Category Archives: Homicide

December 2, 1958: Model stabbed, dumped off mountain highway

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 2, 1958: Model Charlotte Trosper is found stabbed to death in a clump of bushes off Angeles Crest Highway. Boyfriend Gerald Feasby was convicted in the killing. Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, December 2025

Posted on December 2, 2025 by lmharnisch

This month’s Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case includes a progress report on Heaven Is HERE! and a brief introduction to the Black Dahlia case. Continue reading →

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December 1, 1938: California prepares to execute two killers at San Quentin

Posted on December 1, 2025 by lmharnisch

December 1, 1938: California prepares to use the new gas chamber for two executions rather than the previous method of hanging. Continue reading →

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November 30, 1958: Former deputy strangles wife, kills himself as police close in

Posted on November 30, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 30, 1958: A former deputy strangles his wife and kills himself. A pitch-perfect story from 1958. Continue reading →

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November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins Heisman

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins the Heisman Trophy after a remarkable two-year career at USC. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, @news, broadcasting, Current Affairs, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Sports, Television | Comments Off on November 27, 1968: O.J. Simpson wins Heisman

November 27, 1964: Secretary Found Stabbed to Death in the ‘Thanksgiving’ Murder

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1964: Joyce Walker is found stabbed 50 times on Thanksgiving Day, apparently raped and killed by a man who helped her after her car became disabled on the way home from a party. Two Manhattan police officers offered assistance but Walker and the suspect said everything was fine. Continue reading →

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November 26, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1959: Paul Coates has the story of E.B. (Jet) Simrell, a former market owner wanted by the FBI for threatening the lives of seven judges. Simrell is waging a crusade against the “un-feminine, all-powerful American woman.” Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Homicide, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

November 26, 1958: LAPD honors dead officer’s heroism

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1958: The LAPD posthumously honors Sgt. Gene Nash with a Medal of Valor after he died following a shootout with robbery suspects. Continue reading →

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November 23, 1938: Nuestro Pueblo — Lincoln Heights

Posted on November 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 23, 1938: Artist Charles Owens and reporter Joe Seewerker visit Sam’s Lunch Room, across from the Lincoln Heights Jail. Continue reading →

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November 23, 1907: Baby Murdered With Ax, Half-Eaten by Pigs in Garbage Heap

Posted on November 23, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 23, 1907: Trigger Warning — half-eaten body of baby found in ranch’s pig pen. Continue reading →

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November 22, 1958: Estranged wife kills jealous husband

Posted on November 22, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 22, 1958: Roy Wesley Raines was born in Alabama in 1906 and died on a Burbank street in 1958, killed by his estranged wife, Mary Katherine, with a .22 rifle after he ignored a warning shot. Verdict: Justifiable homicide. Continue reading →

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November 21, 1907: Mother, 17, Throws Baby From Train to Hide ‘Shame’ From Family

Posted on November 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 21, 1907: Louise Williams is arrested on charges of throwing her baby from an inbound train. “She was suddenly overwhelmed with the shame of meeting her mother and sisters at Los Angeles, who had not learned of her ruin,” her attorney said. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1908, African Americans, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on November 21, 1907: Mother, 17, Throws Baby From Train to Hide ‘Shame’ From Family

November 20, 1958: Valley man killed with hammer

Posted on November 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 20, 1958: Ernest Hargis, a city ambulance driver, is found beaten to death with a hammer and shoved under an abandoned car in Pacoima. Continue reading →

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November 20, 1947: Bobby-Soxer Kills Girl, 5

Posted on November 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 13, 1947: Joyce, 13, forces Myretta Jones, 5, to undress, then smashes her with a rock and a shovel until she’s dead. Why? Joyce said she didn’t know. Continue reading →

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November 20, 1941: California Prepares to Execute Juanita ‘The Duchess’ Spinelli

Posted on November 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 20, 1941: Juanita ‘The Duchess’ Spinelli is about to become the first woman legally executed in California. She was an ex-wrestler and knife-thrower who could pin a poker chip at 15 paces. Continue reading →

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November 19, 1941: Hollywood Model Dies of Botched Abortion

Posted on November 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 19, 1941: Angelka Rose Gogich was 18 when she died at Glendale Emergency Hospital after undergoing an abortion. She had be working as a model, hat check girl and dancer under the name Rose Ann Rae. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Abortion, Art & Artists, Black Dahlia, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Medicine, Obituaries | Tagged | 1 Comment

November 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

Posted on November 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 18, 1959: Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill) responds to taxpayers’ fury over a resolution to take all 100 senators to Hawaii for its statehood ceremonies, Paul Coates writes. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Columnists, Downtown, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Parks and Recreation, Paul Coates | Comments Off on November 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates – Confidential File

George Hodel: Ask Me Anything, November 2025

Posted on November 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 18, 2025: This month’s Ask Me Anything on George Hodel and Steve Hodel in the Black Dahlia case. Continue reading →

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November 16, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on November 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 16, 1959: A new teacher’s night out to celebrate a career change has an unusual twist, Matt Weinstock writes. Continue reading →

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November 16, 1958: I Want to Live — The Barbara Graham murder case

Posted on November 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 16, 1958: Five years after the execution of Barbara Graham in the Mabel Monahan killing, the story comes to the screen in the Robert Wise film “I Want to Live!” by Nelson Gidding and Don Mankiewicz, starring Susan Hayward in an Oscar-winning performance. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, San Fernando Valley | Comments Off on November 16, 1958: I Want to Live — The Barbara Graham murder case