WEBVTT

1
00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:10.919
<v Speaker 1>This is actually like a perfect locatient with the hidden

2
00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:13.919
<v Speaker 1>driveway and the detached buck clothes.

3
00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:16.199
<v Speaker 2>Hey, I think they're ready.

4
00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:20.960
<v Speaker 3>I got it. Seventy nine years ago today, Elizabeth Short

5
00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.160
<v Speaker 3>was tortured and murdered, her body disguarded in a vacant

6
00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:29.120
<v Speaker 3>field in Los Angeles. In death, she became known as

7
00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:32.640
<v Speaker 3>the Black Dahlia, the girl who was cut cleanly into

8
00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:36.159
<v Speaker 3>the horror of what happened to her led to one

9
00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.759
<v Speaker 3>of the largest and widest investigations ever mounted by the

10
00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:43.560
<v Speaker 3>Los Angeles Police Department. Some have called it a state

11
00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:47.280
<v Speaker 3>of the art investigation for its time in nineteen forty seven.

12
00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.000
<v Speaker 3>Others look back and see it as flawed, with leeds

13
00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:56.520
<v Speaker 3>unfollowed and suspects not exhaustively pursued. Either way, no one

14
00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.280
<v Speaker 3>was ever brought to justice for the killing of Elizabeth Short.

15
00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:03.960
<v Speaker 3>One thing that stands out very clearly from the police

16
00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:07.359
<v Speaker 3>reports and media accounts of the day is that the

17
00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:11.359
<v Speaker 3>investigators put a high priority on finding the so called

18
00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:15.480
<v Speaker 3>murder room where Short was tortured and killed, the place

19
00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.480
<v Speaker 3>where her body was bisected, drained of blood, and thoroughly

20
00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.719
<v Speaker 3>washed before being taken to Lamert Park and discarded by

21
00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.719
<v Speaker 3>the side of the road. But as with the suspect,

22
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:30.120
<v Speaker 3>the place where Elizabeth Short took her last painful breadth

23
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:35.439
<v Speaker 3>was never found, maybe until now Citizen sleuth Alex Baber

24
00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.280
<v Speaker 3>believes he has found it. Be it seventy nine years

25
00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:41.000
<v Speaker 3>too late, and we're going to go there with him today.

26
00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:46.200
<v Speaker 3>You're listening to kill her. In the Code Solving the

27
00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:50.760
<v Speaker 3>Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases, I'm Michael Connelly and this

28
00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:56.400
<v Speaker 3>is chapter five, a quick recap here of where we

29
00:01:56.439 --> 00:02:00.640
<v Speaker 3>are at. With the help of our AI program, Public Wreckers,

30
00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:05.799
<v Speaker 3>genealogy sites, and the self taught cryptography skills, Alex Baber

31
00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.680
<v Speaker 3>spent nine months waiting through millions of possible names and

32
00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:13.560
<v Speaker 3>solutions to the most tantalizing of cipher's left behind by

33
00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:18.080
<v Speaker 3>the so called Zodiac Killer of Northern California. That was

34
00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:22.159
<v Speaker 3>the z thirteen, so named for its thirteen characters, a

35
00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:26.439
<v Speaker 3>cipher so short it was said to be unbreakable, also

36
00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.479
<v Speaker 3>known as the my name as cipher because the Zodiac

37
00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:33.000
<v Speaker 3>claimed to have encrypted his name in his thirteen letters

38
00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.759
<v Speaker 3>and symbols, in a solution that has now been independently

39
00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:39.759
<v Speaker 3>confirmed by some of the top cryptographers in the world,

40
00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:43.280
<v Speaker 3>Baber came up with the name Marvin Merrill, which in

41
00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:46.080
<v Speaker 3>turn was one of a number of aliases used by

42
00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:50.319
<v Speaker 3>Marvin Margolis, a prime suspect in the nineteen forty seven

43
00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:54.879
<v Speaker 3>murder of Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia.

44
00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.680
<v Speaker 3>Margolis died in Santa Barbara in nineteen ninety three. In

45
00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:05.240
<v Speaker 3>his last year, while dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis,

46
00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.599
<v Speaker 3>he drew a sketch entitled Elizabeth, which depicted a nude

47
00:03:09.639 --> 00:03:14.879
<v Speaker 3>young woman with dark hair, signed Marty Merrill, another Margolis alias,

48
00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.280
<v Speaker 3>and dated nineteen ninety two. The sketch shows her from

49
00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:22.680
<v Speaker 3>the waist up, eerily matching the bisection of Elizabeth Short.

