In 1951, Fauna Hodel, the white daughter of a prominent California family, was given away at birth to a young black woman who worked as a restroom attendant in a Nevada casino. Inka: Bravo to you and your family. I Am the Night Interview: Jefferson Mays Discusses The Black Dahlia's In the early years, I chose to respond to his misrepresentations, with just the facts but then came to realize that no amount of evidence would/could change his mind. I present strong evidence in my investigation and books that Jean Spangler was very likely a kidnap/murder victim of and by George Hodel. Photos - One Day She'll Darken By around 1928, Hodel was in a common-law marriage with a woman named Emilia; they had a son, Duncan. The other part of me hates the stronger monster inside him, the evil Mr. Dee: Blood Relations - The Washington Post Below is a link to the suggested reading order if one wants a true understanding of how it all comes together. Its jarring and can trigger strong feelings to come across outdated and offensive words, but in this case, Mr. Hodel was using such language only in a representative way quoting what was written on a birth certificate. Carr, admitting that he had not read all of Steve Hodel's materials, added, "I don't have the time to either prove or disprove Hodel's investigation. Assume there was DNA left at Elizabeths crime scene? I could not continue to be Deborah, to abused, to damaged, even after being lent overnight to wealthy men finally stopped Tamar kept abusing me in every way possible, I was so brainwashed it was many years to realize what she was doing to me still. But things may get even more complicated for her when she discovers Tamar had other children after giving her up for adoption. LAPDs refusal to look at it has I think, all to do with IMAGE. Harnisch has been on a childish rant ever since and keeps promising to publish his book any year now. Much appreciated. She, when married my father she hoped George would be proud of her, close to her again (as she never meant to tell on him. ) Tamar Hodel is the daughter of Dr. George Hodel, a major suspect in the horrific torture/murder of Elizabeth Short {"Black Dahlia"}. To manage such an investigation, I suspect youd have to remain as objective as possible. Now real linkage or evidence, but then my book, Black Dahlia Avenger came out two years later and presented real evidence and the secret DA files showing George Hodel was the No.1 suspect all along and the top brass all separately and in secret claimed the case was solved and Dr. Hodel did it Harnisch, abandoned by Det. Paddy: This is when I fell in love with True Crime. So many suffer for others wrongdoings. 4: Salesperson (oh crap thats me) Also, how did he explain the homage to Elizabeth Short? Even the Doctor who was thought to be Jack the Ripper managed to kill many women and then move to another state continuing to con people out of money as well. Well, as you know from reading BDA I started out confident I would be able to exonerate my father and easily prove he had no involvement in the horrific crime. Wishing to distance the family from both George Hodel's trial and Tamar Hodel's alleged interracial romance, Tamar's mother arranged for a black woman to adopt the child. But murder is just part of the Hodel family story, one filled with horrifying secrets that ripple across generations. Hi Patti. The show is adapted from Fauna's real memoir, One Day She'll Darken, in which she discussed her half-siblings. Tamar responded with a photo of herself with her four other children, whom she had after giving Fauna up for adoption daughter Elizabeth (who was also called Fauna II) and sons Peace, Love,. She was eighty years old. Which I Am the Night Characters Are Based on Real People? Mom still loved him. Have you heard of it? (See full description and details in Tamars own words as to the how and why of it below.). An only child, George was well educated and highly intelligent, becoming a musical prodigy and playing solo piano concerts at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium. Point is I was a teenager Not an adult when I became Fauna. The Root of Evil producer Zak Levitt was able to obtain DNA analysis and a review of the results by one of the world's leading experts, which positively eliminated Dr. George Hodel as the biological father of Fauna Hodel. The handwritten envelope read, "In case of Margaret Ellen's or Glenna Jean's Death" and was initialed "WGM"; the letter was written out of fear that one or both of his teenage daughters might be killed. However, suspicion of Hodel was not publicly known until decades later. Men like that dont change and remain flat earth believers until the end. In my young mind it was my way to be New, loved, a person not sexually abused!! Much appreciated. At that time she and no one else had a clue that I was investigating our father for suspected crimes. My mother was