Georgette Elise Bauerdorf (May 6, 1924 – October 12, 1944) was an American socialite and oil heiress who was
strangled in her home in
West Hollywood
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. Her murder remains unsolved.
Early years
Born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, Georgette Bauerdorf was the younger of two daughters born to oilman George Frederick Bauerdorf and his wife, Constance Dannhauser.
She had an older sister, Constance (known as Connie). Georgette initially attended St. Agatha's School for Girls in New York City; after the family moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 1935, she attended the
Marlborough School and
Westlake School for Girls
Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California, with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades seven through twelve. Its two predec ...
. The death of Georgette's mother had preceded the move.
Georgette aspired to be an actress and moved to
West Hollywood
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...
in August 1944.
She took an apartment at the El Palacio Apartments at 8493 Fountain Avenue and got a job working as a junior hostess at the
Hollywood Canteen
The Hollywood Canteen operated at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard in the Los Angeles, California, neighborhood of Hollywood between October 3, 1942, and November 22, 1945 (Thanksgiving Day), as a club offering food, dancing and entertainment for serv ...
, where she danced with enlisted men.
The day before her death, Georgette cashed a $175 check and purchased an airline ticket to
El Paso
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, for $90. She told friends that she was going there to rendezvous with her boyfriend, a soldier. On October 11, Pvt. Jerome M. Brown, an anti-aircraft artillery trainee stationed at
Camp Callan, was identified by
Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss h ...
authorities as the man Georgette had planned to visit. Brown told
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
officials they had met at the Hollywood Canteen on the night of June 13.
He left for El Paso several days after their meeting, but the couple continued to correspond by letter.
Murder
On the night of October 11, 1944, Georgette left work at the Hollywood Canteen at around 11:15 p.m. She spent the next several hours dancing at a local club called the Palladium, leaving at around 2 a.m. Driving home, Georgette picked up a
hitchhiking Army sergeant named Gordon Aadland, who had also gone to the Palladium; she told Aadland also that she was hurrying home to receive a telephone call from her boyfriend in Texas. This was possibly the last time she was seen alive.
On October 12, custodial staff came to Georgette's apartment and found her body floating face down in an overflowing bathtub.
It is believed that Georgette was attacked by a man who was waiting inside the apartment for her. Inspector William Penprase of the
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States ...
stated that an automatic night light over the outside entrance of the apartment had been unscrewed loose so that it would go dark; the murderer was thought to have stood on a chair to reach the light bulb nearly eight feet off the ground. Fingerprints were found on the bulb.
The theory of an intruder was reinforced by an empty string bean can and some melon rinds in a wastebasket in Georgette's kitchen. Investigators thought she may have eaten a snack before retiring upstairs to her bedroom. Examination of her stomach revealed that she had eaten string beans about an hour before her death. Her jewelry and other valuables were not stolen, although almost $100 was taken from her purse. There was a large roll of $2 bills and thousands of dollars worth of sterling silver lying in an open trunk.
A 1936
Oldsmobile
Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...
coupe, registered in the name of Georgette's sister, was missing from the scene. When the car was located, there was a dent in one of the fenders. Mechanics said the damage was recent and may have been the result of a collision with another car. The Oldsmobile was discovered abandoned on East 25th Street, just off San Pedro Street, where it had apparently ran out of gas.
Georgette had put up a great struggle against her attacker. An examination by Los Angeles County autopsy surgeon Frank R. Webb found abundant bruises and scrapes, and determined that she had been
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
d. The knuckles on Georgette's right hand were smashed and bruised. There was a large bruise on the right side of her head and another on her abdomen, perhaps the result of blows from fists. She had been
strangled with a piece of bandage material stuffed down her throat. Webb said her right thigh showed the bruised imprint of a hand "even to the fingernail marks piercing the skin".
Investigation
A reconstruction of the murder gave investigators the idea that the culprit perhaps entered Georgette's apartment by passkey and lay in wait downstairs until she got ready for bed. Another possibility was that he rang the doorbell after she retired. Penprase believed it unlikely that Georgette was accompanied home by a serviceman. She might have met someone at the canteen who drove her home and left her at the door, then later returned to kill her after she prepared for bed.
The walls and doors of Georgette's apartment building were
soundproofed;
still, a neighbor, who requested anonymity, told Capt. Gordon Bowers of the Sheriff's Department that he was awakened by screams around 2:30 a.m. He first heard a scream which made him sit upright in bed, followed by a female voice yelling, "Stop, stop, you're killing me!" He said the screaming soon subsided. Thinking it might have been a family argument, he went back to bed.
A date book was found in Georgette's bedroom containing the names of servicemen. Army authorities joined with the Sheriff's Department in a search for clues. A sailor was questioned in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, but was determined not to have been her attacker. Authorities hoped that someone who saw the young woman leaving the canteen, accompanied by an escort, would come forward. Numerous letters received by the victim were scrutinized by investigators.
One particular soldier, described as "swarthy", was thought to have been infatuated with Georgette and had cut in on her during nearly every dance on the night of her death. Investigators checked
U.S.O.
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...
centers and other canteens to try to find and question him. The soldier, identified in news accounts as Cpl. Cosmo Volpe, turned himself in several days after the discovery of Georgette's body, after he read the police were looking for a "husky, dark-haired GI". He was questioned by police, but eliminated as a suspect after he offered proof that he had "checked into his barracks at the
Lockheed Air Terminal Lockheed (originally spelled Loughead) may refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Lockheed Corporation, a former American aircraft manufacturer
* Lockheed Martin, formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta
** Lockheed Mar ...
at 11 p.m."
