My Dark Places

5

He investigation continued.

Hallinen and Lawton worked it full-time. Jim Bruton stayed on board. Godfrey and Vickers moved on to fresh assignments.

The L.A. papers ran the sketch of the suspect and dropped the story cold. The redhead never clicked as a victim. The Lana Turner/Cheryl Crane/Johnny Stompanato case hogged all the headlines.

Hallinen and Lawton habituated the Desert Inn. They talked to regular patrons and people passing through. They got no solid leads. They hit the other bars around Five Points repeatedly. They tapped out everywhere.

The El Monte PD kept the pressure on. Patrol units rode with the sketch and a snapshot of the victim. Local awareness ran high.

The PD logged a tip on Thursday, July 3rd. A man said he saw four guys dumping beer cans in the Rio Hondo Wash a few weeks ago. They drove up in an Olds 88, license HHP 815. One of the guys said he had a date with a nurse named Jean coming up that evening.

The tip was checked out. The car was identified as a ’53 Oldsmobile coupe. It was registered to Bruce S. Baker, 12060 Hallwood, El Monte. Baker and his friends were interviewed and crossed off as suspects.

Hallinen and Lawton reinterviewed the victim’s co-workers and located her friends. Everybody stuck to the chaste Jean Ellroy line. Nobody conjured up a ponytailed blonde or a dark man. Jean’s ex-boyfriend Hank Hart was picked up and cut loose fast. He was short and fat and had one thumb. He was alibied up for the night of June 21st.

Hallinen and Lawton checked out recent choke jobs and tried to identify a pattern. One Sheriffs case and two city cases caught their attention.

Helene Kelly, DOD 10/30/53, Rosemead. Beaten and manually strangled inside her house. The victim was old. She wasn’t raped. It looked like a botched burglary.

Ruth Goldsmith, DOD 4/5/57, the Wilshire District in L.A. The victim was 50 years old. She was found on her bathroom floor, partially clad. She was raped. Her wrists were bound behind her back with a nylon stocking. A washcloth was stuffed into her mouth and cinched by another nylon. The victim died of suffocation. Her apartment was not ransacked. LAPD detectives ruled out burglary.

Marjorie Hipperson, DOD 6/10/57, the Los Feliz District in L.A. The victim was 24 years old. She was found on her bed, with her nightgown up over her hips. She was raped. A nylon stocking was tied to her right wrist. A second nylon was cinched around her neck. Her lips were bruised. A white washcloth gag was found under her head.

All three cases were stalled dead. The MOs diverged from the Ellroy job more than they connected.

The Sheriff’s Records Bureau kicked loose mug shots and rap sheets: forty-odd sex offenders resembling the dark man.

Most of the men were white. A dozen were classified “Male Mexicans.” Their sex offenses ran the gamut. Most of the men were on county parole.

Some had left L.A. Some were back in jail. Hallinen and Lawton ran all the mugs by Lavonne Chambers and Margie Trawick. They struck out uniformly.

They leaned on the most dark-man-like guys just to be sure. They found them at home and had their parole officers roust them. They struck out all the way.

Other agencies sent in mug shots. Hallinen and Lawton ran them by Lavonne and Margie.

Lavonne and Margie kept saying no. They were decisive witnesses. They knew what they knew.

Lavonne had three kids out of one failed marriage. She was making good tax-free coin at Stan’s Drive-in. Her boyfriend was a deputy at the Temple City Station. The carhops at Stan’s fed the Temple boys for free—so they’d chase down check dashers and pry money out of them. Station trustees washed and waxed Lavonne’s car. Lavonne knew her way around cops.

Margie had a 14-year-old daughter. Her bookie husband died of a heart attack back in ’48. Margie blew the money he left her and moved in with her parents. She looked sort of like a brunette Jean Ellroy. She knew the El Monte bar scene intimately. She was in poor health and strung out on doctor-prescribed dope.

Lavonne and Margie dug the whole witness scene. Hallinen and Lawton liked them. They dawdled over coffee when they brought mug shots by.

They got a tip that the victim’s hairdresser resembled the dark man. They took Lavonne by his salon and treated her to a rinse-and-style. Lavonne said he wasn’t the guy. He was a flamboyant swish moreover.

