Corroborating Evidence: The Black Dahlia Murder

by William T. Rasmussen

They killed and dismembered their victims, one after the other, and then vanished. These were horrific crimes committed by a group of thrill killers. Fear gripped the city. When would they strike again? Hundreds of policemen thought they had sifted through every shred of evidence, but subtle clues and corroborating evidence left behind by the real killers were overlooked. Seventeen-year-old William Heirens was eventually arrested for three of the murders. He confessed and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences in 1946. Heirens is the longest-serving living inmate in the Illinois penal system. Now after fifty-nine years the author has uncovered evidence that will show, with reasonable certainty, not only that someone else may have committed the murders but also the culprits' identities. This is an intriguing true story that is both fascinating and convincing. The pieces and history of this true crime puzzle will surprise even the most seasoned detective. This edition includes a First Revised Epilogue containing new clues and evidence supporting the connections between the Cleveland Torso Murders, the murder of Suzanne Degnan and the murder of the Black Dahlia. The author shows how Jack Anderson Wilson's DNA may still be available for comparison even though his charred remains were cremated following the 1982 fire at the Holland Hotel in Los Angeles. Now there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that William Heirens did not kill and dismember six-year-old Suzanne Degnan on January 7, 1946, in Chicago. In the interests of justice, law enforcement should reopen these cold cases and William Heirens should be set free from his incarceration.

Genres: True Crime

234 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

WILLIAM T. RASMUSSEN, attorney at law, was born and raised in northern Michigan. He graduated from Central Michigan University and the Detroit College of Law. After graduating from law school, he attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

All copies of Corroborating Evidence are expanded & revised editions of the same work, despite them having titles that include II, III & IV.

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content of this book borders on the delusional. The author appears to really believe that every single note sent in by a crank claiming to be the killer of the Black Dahlia was, in fact, sent by the killer. He thinks listing the aliases of a Black Dahlia suspect in a column, alongside a column of the initials of those names, constitutes some sort of proof that he killed Elizabeth Short. He believes that Georgette Bauerdorf -- raped and strangled, then dumped facedown in her bathtub -- was clearly killed by the same man who bisected, mutilated and publicly posed Betty Short. He also believes that the killings of Josephine Ross, Frances Brown and Suzanne Degnan in Chicago MUST be related, not only to each other, but to the Cleveland Torso Murders and to the Black Dahlia AND the Red Lipstick Murder, because there simply couldn't be more than one guy in the same country at the same time committing such awful murders. What I like best about all this is that he staunchly believes that the Cleveland Torso Murders were committed by a 14-year-old kid. He did actually raise some interesting questions -- and he managed to cast more doubt than I already had over the conviction of Bill Heirens -- but he sholuldn't have called this book CORROBORATING EVIDENCE. He should have called it RANDOM, UNRELATED FACTS.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh... I have read all the Dahlia books. This was the only one I hadn't read so I gave it a whirl. Unless you're a total Black Dahlia nerd you can probably skip it.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, anyone looking to this book for answers to any unsolved crimes is going to be disappointed. While there are some kernals of possible truth in here, such as the fact that William Heirens was doubtlessly railroaded by police into confessing to crimes he didn't commit just so they could "solve" the case, the main part of the book that connects all these crimes to one person is seriously flawed and unworkable. Real true crime buffs and serial killer students will quickly see that there is just not enough similarity between the cases to link them all, and some of the "tantalizing proof" he offers is so laughable that it renders his theories easily dismissable. For instance, he spends several pages detailing how taunting notes left by the killers in the Heirens and Torso killer cases had similar wording, but the words he points out, such as "we" and "catch", are so commonplace, and so apt to be used in correspondence by anybody, that his insistence on seeing spooky connections between the cases comes across as pathetic.

At the end of the day, it is possible that the Cleveland Torso Killings, the Black Dahlia murder, and the crimes William Heirens was framed for, were all committed by the same person. There is enough similarity between these cases that such a theory is plausible. But it's patently absurd for him to say that the Texarkana Phantom Killer and the Zodiac crimes were part of the same murderous career, because those crimes only similarity to the others is that the real killer was never officially identified or caught. Rasmussen loses any ground he may have gained when he first linked the first three cases by adding clearly unrelated cases to it, and by producing such flimsy evidence in support of his theories and his pet suspect.

This book, once read and digested, is just not worth it.

[Maria Manvik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just read this because I am a Black Dahlia-nerd, but unless you are, there's really nothing new in this book that makes it worth reading.