similar and I suspect there was some atleast emotional incest in her past. BLACK DAHLIA MURDER | Retired LAPD detective reveals new evidence George Hodel the murder of Black Dahlia? : r/TrueCrime - reddit dorothy hodel - stmatthewsbc.org Nevertheless, Id have to dive deep into the sea of evidence youve provided before I could feel more confident. Zack, the host of the show, had an agenda different than hers. Fauna Elizabeth: Dear Fauna: In our hundred or more hours of discussions after our fathers death in 1999, your mother, my sister, Tamar told me many personal stories, as I wanted to know as much as possible about what she could recall about our father and his life. It isnt a reflection of his age or his inability to keep up with the times. Tamar and her half-brother, Steve, remember their father's house as a place. Two years before Fauna was even born, Tamar. Tamar Hodel Biography || TheMediaMunk Hodel graduated from Berkeley pre-med in June 1932. Thoughtprint Press) presenting possible crimes committed in Northern and Southern California by George Hodel in the 1920s and 1930s. I understand this story is a part of your history (and it sounds like your childhood was difficult in many ways) so it gives me pause to describe it as a captivating and fascinating mystery. A September 2006 episode of Cold Case Files,[7] hosted by Bill Kurtis, illustrates the mixed reaction to Steve Hodel's hypothesis as outlined in his first book, Black Dahlia Avenger (2003). I also wish our police personal were honored more for all that they do to keep us safe. It was re-published in 2019 by Graymalkin Media, including an eight-page photo insert from Hodel's personal collection. Are you investigating your fathers activity in Asia? Copyright 2023 Steve Hodel. I am sure Tamar had different stories for different people, so what is the truth of it? 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. I felt a similar response in my body when I first learned about your father. Hi Kris: Thanks for the kind words. As far as the Black Dahlia investigation is concerned it is way beyond my personal conjecture and theories. But, one has to read the material and see all the linkage. Tamar NOT GEORGE named her second daughter Deborah Elizabeth. (See full description and details in Tamars own words as to the how and why of it below.). George Hodel was incapable of love, real love, to her or anyone. I only know what she told me. 5: Surgeon And on I Am the Night, Fauna will learn that she's not Tamar's only child when she travels with Jay to her birth mom's home in Hawaii. I read Black Dahlia Avenger back in 2008 and I loved itI couldnt put it down. His "crime spree" would total fifty victims over a nearly fifty-year time period. Thank you for the response, Steve. SKH Note: Faunas autobiography would not be written until 2008, some five years after the publication of my book, Black Dahlia Avenger and some four years after Tamar wrote and sent me the below account of the facts, to be told in The Tamar Chronicles. However, his son Steve has written that he believes Hodel re-entered the United States multiple times each year from 1958 through 1988 and specifically in 19661969 to commit more murders, and then return to the Philippines.[6]. Also, how this also ties in with the fact that a hobby of your fathers what photography? That is when he drugged her and took the naked photographs in the hotel room. With an address in hand, Fauna (India Eisley) and Jay (Chris Pine) head to Hawaii to find Tamar. She never achieved her goal there at that time. The second project was an eight-part documentary podcast, entitled Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia,[11] a Cadence13/TNT production using archival audio and interviews with Hodel family members. Tamar says her father raped her when she was 14, and her . Dawn: Yes, Dangerous Friends is an excellent read and very well written by screenwriter, Peter Viertel, one who KNEW. Then I read the word negro, and now Im done. As Tamar's half-brother Steve shared on his blog, Tamar died in 2015 at the age of 80. He usually represents his Daughter as a sexual item in front of his relatives and friends. Site by AuthorBytes. In July 2018, Sandi Nichols of Indianapolis, Indiana, while going through her recently deceased mother's personal effects, discovered a "Dying Declaration Letter" written by her grandfather, W. Glenn Martin, dated October 26, 1949. It has been speculated that Fauna was Tamar's daughter from that incestuous relationship. Hodel came to police attention as a suspect in the Elizabeth Short murder in 1949 after the sexual abuse trial. Sincerely, Plus, hes a doctor. They corroborate your findings surely its more than bad PR? When did Tamar die? She (or he) brought up the question of Tamars possibly incestuous 1949 pregnancy. When I did meet my sister I was excited, we were twins. More than 70 years later, it remains America's most