In the January Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I gave an update on my work in progress, Heaven Is Here! and discussed the recent claims about the “solution” of the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases made by Alex Baber and reported by the Los Angeles Times, Daily Mail and Michael Connelly’s podcast Killer in the Code.

January 15 is the anniversary of Elizabeth Short’s death. If you mark the date, please do it respectfully (also a reminder to trim your roses).

I also discussed:

–The “true” crime industry.
–“Amateur code breaker” Alex Baber.
–How author Michael Connelly, retired detectives Rick Jackson, Mitzi Roberts and reporter Christopher Goffard got taken in on a total fraud.
–Who was Marvin Margolis?
–Problems with trying to re-create Zodiac’s code text for Z13 using Baber’s method of encrypting the plain text “MARVIN MERRILL.”
–Black Dahlia Book Club first session January 20. I’ll discuss the October 1948 article in True Detective magazine.

Links: Alex Brian Baber growing up in Ohio rather than “rural Florida” via Ancestry com: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3146/records/10874174?tid=&pid=&queryId=5b5104c7-367f-467d-b142-0e829e86e53d&_phsrc=dbv1&_phstart=successSource

Alex Baber’s biography from Cold Cases Consultants of America website (2021): https://web.archive.org/web/20211016014406/https://cccoa.us/about-us/

Alex Baber’s January 14, 2022, interview with Fox32 in Chicago: https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/1023406

Alex Baber’s February 4, 2022 interview with CrimeHQ (paywall, 3-day free trial works): https://members.crimehq.com/posts/video-recap-revolutionizing-cold-cases

Colab on Alex Baber’s “method” of cracking Z13: https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1qRYfRYPWx2BuM3ht91KiwISp33HtNICY

Marvin Margolis marriage license/certificate, November 26, 1946: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93H-HSXR-K QVC&action=view&cc=1804002&lang=en&groupId=

Marvin Margolis (not Merrill) in the 1950 census: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62308/records/219636972?nreg=1