Dancer, Model, Actress, and Murder Victim. Born Jean Elizabeth Spangler to Florence M. Morris and Cecil M. Spangler. Jean attended and graduated from Franklin High School in Los Angeles in 1941. She then took a job working as a model for a local clothing firm.
In 1942, she met and married manufacturer Dexter Benner and together they had one daughter, Christine Louise. They divorced in 1946 and began a long custody battle over their daughter, until Jean was awarded custody in 1948. Sultry and statuesque, Jean, a divorced mother and nightclub dancer now living with her mother, struggled as a single parent and tried to make it as an actress. She began working as an extra and in bit-parts, for movies and early television. She appeared in eight uncredited roles; "The Miracle of the Bells", "Mummy's Dummies", "When My Baby Smiles at Me", "Chicken Every Sunday", "Young Man with a Horn", "Wabash Avenue", "Champagne for Caesar", and finally in "The Petty Girl" released after her disappearance. On October 7, 1949, when she was 3 months pregnant, she left her home in Los Angeles around 5:00 p.m. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said that she appeared to be waiting for someone. She was never seen again. Two days later, on October 9, Jean's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm. A note was found in her purse that read: "Kirk, Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away." Jean had recently completed filming a bit part in the film "Young Man with a Horn" starring Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas who was vacationing in Palm Springs when he heard about the disappearance, called police and told them he was not the "Kirk" mentioned in the note. Police cleared Douglas and Jean's former husband Dexter as suspects and ruled out robbery as a motive. Recently, more clear and convincing evidence gathered by retired Los Angeles Police Detective and crime author, Steve Hodel, indicates that Jean had more then likely become yet another victim of the "Black Dahlia" prime murder suspect, Dr. George Hodel, who was involved with a secret illegal abortion ring operating in the area at the time. In 2013 and 2014, a cadaver dog was called in to help investigate and conduct a forensic search of Dr. Hodel's former residence the at the Sowden/Franklin House on Franklin Avenue, in Hollywood. Interior and exterior searches of that residence were conducted and the dog "alerted" to the smell of human remains. Soil samples were recovered. Later analysis of these samples by a highly respected forensic anthropologist showed they were positive and "specific for human remains." Jean's parents purchased the gravesite next them, in the hopes that her remains might someday be located and laid to rest next to them. (Bio by: Jay Lance)
In 1942, she met and married manufacturer Dexter Benner and together they had one daughter, Christine Louise. They divorced in 1946 and began a long custody battle over their daughter, until Jean was awarded custody in 1948. Sultry and statuesque, Jean, a divorced mother and nightclub dancer now living with her mother, struggled as a single parent and tried to make it as an actress. She began working as an extra and in bit-parts, for movies and early television. She appeared in eight uncredited roles; "The Miracle of the Bells", "Mummy's Dummies", "When My Baby Smiles at Me", "Chicken Every Sunday", "Young Man with a Horn", "Wabash Avenue", "Champagne for Caesar", and finally in "The Petty Girl" released after her disappearance. On October 7, 1949, when she was 3 months pregnant, she left her home in Los Angeles around 5:00 p.m. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said that she appeared to be waiting for someone. She was never seen again. Two days later, on October 9, Jean's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm. A note was found in her purse that read: "Kirk, Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away." Jean had recently completed filming a bit part in the film "Young Man with a Horn" starring Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas who was vacationing in Palm Springs when he heard about the disappearance, called police and told them he was not the "Kirk" mentioned in the note. Police cleared Douglas and Jean's former husband Dexter as suspects and ruled out robbery as a motive. Recently, more clear and convincing evidence gathered by retired Los Angeles Police Detective and crime author, Steve Hodel, indicates that Jean had more then likely become yet another victim of the "Black Dahlia" prime murder suspect, Dr. George Hodel, who was involved with a secret illegal abortion ring operating in the area at the time. In 2013 and 2014, a cadaver dog was called in to help investigate and conduct a forensic search of Dr. Hodel's former residence the at the Sowden/Franklin House on Franklin Avenue, in Hollywood. Interior and exterior searches of that residence were conducted and the dog "alerted" to the smell of human remains. Soil samples were recovered. Later analysis of these samples by a highly respected forensic anthropologist showed they were positive and "specific for human remains." Jean's parents purchased the gravesite next them, in the hopes that her remains might someday be located and laid to rest next to them. (Bio by: Jay Lance)
Dancer, Model, Actress, and Murder Victim. Born Jean Elizabeth Spangler to Florence M. Morris and Cecil M. Spangler. Jean attended and graduated from Franklin High School in Los Angeles in 1941. She then took a job working as a model for a local clothing firm.
