[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Jill. Jen and I wanted to give you a heads up about the content on today's episode. It may be triggering for more sensitive audiences. Refer to the show notes for more
[00:00:10] Speaker B: specifics, and take care while you listen.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: On this episode of Common Mystics, we investigate the. The unsolved 1944 murder of a Hollywood heiress, Georgette Bower Doff, whose brutal death behind the glamour of wartime Los Angeles remains one of the city's most haunting and enduring mysteries.
I'm Jennifer James.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: I'm Jill Stanley.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: We're psychics.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: We're sisters.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: We are common mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places. And today's story takes us to Hollywood, California.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Jennifer, where were we?
[00:01:01] Speaker A: We were driving around Santa Monica with our friend Emily.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: That's right. That's absolutely right. Let's see. Emily.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: And there's Emily.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: There's our Emily. Hi, Em. Thank you.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: Echo. Little Echo.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: He's handsome.
Okay. Okay. So what was our intention in the car, Jill?
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Our intention was that day, as it always is, to find a verifiable story, previously unknown to us, that allowed us to give voice to the voiceless.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: That is absolutely right, Jennifer. And we were in Santa Monica, like you said.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: We were in. Oh, God. Beautiful Southern California.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: I did not know I was gonna fall in love.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: It's seductive.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: The little.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: The little slut.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Okay, exactly what were some of our hits in the car?
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Well, you were seeing something. Why don't you go first?
[00:01:58] Speaker B: I was seeing a. Like a large house, but, like, there were steps coming up from the street.
What were you feeling? Okay.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: I was picking up on a stage starlet who died tragically, but, like, not a starlet who had made it. Do you know what I mean?
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: She was, like, trying to make it almost, like knuckling it, like, up the ladder. Right. Like a struggle. And in fact, I was getting in my mind, the Black Dahlia.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Ooh.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Have you heard of the Black Dahlia?
[00:02:35] Speaker B: I have heard of the Black Dahlia, but for some of us who haven't, please tell us who she is.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Well, we are taking a look at her now on the screen. Beautiful young lady. Her name was Elizabeth short. She was 22 years old when her body was found in Los Angeles in the year 1947.
And she became one of America's most infamous unsolved crimes because of its brutality, and it remains unsolved to this day. Poor Elizabeth Short.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: I mean, honestly, just for a moment. Her eyes are hypnotic. Like, beautiful, beautiful eyes. You know, they were bright blue.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Bright blue.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: And Dark hair and those cheekbones are everything.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: She definitely has something. Even just looking at this photo of her.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: This must be her headshot.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: So I did have some knowledge of Elizabeth Short. I remember seeing different documentaries about it because I love Hollywood and I love true crime. So naturally I've been acquainted with the story of Elizabeth Short. But she was coming to me in the car. Like the story of her seemed significant.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Got it. Got it. So we drive into Brentwood. I'm picking up a name with a B connection to our voiceless. And I'm also feeling a German vibe. Like I was feeling like the country of Germany. There was some kind of German connection.
I was also feeling at the moment that someone was watching and waiting, like lay in wait for someone.
So, ooh.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Yes, I was picking up on the idea of generational wealth, girl. Like the story had something to do with someone who comes from money.
And also Emily. Emily was even getting in on the vibes, exercising her psychic abilities.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: What was she seeing?
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Emily said she was feeling an apartment with a nice view. Like a nice apartment.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Also, she. She identified a time frame.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: What'd you get?
[00:04:59] Speaker A: She. She said mid century was. Was what she was feeling.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: And we were all agreeing that we were feeling murdered desperately.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Definitely a murder. Yep.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: So what I was looking into in the research, just to give you a heads up, was I was looking into a mid century murder of a starlet in an apartment with a view. And Jennifer. Did I find one?
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah, you did. I can't even believe what you found.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Like, I still can't believe it.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Wow. Like I'm saying, hang in there. Buckle up, because we're gonna put my Spidey hits to the test with the incident.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: The incident.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Tell me, tell me about the incident, will I?
[00:05:45] Speaker A: It was the morning of October 12, 1944, and a maid named Lulu Atwood was reporting, was reporting for work at a very exclusive apartment building.
It was the El Palacio.
Palacio? I don't know, I don't speak Spanish. El Palacio. Oh, that does look quite exclusive.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Tell me what you're looking at here. For people that are only listening to the audio and aren't on YouTube with us.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: I am looking at a historic building.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: I would say Spanish style in nature.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: I would agree.
With flourishes above the windows, beautiful landscaping.
And the cars look to be, I don't know, 30s, 40s. I'm not too good at identifying the. The dates of cars, but definitely old fashioned.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: The building itself is ornate in nature. It's just beautiful. And it Looks like. Like a piece on its. Like the building itself is an art piece, it looks like, to me.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really beautiful. And I think I'm seeing Spanish tile on the. On the roof. Right. So I think you're right. With a Spanish, Spanish flair. Anyway, it was called El Palicio or Palacio, depending on how one reads Spanish. And. And Lulu has her mop, and she is approaching the apartment of the Bauer Dorf family.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: And she's just about to clean. That's what she's there for.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: That's what she does.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: That's what she does.
So should I go right into it?
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Okay, so let me first tell you about this El Palacio Apartments.
It was located in. There it is again. It was located in West Hollywood and it was considered exclusive because the architecture like we described, also the location in West Hollywood was very sought after. And so the tenants were affluent, they had a lot of money. People who had these apartments, you can tell. Yeah. And the location was right by Sunset Strip and the whole Hollywood entertainment district. So if you lived here, you were right in the middle of show business.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: And it was very attractive for wealthy residents, socialites and people connected to the film industry.
Let's go back to the incident. Tell me about Lulu. What's she doing with her mop?
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Lulu is off to clean the Bauer Dorf apartments. Okay.
And she gets there, but she notices that the door is already open. In fact, it's a jar.
Okay, that's odd.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: That's odd.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: So she steps inside and she calls out for someone. Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Bauernorf. Is anyone here?
She didn't hear anything. Nobody answered her. But what she did hear was water dripping.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Uh oh.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Now she thought it sounded like the second floor bathroom, but there was no other sound of any person moving around, nobody talking, just the sound of water dripping.
So she checks the whole lower level, finds no one. And so she walks up the stairs.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: So for those of us who aren't on YouTube, here's a picture from the LA Public Library of the door of the apartment, the interior of the apartment ajar. And. And how she might have noticed the sound coming from upstairs, because the stairs are directly to the left of the door, if you were approaching. So she probably heard the noise that way. Got it.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: So then she went up those stairs to the bathroom.
And there, before her eyes, she found a young brain, brunette woman, partially submerged in the bathtub. Oh, Jill, I didn't know we had visual of this. Oh, this is terrible.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Yes, we have the actual crime scene.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: And there she is in the bathtub.
The water Lulu noticed was colored with blood.
Now, Lulu's husband worked on the premises, too, so the first thing she did was call for him. He was a groundskeeper. She screamed for him. He comes running into the apartment and runs up the stairs.
And seeing the scene, they both realized, one, this woman is dead, and two, they need to contact the police asap.
