Elizabeth Short aged 22, nickname The Black Dahlia, was brutally murdered and her body cut in half before it was discovered on the morning of 15 January 1947 by a local resident near Leimert Park, Los Angeles. Like most cases, dozens of people have confessed to the killing of Elizabeth Short, however in 2012 a claim from a retired detective that his father was the killer emerged. Detective Steve Hodel believed that his father, who died in 1999, was the killer of The Black Dahlia. Soil samples were taken from his home which tested positive for human decomposition and as he was a doctor this made him more likely suspect, as the surgical accuracy used to dismember the victims body more than likely came from a doctor. George Hodel was among the LAPD's 22 viable suspects.