50
00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:26.080
<v Speaker 3>There are also action lines on the torso that are

51
00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:31.879
<v Speaker 3>similar to lacerations documented during Short's autopsy. When Baber applied

52
00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:35.680
<v Speaker 3>light fielding software to a photo of the sketch, he

53
00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:39.360
<v Speaker 3>found a word hidden in the dark shading surrounding the torso.

54
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:46.840
<v Speaker 3>The word was Zodiac. Following these discoveries, Baber pulled together

55
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:50.800
<v Speaker 3>a team of professional investigators to continue his efforts on

56
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:54.879
<v Speaker 3>the cases. The team included cold case detective Rick Jackson

57
00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:58.360
<v Speaker 3>and MITCHI Roberts, who retired from the Los Angeles Police

58
00:03:58.360 --> 00:04:02.599
<v Speaker 3>department as supervisor of the cold case in it. She

59
00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.800
<v Speaker 3>was also the custodian of the Black Dalia case files

60
00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:09.520
<v Speaker 3>for the last fifteen years of her career. An update

61
00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:12.840
<v Speaker 3>on the Elizabeth sketch is that Margolus's son turned the

62
00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:17.839
<v Speaker 3>sketch over to Baber's team for a professional analysis. Roberts

63
00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:21.920
<v Speaker 3>took it to an independent forensic analyst named George Reese

64
00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:26.040
<v Speaker 3>of Imaging Consultants. During his ninety minute study of the

65
00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:30.279
<v Speaker 3>sketch witnessed by Roberts and myself, Reese, who donated his

66
00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:33.759
<v Speaker 3>time to the project, used several different lighting and filtering

67
00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:38.319
<v Speaker 3>techniques to confirm the existence of the hidden word. Reese

68
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.160
<v Speaker 3>was also able to determine that the hidden word was

69
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.160
<v Speaker 3>added to the sketch with a pencil, as were several

70
00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:48.360
<v Speaker 3>other shadings and highlights on the piece. Graphight shading around

71
00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:50.759
<v Speaker 3>the marks on the torso give it the appearance of

72
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.279
<v Speaker 3>a blood smear. You can see the sketch for yourself

73
00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:58.560
<v Speaker 3>on killernnecode dot com. Because the graph ight from the

74
00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:02.319
<v Speaker 3>pencil overlays the black marker used to create the main

75
00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:05.319
<v Speaker 3>image of the sketch, it appears that the pencil was

76
00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:09.639
<v Speaker 3>used to add final accents to the piece. Curiously, when

77
00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:13.079
<v Speaker 3>Reese removed the sketch from its frame for the analysis,

78
00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.839
<v Speaker 3>he found another sketch beneath it. It was possibly added

79
00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.360
<v Speaker 3>to keep the Elizabeth image from slipping in its matted frame.

80
00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:23.879
<v Speaker 3>The new sketches both sides of a piece of paper

81
00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:28.160
<v Speaker 3>and depicts four in versions of neckties that say Ross

82
00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.120
<v Speaker 3>Perot for President. In a way, it helps date the

83
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.079
<v Speaker 3>Elizabeth sketch because Piot unsuccessfully ran for president of the

84
00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:39.879
<v Speaker 3>United States in nineteen ninety two, Margolis's last full year

85
00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:47.079
<v Speaker 3>of life. We also have some updates regarding the work

86
00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:51.439
<v Speaker 3>done on the Zodiac codes. We reported in episode four

87
00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:56.439
<v Speaker 3>that an amateur cryptographer in Stockholm, Sweden, took Alex Baber's

88
00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.879
<v Speaker 3>methodology for breaking Z thirteen and applied it to what

89
00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:03.560
<v Speaker 3>is known as Z eighteen, which refers to the final

90
00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:07.920
<v Speaker 3>eighteen characters of the Zodiac's first cipher, Z four eight

91
00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.839
<v Speaker 3>That cipher was largely decoded way back in nineteen sixty nine,

92
00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.759
<v Speaker 3>shortly after it was sent in three parts to three

93
00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.800
<v Speaker 3>different Bay Area newspapers. However, the last line of the

