Who Killed Elizabeth Short? 7 Possible Suspects In The Horrifying Black Dahlia Murder

Published September 8, 2022
Updated April 3, 2024

Walter Bayley: The Surgeon Who May Have Killed Short In A Fit Of Rage

Black Dahlia Murder Scene

Getty ImagesElizabeth Short’s body was found in a vacant lot that just happened to be a black away from Walter Bayley’s ex-wife’s house.

Despite the Black Dahlia suspects considered over the years, LAPD detectives long suspected that Elizabeth Short’s killer was a skilled surgeon. After all, someone had expertly cut her body in two. And Los Angeles Times columnist Larry Harnisch believes that Walter Bayley was the doctor who did it.

When Harnisch started digging into the case in 1996, he found some unsettling connections between Bayley and the Black Dahlia murder. As explained by the Washington Post, Bayley’s daughter knew Short’s sister, the doctor had an office near the Biltmore Hotel where Short was last seen — and her body was dumped a block away from Bayley’s ex-wife’s house.

What’s more, Bayley seemed to match the profile of Short’s killer drawn up by FBI profiler John Douglas. As Harnisch wrote, “He was desensitized to blood, was comfortable with a knife, and although he had a medical degree, he did work with his hands rather than his brains. He also had a strong but troubled link to the immediate vicinity of the crime scene.”

Larry Harnisch

YouTubeLarry Harnisch discusses the Black Dahlia case.

Harnisch believes that the doctor, fresh from a divorce and suffering from undiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease, may have crossed paths with Short somewhere near the Biltmore Hotel. After spending a few days together, Harnish suspects, something happened to incite Bayley’s rage.

Possibly, Short rebuffed him. Possibly, she told a lie she’d told before, about having a son who had died at a young age. As History Collection notes, Bayley actually did have a son who’d died at a young age, and Short’s body was found two days after the anniversary of his death.

The kicker, of course, is that Short’s body was found a 45-second walk from where Bayley’s ex-wife lived. Harnisch contends that it’s possible Bayley dumped her there to terrorize his ex-wife.

author
Kaleena Fraga
author
A senior staff writer for All That's Interesting since 2021 and co-host of the History Uncovered Podcast, Kaleena Fraga graduated with a dual degree in American History and French Language and Literature from Oberlin College. She previously ran the presidential history blog History First, and has had work published in The Washington Post, Gastro Obscura, and elsewhere. She has published more than 1,200 pieces on topics including history and archaeology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.
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Fraga, Kaleena. "Who Killed Elizabeth Short? 7 Possible Suspects In The Horrifying Black Dahlia Murder." AllThatsInteresting.com, September 8, 2022, https://allthatsinteresting.com/black-dahlia-killer. Accessed July 25, 2025.