The police came, and the young woman was soon identified as Ms. Georgette Bower Dorf.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Can you please describe the image that we're looking at here?
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I am looking at a youthful woman.
So much life in her eyes, full cheeks. Very, very pretty.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Joyful.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yes. Her hair is dark with bangs. She almost looks a little like Barbara Stanwyck. She does have a starlit look about her.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: She really does. Yes, she really does. She's wearing a collared shirt that's buttoned down. She looks very appropriate for the time. And as a lady would. She's just.
She just feels like she would have made it, you know?
[00:11:23] Speaker A: She's super cute.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: So cute.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: You can tell she has charisma.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. She has the it factor.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: I want to get to know her. I look at her, and I'm being drawn in by her energy.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Well, this is Georgette Bauerdorf, and she had been living alone in the apartment which belonged to her family, the Bauerdorf family.
Now, at first, the detectives were toying with the possibility that Georgette's death in the bathtub was accidental.
They thought this might be consistent with someone who was going to take a bath. She might have slipped, she might have struck her head, bled, drowned. Right. Like that's what they were initially thinking.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Right. Until.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Until Jill.
As they were investigating the apartment and the grounds, one officer noticed something suspicious, and that was that there was an automatic light right outside the door of Georgette's apartment that would go on when someone came to the door. Right.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: However, in this case, the light had been unscrewed so that it did not turn on as it should have when someone approached.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: So right now, on the screen, we have a picture of actual police footage of the detective showing how he, whomever, unscrewed the light bulb just enough.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: So it was still intact but unable to come on the way it was supposed to.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: Yes. And police indicated that the bulb had been turned two full turns to the left, thereby not falling out, still being in the lamp, but not connecting. We've all been there.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: I've done that.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Seriously, You've done that on purpose?
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: To try to Make a light not go on.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh. Cuz sometimes it was annoying. You know what I mean? The lake house. Yeah. Right.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Okay. Very, very good. So someone obviously didn't want the outside.
Yes. Didn't want the outside of the apartment to be lit. Did not want to be seen going in or out.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: So what did this, what did this indicate to the detective? That this couldn't have been an accident. That someone purposefully wanted to be in that apartment.
[00:13:53] Speaker A: Correct. And so they decided to examine Georgette's death a little more closely because of the suspicion. Vicious light situation.
And there was an autopsy.
Unfortunately, the autopsy revealed that poor Georgette had been the victim of a violent sexual assault.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Trigger warning.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Investigators documented also that she had abrasions on her hands and face indicating that she may have been in a struggle for her life.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Good for her.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: She also had multiple contusions to her head and to her abdomen that were consistent with being struck or hit.
Bruising also on her shoulder and her face suggested that she may have been forced against the bathtub.
Terrible.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Poor thing. For her life.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: The cause of death was revealed to be asphyxiation, caused not from drowning, but from a rag that had been stuffed down her throat.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: So why would someone want the 20 year old brunette known for her bright smile to be killed? Who would do such a thing?
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Well, let me tell you a little bit about who Georgette was.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: I would love that.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Georgette Bowerdorf was from a very privileged upbringing.
[00:15:39] Speaker B: No?
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And she had a prominent social standing as an oil heiress.
Her father was George Frederick Bauerdorf, a very successful oil man.
And Georgette and her sister Constance, who is known as Connie, were very well off and active in the local social scene.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: I can see that now.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Georgette was born in New York City on May 6, 1924.
Her mother, Constance, died in 1935 at the age of 40, while Georgette was still a child and attending St. Agatha School for Girls in New York City.
Sounds like a bougie school. Oh, there. There she is wearing the insignia.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Isn't that a great picture of her?
[00:16:34] Speaker A: That is a great picture.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: She looks very profess. Very posh, right?
[00:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I wonder if it was a boarding school, if she lived there.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: That's a good question. I would assume so, but what do I know?
[00:16:47] Speaker A: So following her mother's death, the Bower family relocated to the other coast and moved all the way from New York City to California.
Quite a change.
Now in Los Angeles, Georgette attended the Marlborough School, a private preparatory school for girls.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: It's not about making cigarettes I mean,
[00:17:07] Speaker A: I don't know what they did there.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: That's true. We don't know.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: We. They might have been rolling them.
Rolling the cigarettes.
I don't think that's. That's. It's not Marlboro, like, spelled like the
[00:17:20] Speaker B: cigarettes, Jill, Kind of, but I think there's an extra L in there.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Marlboro School. She was not making cigarettes. She did not know the Marlboro Man.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Everyone knows the Marlboro Man.
Who doesn't know the Marlboro Man?
[00:17:36] Speaker A: She later attended Westlake School for Girls in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, graduating in 1941.
And by the way, she was rubbing shoulders. Is that the expression? Is it rubbing elbows or rubbing shoulders with famous people?
[00:17:53] Speaker B: I think it's elbows, now that you mentioned it.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: I don't know if it's elbow. She was rubbing something.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Jennifer. What?
[00:17:59] Speaker A: She was. She was rubbing. I don't know if it's the expression is shoulders or elbows, but she went to school with Shirley Temple. She went to school with Myrna Loy.
So she was part of this upper crust of young, young people in the Hollywood scene.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: I can totally see that. Okay, so she's rich, smart, beautiful. Hater.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Hater.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Okay, hater. Hater. So much.
[00:18:22] Speaker A: So she graduates. She graduates from high school. And Georgette Bauerdorf has an interest in pursuing acting as a career. Of course she does.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Of course she does.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: She's adorable. She's living in la. She's got money, she's got connections. Why wouldn't she? I would.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: She was born for it, but it
[00:18:43] Speaker A: was during World War II, and because of that, she volunteered at a place called the Hollywood Canteen.
Ooh.
The Hollywood Canteen was a very popular venue where servicemen, men serving in the war were entertained by young, pretty volunteers and also members of the film industry.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: You know, it's really cool.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: It is. You know how in those old reels from the 1940s, you have all of those, like, Joan Crawford and Bing Crosby, like, they're all like, like at, like, the USO and. And different organizations entertaining the troops. And you see, like, ladies dancing with them. It was that sort of thing.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: That's so cool.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: It's so cool.
[00:19:37] Speaker B: It's so cool.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: So cool.
Could you imagine being a soldier on leave?
[00:19:44] Speaker B: No, that in itself. That in itself, like, for real, but
[00:19:48] Speaker A: being at essentially a party, right. With young people who are volunteering their time to spend. Spend time with you and dance with you and stars. I mean, and not knowing if you are going to leave and ever come back.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Like, what risks Would you have taken? Do you know what I mean?
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Like, yeah.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: What wouldn't you have done? You would have done everything. You would have lived it up like it was your last party because it might be your last party.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: That's amazing, right? That's an amazing opportunity to. Because I mean, state of mind.
[00:20:22] Speaker A: It's an amazing state of mind to be. And I don't mean amazing like yay. Because part of it is dark, right? Like that idea that you, you might never have this opportunity again because you're going to be leaving, you're going to
[00:20:34] Speaker B: war, and the only reason why you have this opportunity is because you're going to war. So that's such a dichotomy.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: I bet that screws with your head a little bit.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Kind of the thought of it screws with my head.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Well, don't think about it because we don't need your head anymore screwed up. Jennifer, what am I looking at here?
