Psychic Detective
She was young and pretty, and her gruesome death is still one of America’s most famous unsolved homicides. Ex-cop and psychic Nicky Alan investigates
The morning of Wednesday, 15 January 1947 was oddly cold and grey for the city of Los Angeles.
Betty Bersinger and her three-year-old daughter Anne went out early, heading to a shoe repair shop in a run-down area of the city.
As Betty was walking past vacant lots, something caught her eye. Was it an old shop-window mannequin?
Betty went closer, and her stomach turned. Lying among the weeds and rubbish was the body of a young woman.
She had been completely cut in two and seemed to have been posed. Her legs were splayed and her arms raised above her head. Her face had been slashed from ear to ear, leaving the corpse with a sickening grin.
Betty fled to a nearby house to call the police. But by the time they arrived, the scene was swarming with reporters, photographers and curious onlookers.
The autopsy report made grim reading — cause of death was recorded as ‘haemorrhage and shock due to concussion of the brain and lacerations of the face’.
The young woman had also been tortured before dying. She had been tied up and forced to eat faeces, and bits of her flesh had been sliced off.
The killer had then carried out a ‘hemicorporectomy’, where the body is cut in two between the second and third lumbar vertebrae — the only spot that doesn’t involve breaking bones.
The corpse had also been drained of blood and washed spotlessly clean. There wasn’t a single drop of blood at the crime scene, and no incriminating fingerprints.
This was the work of a medical expert, someone who wanted to show off their ‘skills’. But who would carry out such a hideous crime? And who was the victim?
The second question was quickly answered. She was 22-year-old Elizabeth Short.
But how had she met such a gruesome end?
The murder case exploded in the press, and the victim was soon dubbed ‘The Black Dahlia’ — possibly due to Elizabeth’s dark hair and preference for wearing black.
There was also a popular film noir at the time called The Blue Dahlia.
Originally from Boston, Elizabeth headed to Los Angeles in 1946 and found a job as a waitress.
Stories claimed she had gone to Hollywood to find fame and fortune in the movies.
However, she had no acting credits to her name.
The first suspect in the frame was the man she had been dating, Robert ‘Red’ Manley.
Red had dropped Elizabeth off at the Biltmore Hotel on 9 January, where she was to meet her sister, who was visiting from Boston.
Hotel staff allegedly saw Elizabeth on the phone in the lobby, and there were claims she was spot
