In January of 1947, the mutilated body of young Hollywood actress Elizabeth Short was discovered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. The press gave her the nickname, "The Black Dahlia," stemming from a popular crime film, and her case gripped headlines when the killer sent handwritten notes to the tabloids. Former Los Angeles Detective Steve Hodel believed his f ... Show More
Today
Burden of Proof
On January 18, 1997, Beverly Watson disappeared and her husband, Jim, became a prime suspect in the case. There was virtually no evidence: no witness, no body, and no proof that Beverley was even dead. But police noticed that Jim was wearing makeup to conceal what appeared to be ... Show More
44 m
Jan 13
Post Mortem | The Gaslighting of Hannah Pettey
48 Hours correspondents Natalie Morales and Anne-Marie Green discuss the survivor story of Hannah Pettey, a young mother from Alabama who was poisoned with lead. They discuss why police first suspected both Hannah’s mother and her husband, Brian, why Hannah believes Brian had att ... Show More
25m 38s
Feb 2025
A Deeper Dive into the Murder of Elizabeth Short (Part 1)
<p>On the morning of January 15, 1947, a woman walking with her young daughter spotted something pale and white lying in the weeds of a vacant lot. When the woman walked closer to get a better look, she made a horrifying discovery: the bisected body of a young woman, brutally mur ... Show More
1h 1m
Feb 2025
A Deeper Dive into the Murder of Elizabeth Short (Part 2)
<p>On the morning of January 15, 1947, a woman walking with her young daughter spotted something pale and white lying in the weeds of a vacant lot. When the woman walked closer to get a better look, she made a horrifying discovery: the bisected body of a young woman, brutally mur ... Show More
1h 18m
Aug 2023
Into the Smoke: The Murder of Ronli Ratliff
<p><em>Correction: Ronli Ratliff's body was discovered beside a couch, not atop a couch.</em></p><p>In the early morning hours of April 15, 2004, firefighters discovered a body of a young woman in a house in Indiana's Morgan County. That young woman was 24-year-old Ronli Ratliff. ... Show More
37m 5s
Dec 2024
The Murder of Cheryl Perveler
<p>When police were called to the scene of shooting at the Castillion Apartments in Los Angeles on April 20, 1968, they assumed the victim, twenty-two-year-old Cheryl Perveler, had been shot in a robbery gone wrong. However, when they began looking into her personal life, they so ... Show More
53m 31s
Jul 2021
Hollywood Cold Case: Margaret Gibson Pt. 2
As the investigation into William Desmond Taylor's murder amps up, lead investigator Detective King examines the evidence and begins to suspect three of the most powerful women in 1920s Hollywood: comedy queen Mabel Normand, ingenue Mary Miles Minter, and notorious stage mother C ... Show More
46m 18s