Mystery Unsolved Inc True Crime

The Black Rose Murder

Reynard Todd picks up a case file titled [The Black Rose Murder]

Reynard Todd relays the information, "Around 10AM on January 15th, 1947, a woman was taking her three year old daughter on a morning errand to the shoe repair store, near what's now the suburban neighborhood of Aster City. As they passed an empty lot on Norton Avenue. The woman recalls, 'I glanced to my right and saw this very dead, white body. My goodness, it was so white. It didn't look like anything more than perhaps an artificial model. It was so white and separated in the middle.'"

"The body of a twenty-two year old woman was lying face up and naked. Her body split in half at the waist. She was oddly posed, with her eyes open, hands above her head with elbows bent and legs out straight, and spread apart. She had been hit over the head and pieces of her flesh had been cut out. In her mouth was a black rose. As gory as the scene was, there was no blood. It appeared that the body had been drained and scrubbed before being placed where it was found. The witness went to a nearby home and called the police to report the body. The witness then continued her errand."

"After identifying the body by its fingerprints with help from the FBI, the Aster City Police Department began circulating a flier in the hopes of getting more information. It described the victim as 'Five foot six inches, one hundred and eighteen pounds, black hair, green eyes, very attractive, bad lower teeth, fingernails chewed too quick' Eventually, more information about the woman began to emerge. Originally from Medford, Massachusetts, the victim moved to Vinewood. Some say in the hopes of stardom. Like many actresses, she had worked as a waitress and a cashier and had dealt with periods of unemployment as she struggled to get minor acting roles."

"It was common at the time for newspapers to bestow nicknames on murder cases. The papers called her, The Black Rose, due to reports that she had a black rose in her mouth. The autopsy on the body provided a chilling glimpse into the victim's final moments. Officially, the victim died of hemorrhage and shock. Marks on her legs, wrists, neck, and right thigh, suggested she had been bound and tortured. The slits at the corners of her mouth were made while she was still alive. She had also suffered a concussion from blows to her head. Reports say that cuts were clean, raising suspicions early on that someone with surgical skills may have been responsible."

"The gory details and proximity to the glamour of Vinewood, caused the victim's murder to become a huge story. Making page one headlines in Aster City for a full month. Feeding the sensation, was the apparent murderer themselves. Nine days after her body was found, an envelope arrived at the offices of the Aster City Examiner. It contains some of the victim's belongings including her social security card, birth certificate, photos, and an address book that was missing a few pages. All of the items have been cleaned of fingerprints using gasoline and the envelope had been addressed using cutout letters taking from movie advertisements. All told, thirteen letters were sent to the police and press, taunting them as the investigation unfolded. Many signed, The Flower Boy Killer."

"There were many suspects throughout the investigation. Its been estimated that hundreds were questioned and cleared. The police contacted about seventy-five men listed in the address book that was sent to the Aster City Examiner. The majority of them said they'd met the victim only briefly, going out on a dinner date or to the movies, but that things had ended before they went any further. During the case, the FBI investigated approximately three hundred O City Medical School students, though, it seems nothing came of this. At one point, fingerprints were found on one of the Rose letters sent to the police. The FBI raced to match these prints with an identity, but the fingerprints were not in their files, so they were unable to find a match. Eventually, the case went cold. After more than seventy years, I think there are three main suspects worth examining. The first is a salesman and former Army musician, 'Red' His relationship with the victim began about a month before the victim was murdered when Red noticed her outside a bus station in Darkwoods and asked if she wanted a ride. According to Red, at first the victim would not speak to him but he was persistent and she eventually did get into his car. For the next month, Red would take the victim on dates when he was in town in Darkwoods. When the place where the victim had been staying in Darkwoods suddenly fell through, victim contacted Red and asked him to come pick her up. Red said next they both stayed, platonically, in a hotel in Pacific Bluff. After which, Red drove them both to Aster City. There he says he brought the victim to the Biltmore Hotel and left her there about 6:30 on the evening of January 9th. As far as the investigation was ever able to ascertain, that is the last place the victim was seen alive, six days before her body was discovered. When questioned by the police, Red pleaded his innocence and willingly took two polygraph tests, both indicating that he was telling the truth. Years later, in 1954, doctors gave Red 'Sodium Pentothal', at one point thought to be a truth drug, that would induce honesty and questioned him about the case. Again, it seemed Red was innocent."