The Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14 or 15, 1947), known posthumously as the " Black Dahlia ", was an American woman who was found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles , California. Her case became highly publicized due to the graphic nature of the crime, which included her corpse having been mutilated and bisected at the waist. On the morning of January 15, 1947, Short's naked body was found severed into two pieces on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue, midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street in Leimert Park , Los Angeles. At the time, the neighborhood was largely undeveloped. Local resident Betty Bersinger discovered the body at approximately 10 a.m. while walking with her three-year-old daughter. Bersinger initially thought she had found a discarded store mannequin . When she realized it was a corpse, she rushed to a nea...