[00:20:50] Speaker B: This long line, this is outside the Hollywood Canteen.
And these are the soldiers lining up to go in.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: That is a long ass line.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: You got some navy, you got some military.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: When's the last time, When's the last time you saw a line that long to get into any establishment? It's a long ass line.
[00:21:10] Speaker B: Trying to think.
It's been a long time.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: Do you remember when we were in Hawaii getting those, those cinnamon rolls? Yes.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: And then when someone got a cinnamon
[00:21:20] Speaker A: roll, people outside clapping.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Because you had to wait so long to get the cinnamon rolls.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: To be honest, this looks like a line in TJ Maxx.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: This is like, yeah, yeah, TJ Maxx Marshalls sometimes my local grocery store.
Oh, I, that pisses me off too.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: Oh my God. Every time I go into grocery stores, it's me against the store. It's me. I literally, I'm like, put on your best face. You're going in there, you're getting what you need to get, and you're gonna get out as soon as you can. That's it.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: I don't understand why in order to get out, quote unquote fast, you need to like scan your own shit and bag your own shit.
Fuck that.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: And sometimes I don't work there.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: I'm not kidding. They should pay me.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: I love when they get an attitude. If you do it wrong, like, bitch, I haven't been in training for this. Like, I'm just trying to go and get some, some eggs, man. I didn't, I, I didn't know I needed to weigh some shit and then have a sticker and like, you know, like, no one told me that.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: And God forbid you have a coupon or you. Or you're buying liquor, forget it. Oh, everybody who works at my local grocery store is all below the age of 18.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Jennifer. Someone laughed at me when I handed them my id.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: You look very youthful.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: That was so mean. I wanted to be like, you look, you little bitch. I'll take you outside right now. I'll show you what this old hag can do.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: Give me my wine, bitch.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: And I was like, come on, man.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: All right.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: You have to laugh in my face.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Where were we?
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Where were we? Okay. So it was a really cool place. The Hollywood Canteen was established by stars
[00:22:57] Speaker A: such as Bette Davis, John Garfield, and other prominent Hollywood figures. That is so cool.
And big name celebrities.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: Celebrities that would spend their time with the GIs. People like who?
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Jennifer Marlena Dietrich, Rita Hayworth. And they would be doing things not only, like, entertaining, but they would be serving food. They would be acting like, you know, busing tables, signing autographs and. And just hanging out.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: That's so amazing. That's way cool.
I would go there. Yeah.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: And then you also had performers like Bob Hope, Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby who were actually performing on a stage.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: What was Georgette doing there?
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Georgette was volunteering as a hostess.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Cool. What would that look like?
[00:23:47] Speaker A: Well, as a hostess, she would pass out food, pass out drinks, and dance with soldiers.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Fun.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: I bet it was fun sometimes. And it probably wasn't always fun.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, if you're not in the mood
[00:24:03] Speaker A: for dancing, if you're not in the mood for dancing, or even if you're just in a bad mood.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Oh, true that. True that. Right? Sometimes you don't like the male attention. As a woman, you're like, I'm okay.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Well, the problem is. The problem is you probably didn't get to pick and choose your male attention if you're there volunteering to entertain the troops. You can't just entertain the individual soldiers that you want to. You're there to entertain everybody.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: That's rough, bro.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: I believe it would be rough. Well, I. I think that's. I think that's the truth. Right.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: But it sounds like a really cool opportunity for a young woman who wants to have a potential acting career. You know what I mean?
[00:24:47] Speaker A: True.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Have nabbing with the celebs for sure.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: And I'll also say that it wasn't easy to get this job as a hostess.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Tell me.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: It was a hard gig to land. And once you got it, there are a lot of rules associated with it.
So if you wanted to Be a hostess at the Hollywood Canteen. You would have to go through a formal screening process. Don't ask me what that entails. It sounds invasive.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: I just know that I already would not pass.
Like, I just know that instinctively, like,
[00:25:20] Speaker A: you probably couldn't have a criminal record.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: I couldn't hold a tray.
I would be, like, walking with a tray. Are you kidding?
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And. And we can't dance either.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Not really.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: Not the dances they did.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Why did they have to dance like that? Like, legit dance.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Like the one where the man holds the lady up and then, like, she kicks her legs to one side. She kicks her legs to the other side.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: That's a hazard. That's a hazard for this old bird, for sure.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Anyway, there was a formal screening process and volunteers were fingerprinted by the FBI.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Not getting that job.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: No.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: They'll be like, excuse me, can you step aside?
[00:26:07] Speaker A: We have some questions.
There are also, and this is important, there are very strict rules about if you work there as a hostess, you could not arrive with a soldier or leave with a soldier.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: I mean, that's just. That's just common sense. I think that that's a good rule.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: I think that's a good rule, too. But here's the thing. It was a very easy rule to get around.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Oh, it's not me.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Because all you had to do was exchange phone numbers or be like, let's go meet up at this place.
And I hate to say it, but. But Georgette was known to meet up with different soldiers all the time.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Stop it. Stop it.
Don't speak ill of the dead.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: I'm not speaking ill. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with meeting up with men that you meet.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: She was outgoing and sociable. She liked boys, especially boys who.
Who spoke about the service and frequently talked to Marines. And she was all about the sailors and pilots she met during the war. She love the men. Who doesn't? I don't. I don't hate it.
I don't hate it.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Nice Freudian slip.
No, it sounds super fun.
It does, but. And you know. You know what else, though?
[00:27:30] Speaker B: What?
[00:27:31] Speaker A: She. She kept this little book where she kept record of the names and the contact information of all the young men that she, quote, unquote, encountered.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: She sounds like a terrific pen pal.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Hopelessly devoted to each and every one. Uh huh.
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Girl.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
Sounds like she had a lot of fun with the boys.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Get it? I mean, if you got it, get it. If you need it, you want it, you get it.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Poor Georgette. Okay. So. But I have to say that she also engaged in some questionable activities.
[00:28:09] Speaker B: Oh, I. So spotlight.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: And, John, she was known to give out the keys to her apartment.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: No.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Two different servicemen.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: No.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: In case they needed a place to stay.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: No.
That is so risky for a young lady.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: It was a different time. But even at the time, her friends would be like, dude, that. Like, don't give out your key to random soldiers you just met.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: That's solid advice. Hot.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Take solid advice.
However, like I said, it was a different time, and people had this feeling about we have to do as much for the boys as we can. They are.
They're risking their lives for us like, this was a great war. You know what I mean?
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: So she would do that.
And that might have been one of her fatal errors.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: She has a quote here. A friend said that. She said, I think if these boys are willing to fight for us, we ought to do everything we can for them. She would say. She would say that.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: She would say that.
She would say.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: She would say that thing. That.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: That's what.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: She would. Said that. Yeah. And we ought to do everything we can for him. That's what. That's. That's that. Yep.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Poor thing.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: Poor thing.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: I mean, sweet, but cheese, honey.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Naive.
Naive. Naive.
Okay.
So the day of her death, October 11, 1944, Georgette met up with her father's secretary for some shopping and lunch.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Fun, okay.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Yeah, fun. The girls hanging out.