94
00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.040
<v Speaker 3>cipher was not decoded and thought for decades to be

95
00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.680
<v Speaker 3>extra symbols. Phil added to make the three parts equal

96
00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:32.319
<v Speaker 3>in length. But a pattern analyst named Thomas Hefner in

97
00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.360
<v Speaker 3>Stockholm used Baber's method and found it to include the

98
00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:40.879
<v Speaker 3>name Marvin Merrill. Now the independent team of former NSA

99
00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:45.319
<v Speaker 3>codebreakers brought in to backcheck Baber's code work have analyzed

100
00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:50.199
<v Speaker 3>Hefner's work. They have concluded that, using three different methodologies

101
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:54.759
<v Speaker 3>of code breaking, including Babers, that de encryption comes back

102
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.439
<v Speaker 3>to Marvin Merrill. On z eighteen, here is Ed Georgio,

103
00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.720
<v Speaker 3>former chief codebreaker for the NSA and leader of the

104
00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.560
<v Speaker 3>independent team of cryptographers that agreed to batcheck Baber's work.

105
00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.879
<v Speaker 3>It is certainly getting solid by the day. As I mentioned,

106
00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:14.800
<v Speaker 3>the simple intersection.

107
00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:20.959
<v Speaker 2>Of the possible names under the Baver solution with potential

108
00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.600
<v Speaker 2>suspects in either case only has one name on it.

109
00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:26.959
<v Speaker 2>It's Marvin Merrill. So even before I go to the

110
00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.480
<v Speaker 2>new evidence, Martin Merrill is a very strong candidate. Now

111
00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:37.079
<v Speaker 2>we showed earlier that when Patrick Henry discovered the keyword Elizabeth,

112
00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:41.000
<v Speaker 2>that made it even more likely, and now we have

113
00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:46.800
<v Speaker 2>additional confirmation from Thomas Hefner. His initial observation which was later,

114
00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.000
<v Speaker 2>as I mentioned, extended by Patrick and.

115
00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:53.519
<v Speaker 4>Rich is yet another confirmation that we have it correct.

116
00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:58.240
<v Speaker 4>So the bottom line is that when you look at

117
00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:05.639
<v Speaker 4>the combination of two cipher messages, one name, one keyword Elizabeth,

118
00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:12.000
<v Speaker 4>one encryption method, and the potential keyword Jerry Joe. And

119
00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:18.879
<v Speaker 4>so the evidence went from likely to very likely to

120
00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:23.040
<v Speaker 4>very very likely to almost beyond the shadow of a

121
00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:23.759
<v Speaker 4>doubt likely.

122
00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.319
<v Speaker 3>And from Sweden we go to Australia where a longtime

123
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.799
<v Speaker 3>Zodiac analyst named Paul Brookbanks has confirmed Baber's interpretation of

124
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:37.000
<v Speaker 3>Z thirty two and taken it a few steps further.

125
00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.799
<v Speaker 3>A landscape architect by trade, brook Banks has been fascinated

126
00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.080
<v Speaker 3>by the Z thirty two because of the clues supplied

127
00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.960
<v Speaker 3>by the Zodiac, saying that the cipher concerns radiance and

128
00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:53.679
<v Speaker 3>measurements on a map. The solution brook Banks independently plotted

129
00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.080
<v Speaker 3>match Babers, which charted a path on a Zodiac provided

130
00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.720
<v Speaker 3>map to Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, the place where

131
00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:03.480
<v Speaker 3>Elizabeth Short is buried.

132
00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:06.559
<v Speaker 5>You know, I was hovering and all that areas and

133
00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:11.559
<v Speaker 5>looking trying to scale along that area. There's not much

134
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.240
<v Speaker 5>else there, But it was really Alex that's pinpointed that

135
00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.879
<v Speaker 5>as mountain VW symmetry because I just didn't know the

136
00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:20.600
<v Speaker 5>significance of Mountain view symmetry. I think it's a really

137
00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:22.840
<v Speaker 5>good story that you've got. You know, two people on

138
00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:25.080
<v Speaker 5>different sides of the world come up the same solution.

139
00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:29.440
<v Speaker 5>That's good validation. You know, it's a reasonable suggest that

140
00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:32.039
<v Speaker 5>this is a correct solution and a really compelling solution.

