Jeanne French was found beaten and stomped to death Feb. 10 1947, almost a month after Elizabeth Short was killed. French died from a broken rib that punctured her heart. Heel prints were found on her chest and near her body, according to Los Angeles County district attorney’s files. The prints were identified as a man’s shoe, size 6 or 7, someone with unusually small feet. Dr. George Hodel had, according his family, much larger feet.

Many armchair sleuths and authors of crummy books on the Black Dahlia case (notably “Severed” and “Black Dahlia Avenger”) claim that the Black Dahlia and Jeanne French killings were related. The concise answer is no. The full analysis is much longer and reaches the same conclusion.

The takeaway is that George Hodel could not have killed Jeanne French because his feet were the wrong size. And he had no connection to Elizabeth Short and was not the Black Dahlia killer.

Period.