Biography: Elizabeth Short

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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.
Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924 to Cleo and Phoebe Short. Elizabeth, her parents, and her four sisters lived in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. Cleo, her father, left the family during the depression because he went bankrupt. Elizabeth lived in a fairly normal life growing up. However, she did have respiratory problems which eventually caused her to spend the winters in Miami, Florida. Wanting to become an actress, Elizabeth moved to Valljo, California to live with her father (Scheeres 3). Within a year, Short was sent back home to due to underage drinking. Again, Short started spending the summer in Massachusetts and winter in Florida. One time in Florida, she met and fell in love with Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr.. Gordon was in the Air Force and was soon sent to India. While in India, he proposed to Elizabeth in a letter, but Gordon died in a plane crash before he could make it back to America (Crime & Investigation Network 1). To help deal with Gordon’s death, Elizabeth spent time with men, especially...

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... her, someone who didn’t, or someone who knew the Black Dahlia was close to knowing they killed someone else, the murderer got away with it.

Works Cited

Aiderz. “The Black Dahlia, an Introduction to the Tragic Elizabeth Short.” www.eshorttheblackdahlia.blogspot.com. The Black Dahlia Solution. “The Murder/Riddle Solution.” www.blackdahliasolution.org/cryptol1.htm.
Crime & Investigation Network. “Elizabeth Short: The Black Dahlia.” www.crimandinvestigation.co.uk/crimefiles/elizabeth-short-the-black-dahlia/biography.html. Downes, Robert. “Who Killed the Black Dahlia.” www.northernexpress.com/michigan/article-1676-who-killed-the-black-dahlia.htm. Scheeres, Julia. “The Black Dahlia.” www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/dahliaindex_1.html. Truex, Leslie. “Who Killed the Black Dahlia.” www.hyperlink.com/who-killed-the-black-dahlia-b1645a10.

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