Category Archives: Homicide

Black Dahlia

Posted on January 9, 2008 by lmharnisch

  This letter showed up on my desk last week. Note the postmark: August 2007. Apparently "Black Dahlia" and "Los Angeles Times" is almost all it takes to get a letter to me–eventually–although I don’t recommend it. For the record, … Continue reading →

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Jan. 9, 1908

Posted on January 9, 2008 by lmharnisch

Daniel Meskil is convicted of fatally shooting Officer Patrick Lyons, the second LAPD officer ever killed in the line of duty. Notice that The Times used an illustration for breaking news instead of a photograph… Searching for moonstones on Redondo … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Downtown, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Man kills son

Posted on January 7, 2008 by lmharnisch

  Jan. 7, 1958 Los Angeles "Dear mother," the note from 9-year-old Jimmy began. They weren’t his words, of course. They were dictated by his father, David James Darr, a 34-year-old machinist who was apparently holding a .45 to his … Continue reading →

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Cops kill Marine

Posted on January 3, 2008 by lmharnisch

  Jan. 1, 1958 Los Angeles Officers Ed Neville and R.O. Potter of the Wilshire Division began the year on a thankful note: They were alive. As final hours of 1957 ticked away, the officers were called to an apartment … Continue reading →

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Our lawless city

Posted on January 1, 2008 by lmharnisch

<p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p><p>lapd_crime_stats</p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p> Los Angeles Police Department Crime Statistics Offense 1956 1957 Increase/Decrease Homicide 104 119 +14.4% Rape 1,056 1,271 +20.4% Robbery 3,548 4,269 +20.3% Aggravated Assault 5,315 5,786 +8.9% Burglary 22,799 26,887 +17.9 Larceny (Except Auto Theft) 45,276 50,173 +10.8% Auto … Continue reading →

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Ewing Scott

Posted on December 27, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Photograph by Con Keyes / Los Angeles Times Convicted killer L. Ewing Scott, 1980, at the age of 83. In 1986, bedridden, frail and slowly dying in a Silver Lake convalescent home, 89-year-old Leonard Ewing Scott agreed to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , | 4 Comments

L. Ewing Scott

Posted on December 23, 2007 by lmharnisch

Feb. 13, 1958Los Angeles Photograph by Ray Graham / Los Angeles Times Here’s a great moment in photojournalism: Convicted killer L. Ewing Scott is interviewed with his fly open.  

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Heroic dog update

Posted on December 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

No, I don’t know anything further about Baron the German shepherd, but I do have more information about Nyals A. Andreason, thanks to a reader. According to an online obituary, Nyals graduated from Brigham Young University and was a computer … Continue reading →

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December 11, 1957: Heroic dog shot

Posted on December 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 11, 1957Los Angeles This began as a story about a dog and ended in death. On Dec. 10, 1957, a gunman shot a German shepherd named Baron that had been ordered to attack as the robber was leaving … Continue reading →

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December 3, 1957: Girl kidnapped

Posted on December 6, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Dec. 3, 1957-April 26, 1958 Sycamore, Ill Maria E. Ridulph* was a 7-year-old girl from Sycamore, Ill., who was kidnapped Dec. 3, 1957, and whose decomposed body was found April 26, 1958, near Woodbine, a tiny, unincorporated settlement in … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1957, 1958, Crime and Courts, Homicide | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Woman kills robber

Posted on November 28, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 28, 1957 Los Angeles The last bad decision in James B. Burton’s 42 years of bad decisions was to light a cigarette. Because to light the cigarette, he had to put down his gun.  Of course he had … Continue reading →

Posted in Homicide, LAPD, Robberies | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Rampages revisited

Posted on November 27, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles TimesHere’s 307 Tamarac Drive, where Harvey F. Rawlings killed his family and committed suicide.   And this is 555 Avenue 64, where Harold Oilar killed his family in 1954.   And here’s … Continue reading →

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Murder-suicide

Posted on November 27, 2007 by lmharnisch

Nov. 27, 1957 Los Angeles Everybody says the Rawlings family are fine people. They have a big house at 307 Tamarac Drive in San Rafael, one of the finer neighborhoods in Pasadena. Nice house, isn’t it? Four bedrooms, two baths, … Continue reading →

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Caryl Chessman

Posted on November 26, 2007 by lmharnisch

Nov. 26, 1957Los Angeles Here’s an update on two stories we have been following…. After 98 witnesses and eight weeks of testimony, the prosecution is about to rest in the murder trial of L. Ewing Scott. Throughout the trial, the … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Caryl Chessman, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ed Gein arrested

Posted on November 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

Nov. 18, 1957 Plainfield, Wis. “It appears to be cannibalism.” What more does anyone need to say? (Notice that The Times did not put this on Page 1).  

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Homicide | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Doctor murdered

Posted on November 17, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 17, 1957 Los Angeles Let’s go back about six months before it happened out on a lonely road half a mile from the cemetery. Monty was 19 and had just gotten out of the Deuel Vocational Institution for … Continue reading →

Posted in #gays and lesbians, Homicide, San Fernando Valley | 2 Comments

Murder-suicide

Posted on November 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 15, 1957 Los Angeles Your name is Leonard Jackola. You’re 43 and here on a visit from Chicago, staying with your younger sister, Mary, 30, and her family at 3634 E. 177th St., Torrance. Her husband, Arthur E. … Continue reading →

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Random search

Posted on November 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

Someone has been searching the Daily Mirror for information about an unsolved killing in Los Angeles County on May 22, 1963. Send me a little more information and I’ll see what I can turn up…. Email me

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Trick or Treat murder

Posted on November 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 13-14, 1957Los Angeles Just as I suspected. Although The Times was too squeamish to even allude to homosexuality in the Trick or Treat murder of Peter Fabiano, the Mirror was a bit more brave. A bit. It’s fairly … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, #gays and lesbians, 1957, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Body at Point Mugu

Posted on November 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Nov. 13, 1957 Point Mugu Let’s suppose you are the Ventura County coroner. The body of a man in his 20s is found washed up on the beach near Point Mugu, below Mugu Rock, according to news accounts. He’s … Continue reading →

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