infamous unsolved murder. [1] Fauna's birth father was unknown, and the troubled Tamar gave up Fauna for adoption. I also applaud your family for bringing the years of abuse and neglect to light. The famed. They follow the kids to the house and low and behold..out comes Tamar. Tamar NOT GEORGE named her second daughter Deborah Elizabeth. I made no review about her book from its publication (2008) until just a few months past, so 11-years of no comment.. It is confusing. Fauna 1 who died in 2017 and Fauna II (originally named Deborah Elizabeth, but changed her name to Fauna as an adult.) They are amazing young women. Do I think that she gave you the middle name of Elizabeth to show her ongoing love for her father and to do as he wished and name her little doll, (this time a living doll) to please her father and fulfill his seven-year-old request, to name her Elizabeth? Who Is Rasha Pecoraro? 6 Details About Fauna Hodel's Daughter Death: March 08, 1982 (75) Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, CA, United States. George Hodel was accused of raping his 14-year-old daughter Tamar there in . Tamar Hodel was 16 when she gave birth to Fauna. So, for the past twelve or so years, I have chosen just to ignore his rantings. Tamar's Real Story In 1949, two years before Fauna was born, 14-year-old Tamar visited her father, Dr. George Hodel, at his home in Hollywood. Thank you so much for sharing your deeply personal story with us. Tamar married folk. Those two words are rarely part of any good faith communication. In the 1930s, he was legally married to Dorothy Anthony, a fashion model from San Francisco; they had a daughter, Tamar. That's in the original newspaper coverage, which most people haven't read. Fauna later learned her origins, which revealed her connection to the controversial 1949 incest trial of George Hodel on accusations by Tamar as well as George Hodel's connection to the still-unsolved Black Dahlia case. If George Hodel did in fact commit these additional "early years crimes" then it would make him one of the nation's most prolific serial killers. To my knowledge, none of the living relatives ever Unless mom, Tamar told YOU differently then what I am saying. Two of Hodel's biggest opponents were none other than his own children. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. He didn't kill Suzanne Degnan. Soil samples confirmed his findings. Yes, the family dynamics have been difficult for me. They thought there was something fishy. I was speechless listening to the part about your discovery of the receipts for the concrete and fertilizer. Perhaps Deborah fell by changing her name to Fauna would help her get more love from her mother? I knew that wasnt the book that I had read (One Day Shell Darken), and now finding out there was also fictionalized material in the book is so disheartening. She never stopped loving him and always hoped that love would be reciprocated by him. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. [1] Told she was multiracial, Fauna was raised by Jimmie Lee Greenwade (later Faison)[2] and given the name "Patricia Ann Greenwade". C. Crow, C. Crow: Here, the story of the suspect who got away, the policeman son who proved his guilt and the hidden legacy of his daughter, the girl who knew too much. It actually made me think about a movie that I never watched (and dont intend to) called A Serbian Man. These photographs, taken at the Hodel home, picture Kelvin, Michael and Steven Hodel. See also The Huston Letters chapter in BDA II that documents correspondences between my mother and John during and after the incest arrest. But, now, with all the publicity first with the I Am The Night fictional miniseries followed by the podcast, Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia I have been called upon to keep it real. (The only reason I agreed to do the interviews on the national television shows.) Fauna Hodel's quest to retrace her roots on I Am the Night has become deadly, but she's finally getting close to some answers about her birth mother, Tamar Hodel. He was a musical prodigy as a child and performed as a solo pianist in several concerts at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The Real Story of Tamar Hodel from 'I Am the Night' Is Harrowing Fauna 2 changed her name from Deborah to Fauna I believe to honor Fauna I and because her mother, Tamar always expressed a fondness for her unknown long ago adopted first child. thanks, Remember, this case came to me, I didnt go to it. The only way to understand and see how it all fits together is to read all of the books, which are in fact, one ongoing investigation, each adding a significant amount of new evidence to the previous investigation. He was also accused of raping his daughter, Tamar Hodel, but was acquitted for that crime. Hodel was also interviewed as a suspect in the nearby June 1949 murder of Louise Springer, the "Green Twig