She was so excited that day because she had just cashed one $75 check and she spent $90 of it for a plane ticket to meet up with her boyfriend.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: She had a boyfriend?
[00:30:20] Speaker A: She had a boyfriend, a soldier who was being stationed in El Paso.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: Does he know about her wanting to do everything for the men that are willing in the. Does she.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: I. I don't. I didn't ask him. His name was Jerome Brown. But she was excited to go see him. She was excited to go see him. She bought a plane ticket. Really happy. Talked about it at lunch. Okay.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: I would be excited, too, if I was going to fly off to see my boyfriend.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: After lunch, she returned to her apartment and got ready for work. Her volunteer work.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Which, by the way, is the worst kind of work. I mean, I know she's an heiress and she doesn't need the money, but I don't know, if I were an
[00:31:01] Speaker B: heiress and I didn't need the money, I would still work at something I loved.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Wouldn't you?
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Probably, yeah. So she got ready for quote, unquote work at the Hollywood Canteen.
She got there a little early that day. So instead of going in, she sat in the parking lot in her car knitting until it was time for her shift to start.
[00:31:26] Speaker B: Why is she so cute?
[00:31:27] Speaker A: How adorable is that?
Her friend June saw her sitting in the car and would later tell investigators she seemed really happy. She was just hanging out in her. Oh, is that June?
[00:31:39] Speaker B: That's June.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: June is adorable. I love everything happening with her hair. It's so, so World War II era. So early forties.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: I love that her brows aren't too thick, they're just thick enough. Her lips are red. She's wearing a very smart outfit. A skirt with a. Almost like a suit jacket that's buttoned and peep toe.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: High heeled Mary Janes.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Yes. Which I think you own a pair.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: I know I own a pair of those for sure.
Okay. So she, she's doing her knitting. She's sitting in the car. June sees her. She seems happy.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: She's.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: And by all accounts, Georgette goes in, starts her shift. And her entire shift was pretty uneventful, except for there was one soldier. One soldier who was a little too insistent.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: There's always one.
There's always the one.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: One soldier that was a little too insistent. And he wanted her to jitterbug with him.
Georgette did not like the jitterbug. She did not want a jitterbug. She didn't want to dance with this guy. And she was nice, but she like, was like, no, no, sorry.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: The jitterbug.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: The jitterbug.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: The jitterbug is like really, really athletic.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Yes.
Yeah. You need a lot of energy for the jitter.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
Right?
[00:33:09] Speaker A: I wouldn't dance it either. But the dude did not want to take no for an answer.
But after a while, he, he, you know, got the hint and moved on. But it was like a thing. Do you know what I mean? The fact that people were like, this guy will not leave her alone with a jitterbug.
[00:33:26] Speaker B: Like, calm down. It's the jitterbug.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: When she finished her shift at the Hollywood Canteen that night, it was around 11:15pm that's late. That's late.
But like many other young people during the era, she continued to party that evening at the famous Hollywood Palladium, where servicemen and civilians would go dancing up until the wee hours of the night.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: See, that's fun.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: Super fun. And it was a really popular dance hall. I've actually heard of it. Have you? The Hollywood Palladium.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: No, I don't think I have. Okay.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: And so there was big band music, bright lights, a dance floor. She stayed until around 2am Then at
[00:34:12] Speaker B: 2am That's a respectable time.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's about my. That was about my limit when I was young. Now I'm in bed at 8. But back then. Yeah, 2am and then you go for burritos.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: Then you do the early bird special.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: Yes. You need a little grease to soak up.
To soak up all the beverages you've been drinking.
Anyway, sometime around 2am Georgette leaves the Hollywood Palladium. I hope I'm saying that right, but I'm probably not.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: It's fine.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: She began driving towards her home through the streets of West Hollywood.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Now that just sounds idyllic. Like, like the 1930s, the 1940s, driving in West Hollywood, home to your, like, exclusive apartment building after dancing the night away with servicemen. Stop.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Is West Hollywood still exclusive? Because I think it's kind of gritty these days.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: I like it.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Gritty doesn't. Who's the Pink Pony Club singer? Chapel Rowan.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: She sings about the Pink Pony Club in West Hollywood.
Now that song is in my head.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: Me too. Shout out.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
Okay. So she's headed home, driving through West Hollywood, and she sees a hitchhiker.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: No, girl.
[00:35:31] Speaker A: I know girl.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: Okay, someone needs to talk. Stranger danger with this girl.
No, for real, for real.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: True.
Okay. Someone's hitchhiking and it's an army sergeant. She picks him up. His name is Gordon Adland.
Gordon. Gordon Adland was also at the dance hall.
Now, during the drive, Georgette reportedly told him that she was anxious about getting home in time because she was expecting a late night phone call with her boyfriend who is in El Paso.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Oh, that's Jerome. Sweet.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Right. So she mentions, you know, I'm going to take you, but I'm kind of in a rush. Have to be home for this phone call.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: And I'm not interested in you. You always bring up the boyfriend or husband.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: Just let you know.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: So she drops Adland off. She drops the hitchhiker off and drove off into the darkness towards her apartment.
And that may have been the last time anyone other than her murderer saw her alive.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: Investigators who were looking into the incident noted that she got home and seemed to be following her normal evening routine.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: She prepared herself a snack. She did not have burritos.
She was. She was a thin.
A thin lady. Like, I would have. I would have been, you know, working out. Yeah, working out.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: Or. Or pizza. Yes. Yes.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: Or burgers.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Nothing will help you better than a big old Quarter Pounder with cheese from McDonald's if you're drunk.
See, now I'm drooling.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: Why'd you gotta do that?
I'm literally drooling.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: It, like, sits there. It anchors you. It just, like, absorbs all the alcohol in your body.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: She has been dancing and presumably drinking for hours.
So she needed something with substance. You know what she chose?
[00:37:28] Speaker B: What?
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Canned string beans and melon.
Oh, those flavors don't even go together. Georgette.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Georgette. Why, Georgia?
[00:37:41] Speaker A: Why?
[00:37:41] Speaker B: Why would you.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: String beans and melon. But she was slim, so I give her that.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: I mean.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Now, there was a maintenance worker who lived in the basement apartment, and he told police that he heard the sounds of high heels up in her apartment.
And then a little later, he heard a crash. A crash. As if someone had dropped a tray or something on the floor.
And after that crash, it became quiet.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: Investigators later theorized that someone may have already been inside her apartment when she got there.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: That was for a fact.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Oh, God. That scared the. Look out of me. Don't just do. I thought that was my heart.
God, I wonder.
Give me a clue. You're going to pull out some. Some sound effects. Jesus. All right, so let me swallow.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: For those who are only listening and can't hear what may not be available on Audacity, I had a heartbeat noise coming through. Jen's audio.
[00:38:56] Speaker A: Jen's chest. Right as I heard that and thought that the ghost of Georgette herself was trying to make. Make a contact. Okay. Georgette settled in for the night when she got home right after her snack. But the evidence suggested that she changed into her pajamas and went upstairs to bed.
Her diary, her newspaper were found resting on the bed, indicating that she was just preparing to read and go to sleep.
