Black Dahlia Bombshell: Cops Test Boyfriend’s Fingerprint for First Time in 79 Years — Could This Finally Crack Hollywood’s Most Chilling Murder?

A HUGE development has unfolded in the Black Dahlia case nearly 80 years after aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found murdered.

Cold case investigators are now looking into newly obtained fingerprints of Short’s ex-boyfriend who was previously identified as a possible suspect in the case that has rocked the US with its mysteriousness.

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Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, nicknamed the Black Dahlia, was found sliced at the waist on near a Los Angeles neighborhood sidewalk in 1947Credit: Getty

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Marvin Margolis, her ex-boyfriend, had been identified as one of the 22 suspects in her murder, but now new evidence could provide a link to the caseCredit: CCCOA/Alex Baber
On January 15, 1947 a mother walking alongside her child in a Los Angeles neighborhood stumbled upon the body of a woman who had been sliced cleanly in half.

The mutilated body was positioned just feet from the sidewalk, making the woman believe it was a mannequin at first.

There was no blood at the scene despite the deep cuts, which led police to believe the woman had been killed elsewhere.

Officials identified the woman as 22-year-old Hollywood hopeful Elizabeth Short, just 56 minutes after obtaining blurred fingerprints through a Soundphoto, an early fax-like machine used by news services.

She earned the nickname Black Dahlia for her habit of wearing sheer black clothes and for the Blue Dahlia movie out at the time.

Now, 79 years later, fingerprints are being used again with a breakthrough in the cold case.

Short, whose prints were in the system because she was once arrested for underage drinking, was last seen alive getting out of her boyfriend’s car, a married man named Robert Manley, going into a hotel where she was intending to meet her sister.

The FBI ran record checks on potential suspects, conducting interviews across the nation, but no one has been officially confirmed as Short’s killer.

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A letter claimed to have been written by Short’s killer was sent to the Los Angeles Herald-ExpressCredit: Getty – Contributor

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Photograph of fingerprints lifted from the Short’s body after she was found dead, which were then used to identify herCredit: Getty
Alex Baber, an independent forensic examiner and co-founder of the Cold Case Consultants of America, told Fox News Digital he found evidence that could link Marvin Margolis, Short’s ex-boyfriend, to not only her murder but also to the infamous Zodiac Killer case.

Detective Marty Mojarro, one of the LAPD cold case investigators who inherited the case said Baber’s claim still needs to be vetted, but said it warrants further investigation as he revealed Baber received Margolis’ government fingerprint card from 1943, something police had not obtained.

“As an investigator, if it potentially could help, I would absolutely not turn it down,” Mojarro said.

Margolis was one of the 22 persons of interest identified in Short’s case in 1951.

He lived in Los Angeles after serving in the Navy in World War II and dated Short in the 1940s.

The FBI previously looked into a letter that was suspected to be sent by Short’s murderer, but the fingerprints on the packaging did not match anything in the federal database.

The package was sent to the Los Angeles Herald Express on January 24, 1947 and included 23 pieces of Short’s personal belongings that likely would have been in her purse the night she was killed, Baber explained.

Margolis later changed his name to Marvin Merrill and then to Marty Merrill after being named as a person of interest and ultimately settled in the Midwest.

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Short was once arrested for underage drinkingCredit: Alamy

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Evidence concerning the murder of Short was pictured laid across the desk of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s OfficeCredit: Getty
Any leads with potential can be worth vetting for the Los Angeles Police Department’s cold case team as they “don’t have live witnesses to interview,” Mojarro explained.

Margolis has been suspected to be, alongside many others, the Zodiac Killer, an infamous murderer who claimed to have ended the lives of 37 people despite authorities only confirming five deaths and two injured people.

The case had grown to be one of the most famous unsolved mysteries with the killer’s use of a crosshairs symbol and cryptic ciphers.

Baber previously revealed he focused on the “Z13” cipher, a 13-character coded message from one of the Zodiac’s letters where he wrote “My name is” followed by the symbols.

Baber told the Daily Mail he used AI to generate 71 million 13-letter names and filtered them through pattern analysis of how he interpreted the cipher to be structured.

He eventually narrowed down the names to “Marvin Merrill,” which he then found through Social Security records as one of Margolis’ aliases.

Baber also revealed he met with Margolis’ surviving son, who reportedly showed him writing samples that appeared to resemble the Zodiac letters and had the same phonetic spelling errors.

Baber also claimed when he spoke with the son about his father being a suspect in the Dahlia case, his son showed him a sketch.

“He said, ‘Elizabeth? Well, let me show you something,’” he recalled.

Baber claimed the man showed him a drawing of Margolis’ from over 40 years after Short’s death of a naked woman with her breasts covered in black marks and a “Z” on her left arm.

“Elizabeth” and “Marvin Merrill” was reportedly written in bold capital letters underneath.

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“We have some new things going on on the forensic side of these cases as we speak,” Baber said.

“I promise you, the wheels are turning, and we’re coming close to putting an end to this mystery.”