More tips came in.

7/11/58:

A man named Padilla called the El Monte PD. He said he got released from the Hall of Justice Jail on June 30th. He saw a man resembling the suspect walk out of a bar on South Main Street.

7/13/58:

A man named Don Kessler called the Temple City Sheriff’s Office. He stated that he worked at the El Monte Bowl and saw a man resembling the suspect in his establishment. Mr. Kessler’s mother followed the man to the Bonnie Rae bar. The man ditched her. The man was dirty and appeared to be a Mexican.

7/14/58:

The Temple Sheriffs relayed a tip to the El Monte PD. It involved another dirty man at the El Monte Bowl.

The man resembled the suspect. The man was wearing dirty tan trousers. An El Monte PD officer found a similar pair of trousers on the street a short time later. The officer picked them up, brought them to the station and placed them on Captain Bruton’s desk.

The El Monte PD had Dead White Woman Fever.

A Coroner’s Inquest was held on Tuesday, July 15th. Dr. Charles Langhauser presided. Jack Lawton represented the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

Six jurors heard evidence. The inquest was held in Room 150 at the Hall of Justice.

Armand Ellroy testified first. He stated that he had no recent relationship with his ex-wife and hadn’t seen her alive in over two years. He stated that he viewed her body on Monday, June 23rd, and acknowledged that her full name was Geneva Hilliker Ellroy, 43 years of age and a native of Wisconsin.

George Krycki testified. He described a brief conversation he had with the victim on Saturday, June 21st. Jean did not appear to be inebriated. He said it was funny—“Her face seemed to be always made up.”

Jack Lawton asked Krycki several questions. He emphasized the victim’s friends.

Krycki said he didn’t know her friends. His wife might—she knew Mrs. Ellroy better than he did.

Anna May Krycki testified. Langhauser ran her through her activities on the night of June 21st and cut back to the issue of Jean Ellroy’s friends. Mrs. Krycki said she only knew one couple—older people currently visiting Europe.

Lawton took over. He asked Mrs. Krycki if Jean ever asked her to recommend a place to have a drink.

Mrs. Krycki said, “Yes”—but she told Jean there was no place she could go unescorted. She did mention the Desert Inn and Suzanne’s. They were popular El Monte nightclubs.

Lawton asked her if she ever recommended any restaurants. Mrs. Krycki said she recommended Valdez’s and Morrow’s. The conversation occurred a month before the murder. Jean never said if she went to any of those places.

Lawton asked Mrs. Krycki if she ever saw Jean drunk. Mrs. Krycki said, “Never.” Lawton asked her if she ever saw Jean take a drink at all. Mrs. Krycki revised her Jean-the-Teetotaler line. She said Jean had a few glasses of sherry in the evening.

Lawton asked Mrs. Krycki if Jean ever confided her troubles. Mrs. Krycki said she mentioned her ex-husband once in a while. Lawton asked her about Jean’s men friends. Mrs. Krycki denied that such friends existed.

Dr. Langhauser excused Mrs. Krycki.

Deputy Vic Cavallero took the stand and described the crime scene at Arroyo High School.

Margie Trawick was sworn in. She described the events she witnessed at the Desert Inn. She said the suspect looked like a man who’d had all his teeth pulled. He was just that thin in the jaw.

Jack Lawton testified. He summarized the Ellroy case three weeks in.

He said the victim appeared to be drunk at Stan’s Drive-in. He said several people thought they’d seen the victim that Saturday night. Their information was unverified. Margie Trawick, Lavonne Chambers and Myrtle Mawby were their only verified eyewitnesses.

He said they’d run down a good bunch of suspects. He said all of the men were cleared. The investigation was still going forward.

Dr. Langhauser excused the jury. They returned with a verdict fast:

“Asphyxia, due to strangulation by ligature, inflicted on the deceased by a person or persons unknown to this jury at this time; and from the testimony introduced at this time, we find the death of the deceased was homicidal, and that the unknown person or persons was criminally responsible therefor.”

Salvador Quiroz Serena was an ex-Airtek machinist. He was a 35-year-old Mexican. He was 5′6″, 160 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. His pal Enrique “Tito” Mancilla ratted him off for the Jean Ellroy snuff. Serena was known to drive a ’55 Olds sedan.