Wait, wait, wait.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: Do you remember the big fight about the visual that I was gonna have to take out?
This was the visual.
I was like, how are you gonna make me take out this visual?
[00:39:41] Speaker A: I made. I worked so hard on it. You have to describe this for people who aren't looking at this.
[00:39:48] Speaker B: So what it is showing is that someone was waiting in her apartment for her for some time for her to rest and get ready for bed. So it's big, googly eyes. I would say they're googly. With a time clock behind it, signifying watching and waiting, watching and waiting.
[00:40:08] Speaker A: And we had a major argument.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Major. Like crying, spitting about the visual.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, Jennifer didn't see the visual, but I assured her that it was hard work, very necessary. And how dare you Want me to cut my expression of art?
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Anyway, Georgette was already in her pajamas. She was in bed. She was writing in her diary. She was reading the newspaper, and she was basically getting ready for sleep.
And in talking with her friends, investigators knew that Georgette would not have entertained any visitors while she was in this state. She wouldn't have put on her pajamas to entertain visitors. Right. You know, she was a classy gal.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: I believe that. Right. Even though she's naive af.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: I believe she does have some class about her.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: For sure. For sure.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:41:02] Speaker A: So at approximately 2:30am that's when a nearby resident reported hearing a scream, a woman's scream somewhere in the complex. I cannot believe the visual that I'm looking at right now.
Wow.
Wow.
There's a cartoon clock with a cartoon ear that's hearing.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: It has the.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: Yes. And a picture of lips screaming. Wow. Very effective visuals, Jill. Thank you.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: Shane told me to own it and to produce this.
This is how I did it.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: Yes. Yes.
So the resident who heard the scream said she sat up in bed and listened. It was a feminine voice screaming, stop. Stop. You're killing me. Oh, my God.
Then the screaming stopped, and she decided that it was just probably a terrible family fight.
[00:42:06] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:42:07] Speaker A: It was that next morning that Lulu, the maid, found Georgette.
Investigators determined that Georgette's car and approximately $100 in cash were missing, but expensive jewelry and additional money was left behind untouched.
Now, the vehicle, which actually belonged to Georgette's sister Connie, was later discovered abandoned and out of gas about 12 miles away near San Pedro and East 25th streets in Los Angeles.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: Inside the apartment, detectives found several unusual pieces of evidence, such as cigarette butts that had been put out on the floor. That's just so disrespectful, like somebody who doesn't care, you know, like throwing it on the floor.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: That really is, like, low class.
[00:42:59] Speaker A: And by the way, Georgette didn't smoke,
[00:43:02] Speaker B: and she wouldn't put him out on her family.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Of course she wouldn't. Of course she wouldn't. Floor investigators also discovered blood stains on the bedroom floor, and they were smeared as if someone was trying to clean up afterwards.
[00:43:17] Speaker B: But, like, half ass.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
Now, the murder of Georgette Bower Dorf quickly became a major media sensation in Los Angeles.
Newspapers closely followed this investigation, and they published frequent updates as detectives pursued numerous leads and interviewed a wide, wide range of potential suspects connected to Georgette's social life, the Hollywood Canteen, and the nightlife surrounding wartime Hollywood.
Now, let's take a look at the hitchhiker, Gordon Adlen. Shall we go? Oh, there he is. Gordon. Sergeant Gordon Adland was known to be the last person to have seen. Seen Georgette alive.
[00:44:08] Speaker B: It's true.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: Now, he was on leave, but stationed at the Aleutian Islands. Those islands in Alaska.
[00:44:17] Speaker B: Oh, man.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
And he was in Hollywood on furlough at the time that he encountered Georgette. He said he spent the evening at the Hollywood Palladium with his sister on his final night before returning to military duty.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: And why was he hitchhiking?
[00:44:36] Speaker A: Well, because he saw his sister to a streetcar, and then he was heading up Sunset Boulevard near the Hollywood Canteen and the Palladium, hoping to hitchhike to another club, the Clover Club, where his brother worked as a bartender. So he was going to meet up with his brother at the Clover Club.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Now they question Adland, as well they should have.
And Adlin said that Georgette stopped and offered him a ride shortly after he began hitchhiking.
She talked about her boyfriend, and she mentioned that she was in a hurry to get home because she wanted to. To make that telephone call with him.
Adlin said that she drove him a few miles and then dropped him off. And then he said he. They stayed. They were together just about 10 or 15 minutes.
Adlan later stated that during the ride, he considered warning Georgette about the dangers of picking up strangers late at night, but chose not to say anything.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Ain't that something?
[00:45:35] Speaker A: Well, what's funny about that is how ironic. Like, you shouldn't pick up people after dark. You know? What was she supposed to do? Be like, you're right. Get out of my car. You know what I mean?
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Yeah. He. It was right for him not to say anything. Do you. Before we go on with the outline, just take a look at him. Like, visually, we have a picture of him in his uniform. He seems.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: He's harmless. He's not a murderer.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: Right. Like, his behavior seems sus. Like, in a sense of this personal involvement with a young lady who's just got murdered. He's the last person to see her alive. Sure, he's a hitchhiker, but when you look at his eyes, he's not a murderer.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: He's kind. He's got kind eyes.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: He does.
[00:46:17] Speaker A: He has sort of soft, round features. Do you know what I mean? Like, he does not look at all threatening.
No, no. He looks like a nice guy.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: Picked him up, too.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Cause I'm an idiot.
[00:46:28] Speaker B: Right?
Right.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: And I will also say that at the time, hitchhiking was very common, especially during the war years.
Particularly if you had a serviceman in uniform. Right.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: For the same reason that you would do anything to help these boys. Right. Who are risking their lives. So it wasn't considered that much of, you know, a faux power risk. Yeah, right.
And by the way, I remember in the 80s, hitchhikers were all over the road.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: I actually, I was thinking of a time when I hitchhiked. I was fighting with my boyfriend who lived in North Lake.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: You hitchhiked?
You got into a stranger's car.
[00:47:08] Speaker B: Why are you surprised by that? You act like I have the best decision making skills. Like, yes, I got in a stager's car. And the irony and the reason what it made me thought of. Cause after he drove me to Forest Park, I let him have me.
I let him have the key.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Gave him the keys to the house. No.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: Who really? We didn't have keys to the house. The door was always open.
[00:47:27] Speaker A: The doors were always open.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: No, I had him drop me off at the Lucky Dog.
[00:47:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: And then I know it. Well.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
He was so smart. So you didn't have him drop him off at the house?
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Right. To a public place. Anyway, he goes, you know what? Hitchhiking's dangerous. I was like, yeah, thanks, bro.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: The other thing about Adland is that the very next day he went back to Alaska. Right. But when he saw a newspaper article about the murder of Georgette, the oil heiress in Los Angeles, he recognized her and immediately wrote a letter to the police saying, this girl picked me up. So a murderer would not have done that. Right?
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Right.
Absolutely not.
[00:48:08] Speaker A: Yeah, that bodes well for him.