Murder", though evidence to support this accusation was not publicly available until July 2018. The case earned major publicity and prompted one of the largest investigations in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department. [4] Hodel returned to the United States in 1990. Much appreciated. That happened. Despite their complicated family history, it seems like today, Gentile and Pecoraro have a good relationship with their aunt and uncles. She gave birth to Fauna in 1951 when she was 16 years old, but immediately gave her up for adoption. Two daughters, Fauna and Fauna II (Deborah Elizabeth), and three sons, Peace, Love and Joy. Thank you. To this day a part of me loves the Dr. Jekyll, the good doctor, the man who gave me being and whose blood flows through my own. [2] The full details of the investigation came to light only in 2003, when a "George HodelBlack Dahlia File" was discovered in archives at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. Written by Sheila Weller. Statements by Tamar Hodel verify George Hodel's relationship to the artist in 1947, 1948, and 1949. I hope many are encouraged by you who have also lived twilight zone lives no fault of their own. Im sure it wasnt easy for you to figure out what your father was.. Thanks for the kind words and your response to the other comments by Layla. In fact she spoke of George this way even years after your first book: Black Dahlia Advenger. Tamar died two years earlier in 2015. https://stevehodel.com/2015/10/19/tamar-nais-hodel-dies-at-80-in-honolulu-hawaii/, Clarification, I have been Fauna since I was 15, never knowing Id meet my sister in my lifetime . She had gone to her father at age 12 and asked him to name her doll for her. It is a bit eerie having been born in 1951 myself near LA and flashbacks of those real times. In 1961, at 17, Phillips followed Hodel to San Francisco, where her friend bought her a fake ID and a black cocktail dress, taking her to clubs to meet comedians like Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory. Best Regards, Steve, https://stevehodel.com/author-books-suggested-reading-order/. He was a copyeditor of the LA Times who had dreams of solving the Black Dahlia Murder with Hi Steve, If this is true, it astounds me that he had a close enough relationship with her to name her child. 7: Police Again, all about IMAGE. Wishing you and yours continued health in the very difficult times. I understand the way youre using it is in reference to bigoted people who refuse to make the effort to learn and do better, you did so out of frustration after misunderstanding the intent of the author. The brief accounting I listened to when you appeared on Dr. Just put in a keyword or two. Inside the Infamous Black Dahlia House | Work + Money They were never really interested as they believed that my investigation was just another of the many She had five children. Steve. In January 2019, the American TV network TNT simultaneously aired two "companion" productions. trying to take advantage of a sensational case. Born August 1, 1951, in San Francisco, Hodel was the first child of 16-year-old Tamar Nais Hodel and the granddaughter of Los Angeles doctor and socialite George Hodel. )for that specific linkage. In the recent years, he has also been linked to the murders committed by the 'Lipstick Killer' and the 'Zodiac Killer'. Do you happened to know a relative by the name Starr Hodel? What actually happened at the Cecil hotel? - BIO-Answers.com See BDA II (2014 ed. I can hear you saying "Wait, that's not what Steve Hodel says." Of course not. TV Recap: I AM THE NIGHT (2019) - Nightmarish Conjurings The Martin letter made it clear that "GH" was known and protected by law enforcement officers, and that they "let him go." The first, a six-part limited television miniseries titled, I Am the Night, is a fictionalized drama focusing on the life of Fauna Hodel and her discovery that her grandfather, Dr. George Hill Hodel (played by actor Jefferson Mays) was the prime suspect in the Black Dahlia Murder (in real life, Fauna Hodel never met her grandfather in person, though they had one phone conversation in which George informed Fauna of Tamars residing in Hawaii). "Everything in the book is true . True Story of 'I Am the Night' - Cosmopolitan She would have been 13 I believe. I started out convinced my father would be incapable of committing such a crime and was sure I would be able to clear him of any suspicion. He called her "Dorero" to avoid confusion with his other wife, Dorothy Anthony, at least within their circle,[2] but she is better known as Dorothy Huston-Hodel. Dear Mr. Hodel My point in using the term is to show exactly how Faunas unnamed father was described on the 1951 birth certificate, which reads, information withheld concerning Father, Color or Race of Father Negro. These are not MY words they are the words used by the hospital to describe her father.