June Ziegler, who had worked with Georgette at the Hollywood Canteen on the night prior to the murder, told the Sheriff's Department that Georgette had dated a 6'4" serviceman less than a month before her murder. He was a friend of another serviceman whose name was frequently mentioned in the diary. According to Ziegler, Georgette remarked that the tall soldier was very much taken with her. However, she did not return his interest and quit going out with him. The soldier was sought for questioning by officers.
Gordon Aadland, the sergeant whom she had given a ride a few hours before her death, recounted in 2012 that was riding a train on his way back to his base when he read about the murder in the newspaper. Aadland wrote a letter to the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
recounting his encounter with Georgette; he was later questioned by an officer from the
provost martial's office, who took his testimony but never heard anything else.
Rose Gilbert, a secretary to Georgette's father, reported that she occasionally asked men to stop by her apartment briefly, but never asked them to remain and never entertained friends alone as her Catholic education gave her very stringent ideas of propriety.
At a
coroner's inquest
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jur ...
October 20, a jury of nine men found that Georgetts's death was a homicide and proposed a thorough investigation to apprehend her killer. During the hearing, Fred Atwood, a janitor of the apartment building, testified that he had heard woman's heels clicking back and forth on the floor, and was awakened by a loud crash at around midnight on October 11. He recognized the sounds as coming from Georgette's apartment. He said there was no one with her.
Atwood also said he entered the apartment the next morning about 11:10 a.m., accompanied by his wife. They found Bauerdorf's body lying semi-nude in her bathtub. Two of the deputies confirmed the janitor's testimony that Bauerdorf was alone before her slayer evidently lured her to her darkened door. Atwood said he discovered the night light bulb being screwed around a couple of turns. He responded that he had never seen this happen before. Officers testified that the apartment showed no indication of a struggle. Yet the autopsy proved that Bauerdorf had fought hard to live. Sam Wolf, brother of Bauerdorf's stepmother, denied that the victim suffered fainting spells.
Legacy
Bauerdorf's body was shipped to New York via train after it was released by the coroner's office on October 15. Her funeral was held in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
She was buried in a Long Island cemetery plot the Bauerdorf family had maintained for generations.
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
, a close friend of Georgette's father, pressured the LAPD at his behest to close the investigation as quickly as possible; their reasons for this are unclear but it was done supposedly to avoid embarrassment and to keep Georgette's romantic life private and her reputation intact as she was sexually active and she documented all of her social and romantic relationships in her diary which would had become evidence and thus become available to the public had the investigation and a trial followed.
The high-profile
murder of Elizabeth Short occurred in Los Angeles a few years after Bauerdorf's death. Authors and investigators have suggested a possible link between the two cases, partly because both women had similar appearances.
Dr. George Hodel was a top suspect for the Short murder, and his son Steve Hodel has suggested George killed both women due to certain similarities such as the fact that Bauerdorf was choked with a medical-grade bandage shoved down her throat and that in both cases the media received notes supposedly from the killer taunting the police and boasting of his skills. However, though Hodel is considered the strongest suspect for the Black Dahlia murder, the critics say links between that case and that of Bauerdorf remains highly speculative.
The Ticket Out, a debut novel written by Helen Knode (wife of novelist
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, ...
) is very loosely based on Georgette Bauerdorf's life. The ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'' called it, "... like Ellroy's '
Black Dahlia
Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14–15, 1947), known posthumously as the Black Dahlia, was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized ow ...
,' based on a true Hollywood crime — the unsolved murder of Georgette Bauerdorf in L.A. in 1944".
ic
See also
*
List of unsolved murders
These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances.
* List of unsolved murders (before 1900)
* List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)
* List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)
* List of u ...
Footnotes
References
*
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
, ''Oil Executive's Daughter Found Dead In Bathtub'', October 13, 1944, Page 5.
* Los Angeles Times, ''People And Place In Strange Death Of Oil Heiress'', October 14, 1944, Page 3.
* Los Angeles Times, ''Evidence Shows Heiress Waged Terrific Fight'', October 15, 1944, Page 3.
* Los Angeles Times, ''Private Identified as Girl's Friend'', October 15, 1944, Page 3.
* Los Angeles Times, ''Neighbor Tells Heiress' Screams on Death Night'', October 16, 1944, Page 2.
* Los Angeles Times, ''Janitor Gives Evidence In Murder of Oil Heiress'', October 21, 1944, Page A3.
* Wolfe, Donald H., ''The Black Dahlia Files:The Mob, The Mogul, and The Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles'', New York, Regan Books, 2005.
External links
Georgette BauerdorfHollywood Canteen photo ID
newspaper clipping
* purchased by
Lindsay Lohan
Georgette Bauerdorfat the Malefactor's Register, retrieved on 2-13-08.
at The Daily Mirror (Larry Harnisch Reflects on L.A. History), retrieved on 11-20-14
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baurdorf, Georgette
1924 births
1944 deaths
1944 murders in the United States
American murder victims
American socialites
Burials in New York (state)
Deaths by strangulation in the United States
Female murder victims
Harvard-Westlake School alumni
Incidents of violence against women
People from New York City
People murdered in California
Unsolved murders in the United States