Yeah. And in later interviews, Adland, like, his story kind of changed a little bit. And he's like, you know what? Initially I might have said misleading things. I think I said she turned right, but she might have turned left. You know what I mean? Like, there were little inconsistencies, and I think he was overthinking it. But for the most part, police did not consider him a suspect.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: And he was never brought to Los Angeles to speak or to testify. To speak with detectives or to testify. So they pretty much wrote him off.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: Well, I feel like based on our psychic assessment, which is specific. Spot on us.
Yeah. I don't think he did it. But what were some other suspects?
[00:48:51] Speaker A: Well, there was a growing list of possible suspects.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Well, with her behavior, you do a victim profile, it's like, georgette, baby, what are you. Why?
[00:49:01] Speaker A: Right, right, right, right. Because they had gone through Georgette's apartment. They had her personal belongings, they had her correspondences.
According to Sheriff Hopkinson, who is investigating, Georgette had exchanged letters with approximately 24 different servicemen stationed full time job. Yeah. Stationed throughout various World War II theaters. She is literally Marty in Greece.
Your hand would hurt.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: Yeah, my hand's just cramping thinking about it.
Right.
That's something.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: Yeah. But even though. Even though they had all these names, no suspects emerged. Like, there was no one that they could identify as any of those. Yeah, any of those who. Who could have.
Could have done this horrible deed.
Now, they questioned her friends and acquaintances who talked to them about that tall soldier, the one who had shown interest in Georgette despite her lack interest in him that night at the Hollywood Canteen.
[00:50:14] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:50:15] Speaker A: He was the jitterbug dude.
[00:50:18] Speaker B: So June, her friend June recalled the tall soldier.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:21] Speaker B: And she reported that he was about 6, 4, and he was like. He was thirsty. He was thirsty for Jeanette, for Georgette, he was thirsty, and he would not leave her alone.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: Taking no for an answer.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. So that seems a little sussy to me.
[00:50:38] Speaker A: Correct. And there was another acquaintance of Georgette's. Her name was Rose Gilbert. She told investigators that Georgette occasionally entertained male visitors at her apartment, though generally only for short periods of time.
Although, as we know, that night she was in her PJs and she would have never entertained in her PJs.
[00:50:58] Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
[00:51:00] Speaker A: So that rolls that out.
Now, June, her friend, also described the servicemen who repeatedly interrupt dances with Georgette at the Hollywood Palladium on the night before her death. According to June, Georgette danced with him primarily just to avoid causing a scene.
The man questioned in connection with that account was a man named Cosmo Volpe, who, admitting to dancing with Georgette that evening, but was later released by investigators. While Volpe later stated that Georgette wasn't even a good dancer.
Wow.
[00:51:37] Speaker B: What a dick.
What a dick.
I don't know if he killed her, but he's totally a dick. And salty af.
[00:51:45] Speaker A: He was also a professional dancer,
[00:51:49] Speaker B: but still.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Yeah, but this is a. This is a different guy. Who wouldn't. Who wouldn't take no for an answer later that night at the Hollywood Palladium.
She must have had something.
She.
[00:52:01] Speaker B: I mean, she did.
[00:52:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:02] Speaker B: She jumps off at you when you look at her picture.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: She doesn't jump off at you.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Well, she. I mean, she jumps off at me.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:52:09] Speaker B: She's like, hey, I'm Georgette and I'm here. Okay. Like you do have something.
[00:52:13] Speaker A: And there was another individual later scrutinized by investigators. His Name was Kenneth Raymond. He was 23 and an army deserter. Ooh.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: Ooh.
[00:52:24] Speaker A: He became a suspect of several violent crimes during the 1940s, including the kidnapping and possible murder of a five year old girl named Rochelle Gluskoder in 1946.
[00:52:39] Speaker B: Looking at his picture, he looks like a bad man.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: This guy is bad.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: Yeah, he looks like bad.
[00:52:45] Speaker A: This guy is bad.
His whole.
This isn't even a mugshot.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: I don't think so. No. This is like a class photo.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: His stare looks off. His stare looks off. Let's just say like. Like he's detached.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:53:02] Speaker A: His eyes look detached in a creepy way.
[00:53:06] Speaker B: Very creepy. I would if, like I'm creeped out just by looking at this picture for sure. But like in real life, if he looked at me like that, I would be like, wow. I'm not leaving alone or anywhere. I need buddy system.
[00:53:19] Speaker A: Right, right, right.
So at the time of this guy's arrest in 1946 for Relle Glasscoder's murder. That little girl. Authorities questioned him about Georgette Bower Dorf's murder.
Raymond, who also had an alias, Raymond Pulaski was described in reports as a tall nightclub dancer with a history of robbery and assault.
And although. Although the FBI reportedly referred to him as a one man, crime wave investigators ultimately lacked any sufficient evidence to connect him to Georgette's killing.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: That sucks, because he sounds like that would be a fit.
[00:54:01] Speaker A: It looks like that would be a fit as well. And by the way, the five year old Rochelle Glasscoder, her murder was also never solved.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:54:11] Speaker A: I know.
[00:54:12] Speaker B: Anyway, so do you think we're looking at our murder?
[00:54:18] Speaker A: He is a murderer for sure. 100%.
I'm not sure if he's her murderer.
That I'm not sure about.
[00:54:28] Speaker B: I would love to be like, yes, 100%. Because he looks like.
[00:54:32] Speaker A: Do you feel yes, 100%. Psychically.
[00:54:42] Speaker B: I think he wants me to be like, yes.
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Huh. Stop looking at him. Stop looking at him.
[00:54:48] Speaker B: Sorry.
[00:54:48] Speaker A: Don't listen to him. Okay. In October 1945, approximately one year after Georgette's murder, there was another violent attack that occurred just only blocks from the El Palacio Apartments where the Bauerdorf apartment was. She was a woman named Doris Hillman, and she reported that a man wearing a soldier's uniform entered her apartment through an unlocked ground floor window while she was getting ready for bed.
[00:55:16] Speaker B: Scary.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: According to Doris Hillman, the intruder turned off the bathroom light before attacking her, causing cuts to her face and to her hands. Sound familiar?
[00:55:26] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:55:27] Speaker A: Neighbors heard her screaming and Called the police.
[00:55:30] Speaker B: Good Lord.
[00:55:31] Speaker A: And the attacker fled through the same window.
Now, Hillman described the assailant as a young man with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and a medium stocky build. That's not what.
[00:55:45] Speaker B: That's not.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: That's not what Raymond looked like. No.
[00:55:47] Speaker B: No.
[00:55:49] Speaker A: Detectives considered whether the attack might be connected to Georgette Bauerdorf, but again, there was no conclusive link established.
Now let's go to the letter.
[00:56:03] Speaker B: The letter.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: The letter.
This is intriguing.
Approximately one year after Georgette's murder, there was an 11 year old girl, and she was walking past a high school and she discovered a letter addressed to the police that was just sitting on, like, the wall of the high school.
[00:56:24] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:56:25] Speaker A: Like, it was like. Like a wall. Fence. A fence wall.
And it was kind of like. I think it was pushed in between some of the stones. And she found it and she's like, what's this? She took it to the police.
And the letter claimed that the person who was responsible for Georgette's murder would eventually appear again at the Hollywood Canteen in a military uniform.