In 1942, she met and married manufacturer Dexter Benner and together they had one daughter, Christine Louise. They divorced in 1946 and began a long custody battle over their daughter, until Jean was awarded custody in 1948. Sultry and statuesque, Jean, a divorced mother and nightclub dancer now living with her mother, struggled as a single parent and tried to make it as an actress. She began working as an extra and in bit-parts, for movies and early television. She appeared in eight uncredited roles; "The Miracle of the Bells", "Mummy's Dummies", "When My Baby Smiles at Me", "Chicken Every Sunday", "Young Man with a Horn", "Wabash Avenue", "Champagne for Caesar", and finally in "The Petty Girl" released after her disappearance. On October 7, 1949, when she was 3 months pregnant, she left her home in Los Angeles around 5:00 p.m. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said that she appeared to be waiting for someone. She was never seen again. Two days later, on October 9, Jean's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm. A note was found in her purse that read: "Kirk, Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away." Jean had recently completed filming a bit part in the film "Young Man with a Horn" starring Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas who was vacationing in Palm Springs when he heard about the disappearance, called police and told them he was not the "Kirk" mentioned in the note. Police cleared Douglas and Jean's former husband Dexter as suspects and ruled out robbery as a motive. Recently, more clear and convincing evidence gathered by retired Los Angeles Police Detective and crime author, Steve Hodel, indicates that Jean had more then likely become yet another victim of the "Black Dahlia" prime murder suspect, Dr. George Hodel, who was involved with a secret illegal abortion ring operating in the area at the time. In 2013 and 2014, a cadaver dog was called in to help investigate and conduct a forensic search of Dr. Hodel's former residence the at the Sowden/Franklin House on Franklin Avenue, in Hollywood. Interior and exterior searches of that residence were conducted and the dog "alerted" to the smell of human remains. Soil samples were recovered. Later analysis of these samples by a highly respected forensic anthropologist showed they were positive and "specific for human remains." Jean's parents purchased the gravesite next them, in the hopes that her remains might someday be located and laid to rest next to them. (Bio by: Jay Lance)
In 1942, she met and married manufacturer Dexter Benner and together they had one daughter, Christine Louise. They divorced in 1946 and began a long custody battle over their daughter, until Jean was awarded custody in 1948. Sultry and statuesque, Jean, a divorced mother and nightclub dancer now living with her mother, struggled as a single parent and tried to make it as an actress. She began working as an extra and in bit-parts, for movies and early television. She appeared in eight uncredited roles; "The Miracle of the Bells", "Mummy's Dummies", "When My Baby Smiles at Me", "Chicken Every Sunday", "Young Man with a Horn", "Wabash Avenue", "Champagne for Caesar", and finally in "The Petty Girl" released after her disappearance. On October 7, 1949, when she was 3 months pregnant, she left her home in Los Angeles around 5:00 p.m. The last person to see her was a clerk in a store near her home, who said that she appeared to be waiting for someone. She was never seen again. Two days later, on October 9, Jean's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, with both of the straps on one side torn loose as if it had been ripped from her arm. A note was found in her purse that read: "Kirk, Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away." Jean had recently completed filming a bit part in the film "Young Man with a Horn" starring Kirk Douglas. Mr. Douglas who was vacationing in Palm Springs when he heard about the disappearance, called police and told them he was not the "Kirk" mentioned in the note. Police cleared Douglas and Jean's former husband Dexter as suspects and ruled out robbery as a motive. Recently, more clear and convincing evidence gathered by retired Los Angeles Police Detective and crime author, Steve Hodel, indicates that Jean had more then likely become yet another victim of the "Black Dahlia" prime murder suspect, Dr. George Hodel, who was involved with a secret illegal abortion ring operating in the area at the time. In 2013 and 2014, a cadaver dog was called in to help investigate and conduct a forensic search of Dr. Hodel's former residence the at the Sowden/Franklin House on Franklin Avenue, in Hollywood. Interior and exterior searches of that residence were conducted and the dog "alerted" to the smell of human remains. Soil samples were recovered. Later analysis of these samples by a highly respected forensic anthropologist showed they were positive and "specific for human remains." Jean's parents purchased the gravesite next them, in the hopes that her remains might someday be located and laid to rest next to them. (Bio by: Jay Lance)
