Today is Friday, January 15th, 2021.

On this day in 1947, a housewife stumbled upon a mutilated corpse in a quiet Los Angeles suburb.

The body belonged to the city's most infamous murder victim, Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parkast.

Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes,

listener discretion is advised.

This episode contains discussions of murder.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're discussing the discovery of Elizabeth Short's body.

Now, let's go back to Los Angeles shortly after 10 a.m.

Betty Bursinger pulled her jacket tight against her neck.

She felt a sudden chill, and it wasn't just from the winter weather.

She and her three-year-old daughter stepped carefully over the cracked pavement and potholes. The walk took them past a series of run-down, vacant lots, reminding Betty that the city of Angels wasn't all it promised to be.

It was hard to believe that just a few years before, L.A. had been full of hope.

The thriving film industry had beckoned young people from all over the country.

Her neighborhood, Lemaert Park, had welcomed countless young couples.

It had seemed like the perfect place to start a family.

Unfortunately, World War II hit the city hard. A lack of workers meant many

suburbs had been transformed into graveyards of condemned buildings and unfinished construction.

It was an eerie stroll. With annoyance, Betty and her daughter went around an abandoned mannequin

that lay a few feet off the sidewalk.

It was stuck in a disturbing, unnatural pose and broken in two right at the waist.

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