He also said that he served in combat in Okinawa after the killing.
[00:56:55] Speaker B: Okinawa.
[00:56:56] Speaker A: Okinawa. And the writer described the murder as, quote, divine retribution and challenged the police to identify him.
[00:57:06] Speaker B: Okay. I'm not sure if the murderer wrote this letter, but whoever wrote this letter, regardless, is one sick puppy.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: True, true.
And by the way, if you're not looking at this, this is a typed letter.
So you have no handwriting analysis available because it is typed.
[00:57:26] Speaker B: Interesting, because back in the day, during that time, wouldn't it be hard to get access to a typewriter that.
[00:57:31] Speaker A: I don't know, wouldn't it be like,
[00:57:33] Speaker B: it's not like a household appliance, you know what I mean?
[00:57:37] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know how common typewriters were.
[00:57:40] Speaker B: Just think about it.
[00:57:43] Speaker A: Do you think this letter is legit, Jill? Like, do you think her murderer wrote this letter?
[00:57:49] Speaker B: I don't.
[00:57:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:57:53] Speaker B: Do you?
You can say you do.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: I do.
[00:57:56] Speaker B: I do.
[00:57:57] Speaker A: I do.
[00:57:58] Speaker B: I feel like there's so many people that want to take credit for this murder because it. You know what I mean? Like, there's a lot of sick puppies out there that are like, this is. This is my handiwork.
It's sick. Sorry.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: The other thing that's interesting that June Ziegler, Georgette's friend, told investigators was that there was another tall soldier. Georgette had a type. Another tall soldier that Georgette had dated briefly after meeting him through another serviceman at the canteen.
And June said that Georgette refused to continue seeing this guy because she didn't like him. But June couldn't remember his name.
Now, another man investigated in connection with this case was Robert George Pollock White, a man who had way too many names. Robert White was arrested in San Diego after allegedly attacking a 65 year old woman. And.
[00:58:59] Speaker B: What are you even saying right now?
[00:59:00] Speaker A: And forcing cloth into her throat.
[00:59:06] Speaker B: Sound familiar?
[00:59:06] Speaker A: Mm.
Robert White reportedly admitted that he had been in Los Angeles at the time of Georgette's murder, and this led investigators to question him about it. However, authorities again were not able to link him to Georgette's murder.
[00:59:28] Speaker B: Okay, is there.
See, this is another guy I can totally see committing the crime. There's so many viable suspects here.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: The last suspect that was questioned was in 1950, six years after Georgette's murder.
Army paratrooper Corporal Chester Vukas. V U K A S. Vukas was believed to have strangled an 18 year old newlywed on a public footpath.
No, he was 23 years old.
So at the time of Georgette's murder, he would have only been 16.
So even though they questioned him as a possibility, when they did the. The math, they were like, yeah, no, it wasn't a kid that would have done this. Yeah. And so obviously he was. He wasn't charged.
So now here's the thing.
[01:00:27] Speaker B: Tell me.
[01:00:28] Speaker A: Georgette, she comes from a family with money?
[01:00:32] Speaker B: Yes, she does.
[01:00:33] Speaker A: Her daddy is an oil man.
[01:00:37] Speaker B: That's so cool.
[01:00:38] Speaker A: She.
She and her sister and her family are socialites. They have a name, they have a reputation.
[01:00:46] Speaker B: They have connections.
[01:00:47] Speaker A: They have connections. And one of their connections is to Will. William Randolph Hearst. You might have heard of him.
[01:00:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:00:55] Speaker A: Who was he, Jill?
[01:00:57] Speaker B: He was the figure that was fictionalized in the movie Citizen Kane.
[01:01:04] Speaker A: Yes, but he was a newspaper publisher.
[01:01:07] Speaker B: Yes. He's Patty Hearst's grandfather.
[01:01:09] Speaker A: I believe that. I don't know.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: Patty.
[01:01:11] Speaker A: Patty? Yeah. Wasn't she kidnapped?
[01:01:14] Speaker B: It was a whole thing. Okay. We won't get detours. Detours, detours, detours.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: Okay, so here's the thing. So Georgette's dad contacts his friend William Randolph Hearst and says, look, I need your help.
You need to encourage the LA police to just end this investigation. This is dragging on way too long.
And they are looking into Georgette's life and we don't. We're embarrassed about some of the ways that our daughter conducted herself. We're embarrassed of the 24 odd service men whose name and number she had where. We don't want the world to know about her activities with these men. So can we just End this.
And so investigators followed the recommendation. Yes. Followed the directive, and basically just ended the case and called it a cold case.
[01:02:12] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[01:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, following a coroner's inquest, Georgette Bower Dorf's body was released to the Pierce Brothers Mortuary and placed aboard a train bound for New York, where her father laid her to rest in the family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery.
[01:02:31] Speaker B: Geez. Oh, Pete.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: And in the months that followed, by the fall of 1945, World War II was coming to an end, and the Hollywood Canteen, that converted barn on Sunset Boulevard where Georgette had once danced and volunteered alongside the movie stars and servicemen, had closed its doors for the final time. On Thanksgiving Day, soldiers returned home from Europe and the Pacific, many enrolling in school through the GI Bill, taking factory jobs, marrying, etc. And generally settling down into the suburbs of post war America.
Life moved on. The city of Los Angeles would move forward with the country, But Georgette's murder remained unsolved. And over time, her story became inseparable from the fading atmosphere of wartime Hollywood. A world of crowded dance floors, blackout curtains, junior hostesses, and young servicemen passing through the city on borrowed time before returning to war.
I got goosebumps.
[01:03:46] Speaker B: I got goosebumps, too.
Okay, okay. Obviously, George are voiceless.
[01:03:52] Speaker A: Obviously.
Classic whodunit.
[01:03:56] Speaker B: Classic who done it?
[01:03:58] Speaker A: I mean, why do you think she's coming out now? Coming through to us now? What? Why do you think her story is important?
[01:04:06] Speaker B: I think she's coming through to us as an opportunity. It was like opportunistic, like we were looking for a story previously unknown to us in area. And she came through to be like, here. My story is still unsolved. Yes.
[01:04:18] Speaker A: And just the fact that her murderer was never apprehended, that's unfinished business.
[01:04:26] Speaker B: The investigation being closed quickly and quietly
[01:04:29] Speaker A: the way it was because her dad was embarrassed of her lifestyle.
Right. It was like that moral piece, like she was being judged by people by how she lived.
[01:04:41] Speaker B: She was blaming the. They were victim blaming in a way. Well, and.
And to compartmentalize this for a second, like when you look at the victimology of someone who is a victim of a violent crime like this, you have to look at the opportunities they provide to be. To be a victim of that crime.
[01:05:02] Speaker A: And she certainly, certainly provided a lot of opportunity to be victimized.
[01:05:09] Speaker B: Yes.
And that is what breaks my heart. I'm not saying it's her fault. I'm not victim blaming. I'm just explaining the victimology and how. And it's my understanding of investigations look at.
[01:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
Should we review our hits?
[01:05:25] Speaker B: Yes, I think that time.
[01:05:28] Speaker A: Okay, Go through all your hits.