Sheriff’s Homicide caught the call. Hallinen and Lawton were incommunicado. Sergeant Al Sholund handled the tip.

He sent a teletype to the State Records Bureau. They replied fast. Serena had a full-page rap sheet.

One burglary pop. One ADW pop. One bigamy conviction. The suspect was registered as a resident alien and a resident ex-con.

Sholund teletyped the state DMV. They replied fast.

Serena owned a ’54 Olds coupe. His last known address: 952 Westmoreland, L.A.

The address didn’t match the address Mancilla gave him. Sholund drove to Airtek and braced Mancilla.

Mancilla said he knew Serena for two years—during and after his Airtek stint. Serena was pals with two other Airtek guys: Jim Foster and George Erqueja.

Serena was down in Mexico recently. He returned to L.A. last month. Jim Foster found him a pad at his apartment house in Culver City.

Mancilla visited Serena on or about June 23rd. He said, “Did you hear what happened to Jean?” Serena said, “No.” Mancilla told him that Jean had been murdered. Serena did not seem surprised.

Serena said he danced with Jean at a company picnic last year. He said, “I could have had her if I wanted to.”

Serena showed up at Mantilla’s house seven or eight days later. He wanted to borrow Tito’s car. Mancilla turned him down. Serena returned that night. He said he was moving to Sacramento.

Sholund found Jim Foster and George Erqueja on the premises. They supplied identical stories: Serena moved to Sacramento and got a job with the Aerojet Company. Sholund drove back to the Hall of Justice and laid out a detailed memo for Jack Lawton.

Lawton got the memo. He called Aerojet and talked to the personnel manager. The man said Salvador Quiroz Serena was most likely a recent hire named Salvador Escalante. Lawton said he’d be driving up to talk to him. He told the personnel man to keep that confidential.

The personnel man said he’d cooperate. Lawton called Jim Bruton and ran the Escalante thing by him. They decided to drive up to Sacramento.

They made the drive that night. They got a motel room and went to Aerojet the next morning—July 17th.

The security boss delivered Serena AKA Escalante. Lawton and Bruton drove him to the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office and grilled him.

He was built stocky. He didn’t really look like their guy.

He said he got married in Mexico on June 3rd. He moved back to California three weeks or so later. He heard a radio report on the murder while he was driving through El Centro. He ran into Tito Mancilla the next day. They discussed the nurse who got clipped.

He said his wife was his alibi. She didn’t speak English, though.

Bruton called the local Border Patrol Office and nailed down an interpreter. They met him at the Escalante residence.

They talked to Elena Vivero Escalante. She alibied her husband up convincingly. They were in Mexico on June 21st. Salvador was never out of her sight. She corroborated all her husband’s statements.

The suspect was released.

Sheriffs Homicide was a centralized division. It was made up of thirteen sergeants, two lieutenants and a captain. The squad room was above the County Morgue. A stench wafted up sometimes.

Murders were assigned on a rotating basis. There were no regular partnerships—the men were teamed up catch-as-catch-can. The unit was handpicked and elite. They handled sticky extortion cases under Sheriff Biscailuz’s direct orders. Gene Biscailuz shot his top-secret shit straight to Homicide.

The unit handled suicides, industrial accidents and 35 to 50 murders a year. Twelve substations and a flock of contract cities fed them victims. Most of the men kept bottles in their desks. They drank in the squad room and hit the Chinatown bars on their way home.

Ward Hallinen was 46. Jack Lawton was 40. Their styles contrasted and clashed.

Ward was known as “the Silver Fox.” He was a small man with light blue eyes and wavy gray-white hair. He wore slender-cut suits better than a window mannequin. He was soft-spoken, authoritative, meticulous. He did not like to carry a gun and disdained the rowdier aspects of police work. He did not like working with impatient and impetuous partners. He was married to former Sheriff Traeger’s daughter. They had a girl in high school and a girl in her first year of college.

Jack was mid-sized, heavyset and balding. He was hard-charging, hardworking, thorough. If you gave Jack grief, he would kick the shit out of you in two seconds flat. He loved kids and animals. He routinely rescued dogs and cats found at crime scenes. He cut his homicide teeth in the army—investigating Jap war crimes. He dug the gravity of his work. It meshed with the volatile and protective parts of his nature. He had a tendency to fly off the handle. He was married and had three young sons.

