Geneva Ellroy crime scene, Arroyo High School, El Monte, Calif., via Google maps street view.
o much has already been written about the June 1958 murder of Geneva Hilliker Ellroy; there's very little I can add to what my friend James Ellroy, above, hasn't already said in interviews, first-person articles or in his 1996 book, "My Dark Places."
Most of the locations still exist. The businesses have changed along Santa Anita Avenue, but Arroyo High School is much the same. The last time I checked, there was still a restaurant at 11721 Valley Blvd., where her car was found after the killing.
Regular Daily Mirror readers will recall a series of strangulations in 1957, but I haven't come across any in 1958 until now. The only prominent serial killer at large at the moment is Harvey Glatman, who has killed Judith Dull and Shirley Ann Bridgeford and will claim his next victim in July.
Photo from findagrave.com
Geneva Hilliker Ellroy is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery. Her grave is next to the chain-link fence along Avenue of the Champions. When you are at her grave you will be near an intersection with a stoplight almost directly across the street from a clinic. (Findagrave.com has the exact number if you want to save yourself the time of looking for it).
Here's a noir twist for you: Most of the sections of Inglewood Park Cemetery are named for flowers. Geneva Ellroy is buried in the section west of the one named "Dahlia."
Hard not to think of Glatman, out there. Maybe scheming up the ploy he"ll use to lure his next victim. The Times story said Geneva was "garroted." Wasn't that part of Glatman's MO? But Glatman doesn't fit the physical description of the "swarthy" man seen with Geneva the night before she is found dead. (Wolf and Mader describe the bespectacled Glatman as "a creep and a momma's boy.") Also, Glatman's victims were a good deal younger. Glatman may not have killed Geneva Ellroy, but he was still out there. Hunting. Hunting and scheming.
Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."
Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.
The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.
Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.
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Hard not to think of Glatman, out there. Maybe scheming up the ploy he"ll use to lure his next victim. The Times story said Geneva was "garroted." Wasn't that part of Glatman's MO? But Glatman doesn't fit the physical description of the "swarthy" man seen with Geneva the night before she is found dead. (Wolf and Mader describe the bespectacled Glatman as "a creep and a momma's boy.") Also, Glatman's victims were a good deal younger. Glatman may not have killed Geneva Ellroy, but he was still out there. Hunting. Hunting and scheming.
Posted by: Gabe | June 24, 2008 at 06:40 PM