[01:05:30] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. The hit Jill with house with steps from the street.
Oh, look at it. I want you to look at this.
[01:05:39] Speaker A: Shut up.
[01:05:40] Speaker B: Right now. That's the apartment building. That's the front of it.
[01:05:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's the front. What were we looking at before? This is.
[01:05:46] Speaker B: There was a car in front of it. This is modern angle. Oh, yes. This is a modern picture.
[01:05:52] Speaker A: Oh, that's fantastic. And look at these chairs.
Wow.
[01:05:56] Speaker B: Still there today.
[01:05:57] Speaker A: You called it. You called it.
[01:06:00] Speaker B: Jill. Me and my sister Jennifer, we were talking about aspiring actress vibes. And you were feeling. What were you feeling? Oh, I'm gonna do all mine first. I'm gonna do all mine.
[01:06:10] Speaker A: I'm right. Yeah. You're feeling a B name.
[01:06:12] Speaker B: I was feeling a B name. What's her last name?
[01:06:15] Speaker A: Bauerdorf. And German connection.
[01:06:18] Speaker B: Friggin German.
It's German.
[01:06:22] Speaker A: Oh my God, Jennifer, that's really crazy.
[01:06:25] Speaker B: I'm getting good with names.
[01:06:26] Speaker A: Yeah, you are. And you are also you. You said someone was watching and waiting. Yes, that's what the police think.
[01:06:34] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[01:06:36] Speaker A: Do you think someone was in her apartment because they had the key?
[01:06:41] Speaker B: No.
[01:06:41] Speaker A: You don't think so?
[01:06:43] Speaker B: I think.
[01:06:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:06:45] Speaker B: I don't think who was in her apartment is someone who got the entry through Georgette's. Georgette's means.
I think it's someone who's seen Georgette and knew how to get into the apartment. Okay, that's what I think, if that's what you're asking me.
[01:07:01] Speaker A: That is what I'm asking you.
[01:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah. What do you think?
[01:07:05] Speaker A: Well, I agree with you. Yeah, I agree with you. I think. I think this person broke in, but I don't think it was hard for them to break in.
[01:07:13] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. A little shimmy.
[01:07:17] Speaker A: Emily was also feeling the nice apartment, which. Duh. Yeah, it was a nice apartment. And mid century.
[01:07:25] Speaker B: And mid century, which it was.
Without Emily, we wouldn't have found this. Just to say.
[01:07:32] Speaker A: Is that true?
[01:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah, because she gave us the time frame and the location of the murder.
[01:07:38] Speaker A: If you recall, I was feeling generational wealth, which.
[01:07:42] Speaker B: Yes, you were.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Georgette Bowerdorf was an oil heiress. Definitely had generational wealth.
I was feeling a starlet, which she had aspirations of being a starlet. And also the Black Dahlia connection. The famous, famous Elizabeth Short murder. They called her the Black Dahlia. It happened a few years after Georgette's murder in 1947.
Now I have to tell you this. What both Georgette and Elizabeth Short The Black Dahlia. Both of their murders have gone down in history as unsolved. Yes, but recently, I want to say 2016. I was reading an article in the New York Times online.
Stop it.
Called spell checking a serial killer.
This guy Steve Hodel, best selling author who wrote about the Black Dahlia.
[01:08:47] Speaker B: Stop it.
[01:08:49] Speaker A: He analyzed the letter that we were looking at. The typewritten letter from Georgette's. Yeah. From Georgette's murder case. There was another letter in the Black Dahlia case.
[01:09:01] Speaker B: Stop it.
[01:09:02] Speaker A: Yes. And he was analyzing it with an English professor. And there were certain.
Certain commonalities between the two.
And it's this guy Steve Hodel's opinion that these two murders are linked a hundred percent.
[01:09:20] Speaker B: Holy so doom.
[01:09:25] Speaker A: That is crazy.
Kidding me.
That is a ridiculous sound effect.
[01:09:33] Speaker B: Sorry. It was a bounce.
[01:09:35] Speaker A: It was a boink. It was a boink.
[01:09:37] Speaker B: It was a bounce.
[01:09:38] Speaker A: Why did you boink me right now?
[01:09:40] Speaker B: I would never boink you. My God. Give you a chance.
[01:09:43] Speaker A: Anyway. Wow. That is crazy.
[01:09:48] Speaker B: It was a good find.
[01:09:49] Speaker A: It was a good find. It was a great story. I feel bad for Georgette.
We still don't have closure. We still don't know who did it. But the fact that.
You know what kind of sucks about this Black Dahlia?
So freaking famous.
So famous. Why isn't Georgette's story as famous? I don't get it.
[01:10:10] Speaker B: Her family.
[01:10:11] Speaker A: Because her family didn't want people talking about her.
[01:10:14] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Protected her legacy. And we don't know the victimology of Elizabeth Short. Right. Elizabeth Smart.
[01:10:21] Speaker A: Short.
[01:10:22] Speaker B: Short.
[01:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:23] Speaker B: We don't know the victimology of her.
[01:10:25] Speaker A: So are we going to talk about the Black Dahlia on our detours? Can we do that? Because that is another.
Another creepy.
Creepy murder. Okay.
[01:10:35] Speaker B: We can do that. All right. But we have to bring up Patty Hearst. Because we brought up Patty Hearst.
[01:10:40] Speaker A: You talk about Patty Hearst.
[01:10:41] Speaker B: She's a rich girl.
[01:10:42] Speaker A: Talk about she's gone too far. Because it really doesn't matter.
[01:10:47] Speaker B: Anyway.
[01:10:49] Speaker A: Thank you, Holland.
[01:10:50] Speaker B: Rely on.
[01:10:51] Speaker A: On her old man's money.
[01:10:56] Speaker B: Great.
[01:10:56] Speaker A: All right. Thank you, Jill.
[01:10:59] Speaker B: Thank you. And I hope everyone took care. Why we listen. Why they listened. Because this was a hard one to get through. And we hope.
We hope we did it justice.
[01:11:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And we'll put a trigger warning at the beginning.
[01:11:11] Speaker B: I don't know how to do it for the video.
[01:11:13] Speaker A: We will not. And just hope that people will.
[01:11:17] Speaker B: Will listen.
[01:11:18] Speaker A: Care responsibly.
[01:11:20] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. All right. Love you.
[01:11:24] Speaker A: Bye.
[01:11:25] Speaker B: Love you. Bye. Oh my God. Jennifer.
[01:11:27] Speaker A: What? Oh.
[01:11:28] Speaker B: Oh, Please check us
[email protected] we are still giving readings and serving as mentors to the public. My beautiful sister Jennifer does that. And please reach out to us@commonmysticsmail.
Also follow us on our social medias.
We were told recently that we suck at social media. So now I'm trying to.
Yeah, I'm trying to boost our visibility. So please follow along at Common Mystics Pod.
So there's that.
Great.
[01:12:03] Speaker A: Thanks for that, Jill.
[01:12:04] Speaker B: Thanks. Love you.
[01:12:05] Speaker A: Love you.
[01:12:06] Speaker B: Bye Bye. This has been a common mystic Media Production editing done by Yokai Audio, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