Ward and Jack got along okay. They deferred to each other when they had to. They never let their conflicting styles fuck up a case.

The Ellroy case was stalled out. They weren’t coming up with shit on the blonde and the dark man.

Court commitments interrupted them. Hallinen caught a Mexican knife killing on July 24th.

A punk named Hernandez got shivved. Three pachucos got popped at the scene. It all pertained to youth gang intrigue or somebody fucking somebody’s sister.

Sheriff’s Narco logged an Ellroy tip on August 1st. The tipster was a nurse named Mrs. Waggoner.

She said she answered a lovelorn ad and met a Mexican man named Joe the Barber. He was 45 years old, 5′11″, 200 pounds. He drove a light green ’55 Buick. Mrs. Waggoner had an affair with Joe the Barber. He tried to get her to steal narcotics from the hospital where she worked. He told her that he sold marijuana.

A Narco deputy liked the nurse angle. He forwarded the tip to Homicide. Joe the Barber was interviewed and crossed off as a suspect.

The El Monte PD logged a tip on August 3rd. Two Mexican men and a white woman reported it in person.

They said they were drinking at a Mexican place in La Puente. They met a man who offered to drive them wherever they wished to go. He was white, 25 to 30, 5′9″, 150 pounds, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. They got into his ’39 Chevy Tudor.

He drove them to the San Dimas Wash. A ’46 Ford truck pulled up behind them. The driver was white, 30 years old, 5′10″, 180 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes.

They all stood around the Wash. The Chevy man grabbed the woman’s necklace. He said if she wasn’t careful she’d get it like that nurse in El Monte. The truck man did this “I hate Mexicans” number. One of the Mexican guys jumped him. The other Mexican guy and the woman escaped. The first Mexican guy beat up the truck man and joined them.

The informants left their names with the desk officer. He typed up a report and placed it in Captain Bruton’s box.

The Ellroy case was stalled out. Hallinen caught a wife-stabs-husband job on August 29th.

Lillian Kella slashed Edward Kella—fatally good. She said he slapped her in the head once too often. The case was routine late-summer stuff.

Temple Patrol logged in a weird occurrence on September 2nd. It started outside the Kit Kat bar in El Monte.

Two deputies spotted a woman named Willie Jane Willis. She was leaning against a phone booth in a dazed condition. The Kit Kat’s janitor said he saw Willie Jane get out of a yellow cement truck. The driver chased her around the truck, gave up the chase and drove off. Willie Jane showed the deputies a bump on her head.

The deputies drove Willie Jane to the Falk Medical Center. A doctor placed her on an examination table. Willie Jane started to rant. She said, “Carlos, don’t kill her. I saw him kill her and dump her body by the school.”

One of the deputies asked her if she meant Arroyo High. Willie Jane attacked him and tried to run out a rear door. The deputies caught her and placed her in their patrol car. The emergency room doctor thought she was high on narcotics.

The deputies drove Willie Jane to the Temple City Station. She mumbled hysterically en route. The deputies heard her say, “I saw him kill her. He choked her and dumped her body by the school. I saw her face, it was purple, how horrible.”

Willie Jane tried to jump out of the car. The deputies prevented her. Willie Jane said, “Don’t take me back to that school, please don’t make me go back there.”

They arrived at the station. The deputies escorted Willie Jane inside. A detective interviewed her and forwarded a memo to Homicide.

Hallinen and Lawton wrote it off as bullshit.

The tips and nut reports died out. The Ellroy case moved into limbo.

Lawton caught a business-dispute killing on October 9th. Hallinen caught wife-shoots-husband jobs on the 12th and the 14th. A sex creep named Harvey Glatman was arrested on October 27th.

The CHP bagged him down in Orange County. He was struggling with a woman on a roadside near the Santa Ana Freeway. They fell out of Glatman’s car and wrestled for the gun he pulled on her. A Highway Patrol guy saw the incident and made the arrest.

The woman’s name was Lorraine Vigil. She was a pinup model from L.A. Glatman lured her out on a photo-session pretext. He said he had a studio in Anaheim.

