Tag Archives: homicide

Roadium revisited

Posted on August 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 17, 1957Los Angeles The "five swaggering gang members" who were arrested in the killing of John Edwards were released after being cleared by two witnesses. The slaying was never solved.

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Prisoner’s dream

Posted on August 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  Aug. 16, 1957 Santa Monica We will never know what really happened on the night ad executive Guy F. Roberts was shot to death in a Santa Monica motel room because everyone involved was lying to cover up the … Continue reading →

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Movie murder

Posted on August 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 15, 1957Los Angeles Here’s your case: John Emmett Edwards,* 17, 243 E. 137th St., is on a double date at the Roadium, a drive-in theater at 2500 Redondo Beach Blvd., Torrance, with his girlfriend, Frances Clemens**, 16; her brother, … Continue reading →

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Photo shoot

Posted on August 3, 2007 by lmharnisch

Aug. 3, 1957Los Angeles In June 1957, about the time she turned 19, Judy, at right, met Betty at a Hollywood photographer’s studio. They were both young and hoping for modeling careers, so Betty, 19, asked Judy to move into … Continue reading →

Posted in Homicide, West Hollywood | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Cold case solved

Posted on July 29, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 25-31, 1957Los Angeles Nine minutes after the cyanide pellets were dropped in the gas chamber at San Quentin, James Lewis Feldkamp,  25, who had once tried to become an LAPD officer, was dead. If he hadn’t been turned down … Continue reading →

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He’s here!

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957Los Angeles Minda Lee Birnbaum, 15, and her mother, Blanche Lewie, 46, had spent most of the day with the divorce lawyer, Murray Chotiner. In the late afternoon, as Blanche made some phone calls from the law offices’ … Continue reading →

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You, the jury, Part II

Posted on July 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1957 Los Angeles The jury convicted Wallace LeRoy Schiers of second-degree murder on July 18, 1957. But Schiers continued to insist that he did not kill his wife. He said: “I have nothing on my conscience. Somewhere along … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

You, the jury, Part I

Posted on July 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 16, 1957 Los Angeles Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the witnesses and seen the evidence. Now you must decide whether to find Wallace LeRoy Schiers, 34, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing his … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1957, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Sea bag murder

Posted on July 13, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 12-13, 1957 Los Angeles Two men from the Harbor Department were picking trash out of the main channel at Terminal Island when they saw the big canvas bag–twice the size of a Navy sea bag–drifting against the pier … Continue reading →

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Hipperson suspect

Posted on July 9, 2007 by lmharnisch

  July 9, 1957 Los Angeles Detectives investigating the killing of nurse Marjorie Hipperson are questioning a con artist with ulcers who was an orderly at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, where Hipperson and her fiance, Dr. Walter Deike, worked. Monte Melvin … Continue reading →

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Dead end

Posted on June 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 24, 1957 Los Angeles Police Capt. Walter R. Koenig was out walking his dog in the 5500 block of Green Oak Drive, where it dead ends in the Hollywood Hills, when he found Baby Boy Doe.  He was … Continue reading →

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Prowler terrorizes L.A.

Posted on June 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 14, 1957 Los Angeles As Marjorie Hipperson was laid to rest, raw terror swept over Los Angeles and reports of attacks rained down on the police. Women fought off intruders and in senseless, unreasoning fright, men fired shots … Continue reading →

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Strangler attacks

Posted on June 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  June 11, 1957 Los Angeles We’re parked outside a two-story apartment house at 3737 Los Feliz Blvd. It’s late, after 1 a.m. I’ll warn you before we go in: I hate this case. I can’t say I like any … Continue reading →

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Division, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Maid held in murder

Posted on May 28, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 28, 1957 Los Angeles Former Nazi prisoner 33822 sat at the defense table, her hands clasped tightly.  Her light blue cotton dress was wilted from the heat and her dab of lipstick only accented her jail pallor. Police said … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Tough prosecutor

Posted on May 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 16, 1957 Los Angeles While L. Ewing Scott uses every possible ploy to delay his extradition from Michigan, the district attorney’s office has appointed top prosecutor J. Miller Leavy to handle the case. Leavy has just finished the … Continue reading →

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Who Is This Man?

Posted on June 13, 2006 by lmharnisch

  I recently obtained an original copy of The Times’ March 28, 1971, story “Farewell, My Black Dahlia,” which includes the account of the “Boy on the Bicycle.” Here’s a color picture of the purported “Bobby Jones.” Here’s a better … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Who Is This Man?

Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XXII

Posted on April 28, 2006 by lmharnisch

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Another Good Story Ruined, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Donald Wolfe, History, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments