A woman taking a quiet morning walk in downtown Los Angeles with her three-year-old daughter came across what she thought was a mannequin broken in half. But as he approached the figure lying face up in the dirt, he realized it wasn't a broken mannequin, it was something much worse. It was the naked body of a woman, cut in half. His hair was in tatters, he had gashes at the corner of his mouth and his intestines were stuck in his buttocks. It was a very macabre scene. When the two detectives assigned to the case, Harry Hansen and Finnis Brown, arrived on the scene, they took the woman's fingerprints and sent them to FBI headquarters. A match was quickly found. The dead woman lying in the vacant lot was Elizabeth Short, a beautiful young aspiring actress. He had his whole life ahead of him, with nothing but big dreams. Who killed her and why? Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She was one of five girls of Cleo and Phoebe Short. She grew up in Medford, Massachusetts, where Cleo's successful business building miniature golf courses was booming. In 1929, however, the Great Depression hit and bankrupted the Short family. Cleo could not continue to suffer the agony of not being able to support her family. Cleo parked her car on a bridge and disappeared. A few years later Cleo wrote Phoebe a letter saying that he had saved up money to move her and the children to California, but she shunned him, stating that she never wanted to see him again. Phoebe continued to be a single mother and raised all five girls on her own. As Elizabeth grew, breathing problems began to occur. He developed severe asthma and chronic bronchitis. At the age of sixteen, his asthma disappeared... middle of paper... what effect it had on men and he used it often. Elizabeth returned to California again, still aspiring to become an actress. She moved between many places. Staying for free in the places he could. Elizabeth has always been poor. Elizabeth never had close friends but always had company around. The last person to see Elizabeth alive was Robert Manley. He dropped her off at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles so she could, presumably, meet her sister with whom she would stay. Robert Manley said goodbye in the hall and went home. Six days later, Elizabeth's body was found in a wasteland. Elizabeth had been killed by massive internal bleeding caused by blows to the head. Nearly 50 people confessed to Elizabeth Short's murder but all were acquitted. Many people believe that the killer was Robert Manley.