Glatman was booked at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. They charged him with attempt rape and ADW. Deputies found clothesline cord, a camera, several rolls of film and a box of .32-caliber shells in his car. They checked old teletypes and missing persons reports and got three potential clicks.

8/1/57:

A pinup model named Judy Ann Dull disappeared. She was last seen with a photographer named Johnny Glynn. The two left Miss Dull’s West Hollywood apartment and were never seen again. Harvey Glatman matched Johnny Glynn’s description.

3/8/58:

A woman named Shirley Ann Bridgeford disappeared. She left her house in the San Fernando Valley with a man named George Williams. The two were never seen again. Miss Bridge-ford belonged to a lonely-hearts club. Williams contacted her through the club directory. Harvey Glatman matched George Williams’ description.

7/20/58:

A pinup model named Angela Rojas AKA Ruth Rita Mercado disappeared—and was never seen again.

Harvey Glatman agreed to take a polygraph test. The operator asked him questions pertaining to the three missing women. His responses indicated guilty knowledge. The operator pointed this out to him. Glatman said he killed the three women.

Bridgeford and Rojas were LAPD missings. Judy Ann Dull was an L.A. Sheriff’s case. The Orange County cops notified both agencies.

Two LAPD detectives drove down to Orange County. Jack Lawton drove down to represent Sheriff’s Homicide. Captain Jim Bruton came with him.

The interrogations ran long. Glatman had his details down pat.

Lawton questioned him regarding victim Dull. Sergeant Pierce Brooks questioned him regarding victim Bridgeford. Sergeant E. V. Jackson questioned him regarding victim Rojas.

Glatman said he saw a newspaper ad in late July ’57. It offered pinup models at hourly rates. He called the number included and talked to a woman named Betty Carver. Miss Carver invited him over to view her portfolio.

The apartment was on North Sweetzer. Glatman arrived and asked Miss Carver if she was free for a session now. Miss Carver said she was busy. Glatman saw a photograph of her roommate Judy Dull. He asked if she’d be interested.

Miss Carver said she probably would be.

Glatman left and called back the next day. He talked to Judy Ann Dull and gave his name as Johnny Glynn. Miss Dull agreed to a two-hour session. Glatman drove to her apartment and picked her up.

They drove to his apartment in Hollywood. Glatman told her he wanted to sell some bound-and-gagged shots to True Detective. Miss Dull let him bind and gag her.

Glatman photographed her. Glatman pulled a gun on her. Glatman fondled her and raped her and forced her to pose in the nude with her legs spread.

They spent six hours at his apartment. Judy Ann did not resist his assaults. Glatman said she was actually eager. She told him she was a nympho and couldn’t control herself around men.

Glatman tied her wrists and led her down to his car. It was 10:30 p.m.

He drove her east on the San Berdoo Freeway—90 miles or so out of L.A. They hit that big desert pocket around Indio. He turned off on a desolate switchback. He stopped the car and walked her off the road. He tied her ankles and placed her facedown in the sand.

He tied the slack end of the ankle cord around her neck. He stepped on her back. He yanked the middle of the cord and strangled her. He stripped her down to her panties and scooped sand over her body.

He got the itch again in March ’58. He saw a lonely-hearts-club ad in the paper. He went out to the office, paid a fee and joined. He said his name was George Williams.

The director gave him some phone numbers. He made a date with a girl and went over to her place to check her out. She wasn’t his type. He called Shirley Ann Bridgeford and arranged a date for Saturday night, March 8th.

He picked her up in full view of her whole goddamn family. He suggested a drive instead of a movie. Shirley Ann agreed.

Glatman drove her south, into San Diego County. They had dinner at a cafe and necked in the car. Shirley Ann said she had to be getting home.

Glatman drove her east. They parked off the freeway and necked a little more. Glatman pulled his gun and forced her into the backseat.

He raped her. He tied her hands and shoved her into the front seat. He drove her farther east and stopped the car on a pitch-black desert road. He marched her out a good two miles and hogtied her and gagged her.

The sun came up. Glatman got out his camera and flash equipment.

He laid a blanket down. He photographed Shirley Ann bound and gagged. He cinched her neck to her ankles. He pulled the middle of his rope and strangled her.