141
00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:34.799
<v Speaker 3>You can go to our website for a link to

142
00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:38.919
<v Speaker 3>Brookbanks YouTube channel where he discusses Z thirty two and

143
00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:44.279
<v Speaker 3>other aspects of the Zodiac case. Now let's go back

144
00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:46.240
<v Speaker 3>to the search for the scene of the crime, the

145
00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:51.759
<v Speaker 3>place where Elizabeth Short met her demise. I say up

146
00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:54.799
<v Speaker 3>front that we are speculating here based on the facts

147
00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:59.759
<v Speaker 3>of the original investigation into the death of the Black Dahlia.

148
00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:04.559
<v Speaker 3>Short's bisected body was found January fifteenth, nineteen forty seven,

149
00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.639
<v Speaker 3>alongside South Norton Avenue in an area known as Leemurk Park.

150
00:10:09.559 --> 00:10:11.639
<v Speaker 3>It was less than two years since the end of

151
00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.320
<v Speaker 3>World War II and the eve of the massive post

152
00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.559
<v Speaker 3>war growth the city would see. The area where the

153
00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:21.320
<v Speaker 3>body was discarded was not yet fully developed. Crime scene

154
00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:24.720
<v Speaker 3>photos show a vast emptiness surrounding the spot where Elizabeth

155
00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:29.320
<v Speaker 3>Short's body was found. Captain Jack Donague, who was in

156
00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.960
<v Speaker 3>charge of the investigation for the LAPD, said the area

157
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:36.440
<v Speaker 3>was known as a lover's Lane. There would be an

158
00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.600
<v Speaker 3>erie corollary to this twenty two years later, when the

159
00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:43.919
<v Speaker 3>Zodiac would start shooting couples in remote lover's lane areas

160
00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:47.799
<v Speaker 3>in the North Bay. From the start, the police mounted

161
00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:50.440
<v Speaker 3>a strong effort to find the place where Short was

162
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:54.200
<v Speaker 3>tortured and killed. It was suspected that she was likely

163
00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.919
<v Speaker 3>bisected in a bathtub, her body scrubbed afterward with a

164
00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:02.279
<v Speaker 3>stiff brush that left coconut bristles on her body. Here

165
00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.919
<v Speaker 3>is veteran homicide investigator Rich Jackson.

166
00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:10.919
<v Speaker 6>No word a murder took place the crime scene. It

167
00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.720
<v Speaker 6>would be a major thing to.

168
00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:16.000
<v Speaker 3>Have.

169
00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:22.240
<v Speaker 6>You have potential for witnesses, you have potential for tons

170
00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:25.399
<v Speaker 6>of forensics, especially in a case like this, So there's

171
00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.600
<v Speaker 6>so many things that can be gleaned from having that

172
00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:30.799
<v Speaker 6>answer and an investigation.

173
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:36.120
<v Speaker 3>During the initial stages of the investigation, Captain Donyue sent

174
00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:39.799
<v Speaker 3>a failings of officers, a mix of detectives and uniformed

175
00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.159
<v Speaker 3>officers into the area where the body was found to

176
00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:48.240
<v Speaker 3>question nearby residents. And attempt to find the killing room. Eventually,

177
00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:51.480
<v Speaker 3>the search expanded, and Doniue later told reporters that it

178
00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:55.399
<v Speaker 3>was believed that Short was likely slain outside of the

179
00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.720
<v Speaker 3>populated areas of the city and then brought back to

180
00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:04.039
<v Speaker 3>the field of Norton Avenue. Two days after the murder,

181
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:07.320
<v Speaker 3>the Los Angeles City Council put up a reward of

182
00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:10.559
<v Speaker 3>ten thousand dollars for information leading to an arrest in

183
00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:14.279
<v Speaker 3>the case. Rewards often bring in calls from the cranks

184
00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:16.960
<v Speaker 3>and the crazies. Here's Rick Jackson again.

185
00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.639
<v Speaker 6>To control a reward, it can be a nightmare. You're

186
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.679
<v Speaker 6>going to get a lot of people calling, especially on

187
00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:27.919
<v Speaker 6>a high profile case like this. It's time consuming, but

188
00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.600
<v Speaker 6>it doesn't hurt to try if you strike out, because

189
00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.960
<v Speaker 6>the worst that could happen is you don't get anything,

190
00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:37.639
<v Speaker 6>and then the money is not spent. But yet you're

191
00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.399
<v Speaker 6>you know, you're shut out from getting any any helpful information.

