabeth’s body had been found.

One tip came from a woman named Edith Thomas, who wrote to Hoover himself in February 1947 and fingered a man nick- named “the Old Policeman” — possibly a current or retired cop — who lived in her boardinghouse on South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. The home was several miles from where Elizabeth’s body had been found.

Edith, who lived at 454 South Figueroa St., told Hoover that on Jan. 14, 1947, there had been an “awful rumpus” in apartment 405 of her building. The woman living next door, Edith said, told other residents she had “heard it all — the terrible obscene language” that the Old Policeman — real name Hawkins — was using and the “screaming” of a woman in the apartment.

That woman “ran down and reported it to the manager,” Edith said, and he reported it to police. Twelve officers soon arrived “and took old Hawkins — covered in blood — to jail,” she wrote. Edith added that an ambulance then arrived to take away the woman’s body. “It was all cut up and terribly mutilated,” she wrote to Hoover. “Her mouth cut from ear to ear!”

That woman “ran down and reported it to the manager,” Edith said, and he reported it to police. Twelve officers soon arrived “and took old Hawkins — covered in blood — to jail,” she wrote. Edith added that an ambulance then arrived to take away the woman’s body. “It was all cut up and terribly mutilated,” she wrote to Hoover. “Her mouth cut from ear to ear!”

“The next morning the body of the Black Dahlia was found dumped out into a lot on Norton [Street],” she added. But, Edith explained, Hawkins was released and returned home, and “has been going and coming ever since.”

That woman “ran down and reported it to the manager,” Edith said, and he reported it to police. Twelve officers soon arrived “and took old Hawkins — covered in blood — to jail,” she wrote. Edith added that an ambulance then arrived to take away the woman’s body. “It was all cut up and terribly mutilated,” she wrote to Hoover. “Her mouth cut from ear to ear!”

“The next morning the body of the Black Dahlia was found dumped out into a lot on Norton [Street],” she added. But, Edith explained, Hawkins was released and returned home, and “has been going and coming ever since.”

The landlady complained that police “appear to be doing nothing in regard to it. Maybe no one has reported it for fear of the police — as they already know all about it; having been here twelve strong on the night of B.D.’s murder.” Edith then wrote to Hoover again on Feb. 26, saying that “firemen and police have been here many times ‘cleaning’ up after Mr. Hawkins.”

Edith also claimed that Hawkins allegedly pushed a woman “from the roof or the fourth floor” of the building, and had also allegedly choked the wife of a man who rented a first-floor bookstore. She even added that an old man who lived in the building and “talked too much about this affair” had disappeared.

The correspondence ends with a March 4, 1947, letter from Hoover to Edith in which he thanked her for “making this information available to me.” Hoover added that that“the matter you mention does not come within our investigative jurisdiction,” and only promised to refer her “comments” to “appropriate local authorities.” (Elizabeth is seen here with a man that police were never able to identify.)

Those local authorities would still go on to investigate several men — with the murder inspiring over 50 confessions that were eventually dismissed. Police also pursued prime suspects that included Robert “Red” Manley (pictured here during a polygraph test), a small-time actor named Jeff Conners, and an Army sergeant named Peter Anthony Vetcher.

More recently, former Los Angeles homicide cop Steve Hodel theorized that his own deceased father, Dr. George Hodel, killed the Black Dahlia. But Los Angeles detectives haven't commented on any investigation into Edith’s allegations about “The Old Policeman” known as Hawkins.