He drove back to L.A. He developed the Shirley pictures. He put them in a metal box beside his Judy shots.

He got the itch again in July. He saw a cheesecake-model ad in the paper and called the number. Angela Rojas invited him over to her studio/pad on Pico.

Glatman showed up. Angela said she wasn’t feeling good and asked him to take a raincheck. Glatman agreed. He came back the following night, uninvited.

Angela let him in. Glatman pulled his gun and forced her into her bedroom. He tied her feet and ankles and fondled her. He untied her and raped her. He held his gun to her back and marched her out to his car.

He drove her straight to the desert. He found a nesting spot around dawn.

He camped out with her all day. He raped her and photographed her. He drove her to a more isolated spot after dark.

He told her he wanted to take some more pictures. He walked her out into the toolies and set up his camera and flash gear.

He tied her up and gagged her and shot some film. He placed her facedown on a blanket and noosed her up neck-to-ankles. She kicked and thrashed and strangled herself to death. Glatman tossed some shrubs on the body and drove back to LA.

Lawton mentioned the Jean Ellroy murder. Glatman said he didn’t do it. He didn’t know where El Monte was. He only killed the three women he just copped to. He didn’t kill any redheaded nurse.

Glatman was booked on three counts of murder one. The cops and the Orange County DA discussed filing logistics.

Judy Ann Dull was murdered in Riverside County. Shirley Ann Bridgeford and Angela Rojas were murdered in San Diego County. Glatman assaulted Lorraine Vigil down in Orange. Harvey was fucked—his trial priority wasn’t essential.

Glatman had two sex-assault priors. He spent five years in Sing Sing and two years in the Colorado State Pen. He was 30 years old and worked as a TV repairman. He was skinny. He looked like an undernourished little putz.

Lawton, Brooks and Jackson took a Harvey Glatman murder-site tour. Photographers, DAs and various deputy sheriffs went with them. Glatman led them straight to the bones of victim Bridgeford and victim Rojas.

Judy Dull’s remains were found in December ’57. They were Jane Doe-tagged at the Riverside County Coroner’s Office.

The tour ended at Glatman’s apartment. The cops examined his photograph collection.

He had dozens of mail-order smut pictures. They all featured bound-and-gagged women. He had pictures of bound-and-gagged women shot off his own TV screen. Glatman said he always watched TV with his camera in his lap. You got some good bonus shots that way.

He had pictures of girls he photographed in Denver. They were bound and gagged in their panties and bras. He said the girls were all alive and well.

He kept his special pictures in a metal box. The cops went through them one by one.

Judy Dull’s brassiere was stretched below her breasts. Her gag flattened out her cheeks and distorted her whole face. Her legs-apart poses were fatuous and obscene.

She didn’t look scared. She looked like a jaded adolescent. Maybe she thought she could outsmart this nebbish. Maybe she thought compliance equaled poise. Maybe she possessed a skewed pinup-girl bravado: All men are weak and easily moved with the right combination of flattery and pussy.

Angela Rojas looked dazed. Her desert backdrop was beautifully lit.

Shirley Ann Bridgeford knew her life was over. Glatman’s camera caught her tears and contortions and the scream the gag in her mouth was holding mute.

The pictures shocked Jack Lawton. Glatman sickened him. He knew he didn’t kill Jean Ellroy.

Hallinen and Lawton caught a case together on November 8th. A man named Woodrow Harley raped his 13-year-old stepdaughter and smothered her with a chloroform-soaked pillow.

They spent a week wrapping it up. They visited Armand Ellroy and his son right before Thanksgiving.

The boy had grown a bit. He was very tall for a kid his age.

Hallinen and Lawton took Ellroy and his son down to Tiny Naylor’s Drive-In. The kid ordered an ice cream concoction. Hallinen and Lawton ran their Mom’s-boyfriend riff by him again.

He rehashed the stuff he already told them. He couldn’t dredge up any new studs.

They went back to the apartment. Ellroy told the kid to go outside and play. He needed to talk to the gentlemen alone.

The kid walked out and tiptoed back down the hallway. He heard his father and the cops talking in the kitchen.

His father was calling his mother a promiscuous drunk. The cops were saying their case was dead. Jean was such a goddamn secretive woman. Her life just didn’t make sense.