192
00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.039
<v Speaker 3>When three different people report the same thing, you take notice.

193
00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.720
<v Speaker 3>Operators of three different motels in the South Bay area

194
00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.159
<v Speaker 3>reported them. On the night of the murder, a nervous

195
00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:56.600
<v Speaker 3>young man came to their motel and asked if their

196
00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.960
<v Speaker 3>rooms had bath tubs, he said that his wife was

197
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.080
<v Speaker 3>ill and under doctor's care and needed to use a tub.

198
00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.440
<v Speaker 3>In each incidence, the motel employees said they noticed that

199
00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.679
<v Speaker 3>the man had parked a black four door Sedan a

200
00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:12.320
<v Speaker 3>good distance from the motel.

201
00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:18.440
<v Speaker 6>A crucial call on crucial information like this were three independent,

202
00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.720
<v Speaker 6>non connected people calling with the same type of information.

203
00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:24.840
<v Speaker 6>That's huge.

204
00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.519
<v Speaker 3>King on the idea that Short's body may have been

205
00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.000
<v Speaker 3>bisected and washed in a bathtub, the focus of the

206
00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:35.240
<v Speaker 3>investigation shifted to the South Bay. The three motels were

207
00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.799
<v Speaker 3>clustered along a stretch of what was Route one sixty five,

208
00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:43.120
<v Speaker 3>which would later become the Harbor Freeway. All three of

209
00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:47.039
<v Speaker 3>the motel operators gave the same description of the quote, jittery,

210
00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:51.600
<v Speaker 3>nervous man seeking a room with a bathtub. He had

211
00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.679
<v Speaker 3>bushy blonde hair, was five foot nine and twenty one

212
00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:59.279
<v Speaker 3>to twenty three years old. When the night Elizabeth Short

213
00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:02.279
<v Speaker 3>was murdered, Mark van Margolis was twenty one years old.

214
00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:07.200
<v Speaker 3>His military records placed him at five foot ten, though

215
00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:10.279
<v Speaker 3>in later photos he has light brown hair. He was

216
00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:13.360
<v Speaker 3>described to police by at least one person who knew

217
00:14:13.399 --> 00:14:16.879
<v Speaker 3>him back in nineteen forty seven as having blonde highlights

218
00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:18.159
<v Speaker 3>or dirty blonde hair.

219
00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:20.799
<v Speaker 7>All the accounts were between twenty one and twenty three

220
00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:22.919
<v Speaker 7>years of age, and Marvin's right in the middle of it.

221
00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:25.840
<v Speaker 7>So he's literally a fitting description.

222
00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:26.919
<v Speaker 3>Had they said.

223
00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:28.879
<v Speaker 7>Twenty five to thirty, that would have been an obstacle

224
00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:32.799
<v Speaker 7>we'd have to overcome. But for them to inipily give

225
00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:37.039
<v Speaker 7>this same age range across the board is very compelling

226
00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:39.519
<v Speaker 7>to us as far as investigators like they knew that

227
00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.919
<v Speaker 7>this guy was younger and they anticipated being in his

228
00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:42.639
<v Speaker 7>early twenties.

229
00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.440
<v Speaker 3>Two weeks after the murder, another citizen came forward. An

230
00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:50.279
<v Speaker 3>investigator for the DMD said on the night of the

231
00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.919
<v Speaker 3>murder that she had been waiting at a bus stop

232
00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:56.240
<v Speaker 3>just northwest of the three motels. She set a blood

233
00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:00.480
<v Speaker 3>curdling scream, drew her attention to a passing car, black

234
00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.919
<v Speaker 3>four door sed Anne, where she saw a woman struggling

235
00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:07.000
<v Speaker 3>with a man in the back seat while a second

236
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:09.960
<v Speaker 3>man was driving and a second woman was in the

237
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.440
<v Speaker 3>front passenger seat. Could that have been Elizabeth Shore trying

238
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.519
<v Speaker 3>to escape from her ex boyfriend Marvin Margolis. If so,

239
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:22.960
<v Speaker 3>it meant Margolis had accomplices. We'll talk about that possibility

240
00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.159
<v Speaker 3>later in the podcast. What Alex Baber did with this

241
00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:29.960
<v Speaker 3>information was charged these four reports on a map that

242
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:34.720
<v Speaker 3>also included Elizabeth Short's final destination on South Nordon Avenue.

243
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.679
<v Speaker 3>These stops showed that the man looking for a bathtub

244
00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:42.000
<v Speaker 3>was moving south from the motel to motel, but the

245
00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.960
<v Speaker 3>report from the DMV investigator included her observation that the

246
00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.519
<v Speaker 3>car was heading north.

247
00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.320
<v Speaker 7>Where it is I took him out, but it took

248
00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:53.159
<v Speaker 7>two pens up with a pen at the corner of

249
00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:57.919
<v Speaker 7>San Antonio and Orange, which is where Arlene Donalson said

250
00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:01.519
<v Speaker 7>she witnessed the account the pen in Limc Park where

251
00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.480
<v Speaker 7>her body was discovered The next day, you cannet the arm.

252
00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:08.279
<v Speaker 7>I searched out using the archives of any motels, hotels,

253
00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:09.960
<v Speaker 7>or auto courts within that area.

254
00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:14.039
<v Speaker 3>He came across an advertisement in a local paper that

255
00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.120
<v Speaker 3>caught his eye. It was the announcement of a new

256
00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:20.879
<v Speaker 3>motel opening in June of nineteen forty six. It offered

257
00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:24.759
<v Speaker 3>one bedroom bungalows with a bath and it was called

258
00:16:24.919 --> 00:16:26.519
<v Speaker 3>the Zodiac Motel.

259
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.000
<v Speaker 7>That was a one of those moments, as we referred

260
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.759
<v Speaker 7>to as AHA moment. Once I noticed the name in

261
00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:39.840
<v Speaker 7>the correlation between what we uncovered with Marvin in North

262
00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:43.799
<v Speaker 7>Bay and then the motel Right at that moment, I

263
00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:46.879
<v Speaker 7>was on the track of okay, this could be a

264
00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.279
<v Speaker 7>possibility as being an inspiration or a origin of the moniker.

265
00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:54.440
<v Speaker 7>And then at that point, once identified the details about

266
00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:57.799
<v Speaker 7>the rooms being not individual and the motel having bathtubs,

267
00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.240
<v Speaker 7>I knew then that this was the location that Elizabeth

268
00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:01.960
<v Speaker 7>Short was murdered.

269
00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:08.160
<v Speaker 3>At Baber's confidence. Aside, there are no records available from

270
00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:12.160
<v Speaker 3>the Zodiac Motel that would confirm whether Marvin Margolis ever

271
00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:15.680
<v Speaker 3>checked into one of its bungalows. It also is not

272
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.640
<v Speaker 3>clear whether the advertisement of a bath meant a bathtub

273
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:24.480
<v Speaker 3>or an inunit bathroom. Still, when you consider the secret

274
00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.799
<v Speaker 3>word hidden in that Elizabeth sketch and Margolis' is alias

275
00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:32.160
<v Speaker 3>being found in two of the Zodiac ciphers, it's a

276
00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:37.119
<v Speaker 3>coincidence that cannot be easily dismissed. That's why Baber and

277
00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:39.720
<v Speaker 3>members of his team went there on a recent morning

278
00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:43.640
<v Speaker 3>to see and get a feel for the place for themselves. Yes,

279
00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:47.440
<v Speaker 3>the twenty two bungalows of the Zodiac Motel still stand

280
00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:51.079
<v Speaker 3>on North Santa Fe Avenue in Compton, though they were

281
00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:55.319
<v Speaker 3>converted to apartments long ago. They are neatly kept and

282
00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:59.359
<v Speaker 3>painted in warm colors. Two opposing rows of eleven free

283
00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.519
<v Speaker 3>standing bunks with bars on their windows. If Margols brought

284
00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.799
<v Speaker 3>Elizabeth Short here seventy nine years ago at the end

285
00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.279
<v Speaker 3>of a night's search for a room with a bathtub,

286
00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.359
<v Speaker 3>and he lect into finding a place on the fly

287
00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:16.319
<v Speaker 3>that would have been most suitable for murder, it was

288
00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:19.599
<v Speaker 3>called a motor court in nineteen forty seven, the kind

289
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:23.079
<v Speaker 3>of place that served a post war Los Angeles where

290
00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:27.119
<v Speaker 3>freeways were coming and the population would shift from cable

291
00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:30.720
<v Speaker 3>cars and trolleys to the automobile. It was the dawn

292
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.440
<v Speaker 3>of what was to be in autotopia, And at the

293
00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.400
<v Speaker 3>Zodiac Motel, every bungalow came with its own parking space

294
00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:41.000
<v Speaker 3>on the side and an entrance just steps from the

295
00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.519
<v Speaker 3>car door. This is Missy Roberts.

296
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:48.640
<v Speaker 1>I just think it's so interesting, these concealed parking areas

297
00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:53.400
<v Speaker 1>between the buildings. But it's also interesting too as an investigator.

298
00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:54.720
<v Speaker 1>I want to get in there and I want to see,

299
00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:57.119
<v Speaker 1>you know, I want to see the bathtub, and I

300
00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:00.000
<v Speaker 1>want to see the layout, and I want more knowledge

301
00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:05.279
<v Speaker 1>to again put those pieces together that are missing.

302
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:08.519
<v Speaker 3>We as a resident of the complex if we could

303
00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:11.799
<v Speaker 3>take a look inside his bungalow. He allowed us in,

304
00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:14.880
<v Speaker 3>but when we checked out the unit's bathroom, there was

305
00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:19.559
<v Speaker 3>no tub, only a foam booth sized shower. But a

306
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:23.359
<v Speaker 3>careful inspection of the apartment's layout revealed what appeared to

307
00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:26.240
<v Speaker 3>have been a renovation in which an area in the

308
00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.559
<v Speaker 3>bathroom that was the size of a bathtub was at

309
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:33.400
<v Speaker 3>some point divided into creating the small shower in the

310
00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.640
<v Speaker 3>bathroom and a space in the adjoining kitchenette for a

311
00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:41.839
<v Speaker 3>full size refrigerator to be recessed into the newly created space.

312
00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:47.000
<v Speaker 3>This would fit with social and cultural history. The Zodiac

313
00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:49.839
<v Speaker 3>Motel was built shortly after the end of the Second

314
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.720
<v Speaker 3>World War, opening its doors in mid nineteen forty six.

315
00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:57.920
<v Speaker 3>It lasted five years as a motel and then became apartments.

316
00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:01.880
<v Speaker 3>During the post war prosperity of the nineteen fifties, full

317
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:05.960
<v Speaker 3>size refrigerators became a household staple. That trend could have

318
00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:09.559
<v Speaker 3>dictated a renovation that would remove the tub to create

319
00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:15.599
<v Speaker 3>space for the bigger capacity cold storage. Despite the cheery

320
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.400
<v Speaker 3>pastel colors of the bungalows of the former Zodiac Motel,

321
00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:22.839
<v Speaker 3>there was something haunting about the place. It was sad

322
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:25.880
<v Speaker 3>to think about it possibly being the last stop in

323
00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:28.960
<v Speaker 3>the short life of the Black Dahlia.

324
00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:33.720
<v Speaker 1>It's a bit eerie, of course, to think that anytime

325
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.079
<v Speaker 1>you think that somebody lost their life at a location

326
00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:39.000
<v Speaker 1>is the sort of hollow ground.

327
00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:46.640
<v Speaker 3>It certainly felt that way to me. I'm Michael Conley,

328
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.319
<v Speaker 3>and you've been listening to Killer in the Code Solving

329
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:53.480
<v Speaker 3>the Black Dahlia in Zodiac Cases. We'll be back with

330
00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:57.279
<v Speaker 3>chapter six soon. When we tried to decode perhaps the

331
00:20:57.319 --> 00:21:01.599
<v Speaker 3>biggest cipher of them all, Marvin Martin. We're going to

332
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:06.799
<v Speaker 3>track him across time and murder. This episode was written

333
00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:09.559
<v Speaker 3>and produced by Michael Conley. It was edited by Terrell

334
00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:14.039
<v Speaker 3>Lee Langford, with sound design and music by Mark Henry Phillips.

335
00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:18.119
<v Speaker 3>Subscribe to the podcast so you'll be informed of new episodes,

336
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:23.079
<v Speaker 3>and check out killerindecode dot com for information on the investigation.

337
00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:25.759
<v Speaker 3>Thank you for listening.