Signature goal: 500,000

Public Petition for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to Release the Complete Unredacted 1947 Autopsy Report and photos of Elizabeth Short, widely known as ‘The Black Dahlia.’

The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short occurred on January 15th, 1947, in Los Angeles, California. Widely known as the “Black Dahlia" case, this case remains one of the most notorious unsolved homicide investigations in American history, and one of the oldest unsolved cases in Los Angeles County. 

79 years have passed since this tragic day. No prosecutions! No transparency! No answers! No release to the public! No justice!

The Short Family, suspect families, researchers, journalists, historians, and members of the public have desperately sought a full and transparent accounting of the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Short’s death.

Our organization, ‘The Justice Cannot Be Silenced Foundation,’ believes that victims of violent crime deserve a voice, remembrance, and a steadfast pursuit of “Justice”!

The autopsy of Elizabeth Short is the ONLY autopsy in LA County history never to be released to the public. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office (LADA) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) stopped pursuing the case more than half a century ago. The LAPD has denied all FOIA requests for the case file, admitting they have had no resources to pursue the case, leaving Elizabeth Short in total darkness and silence. 

In a case where the killer is long deceased, and almost all of the evidence has disappeared, been destroyed, or was never collected, one must question, “Why does the LAPD continue to block the release of the autopsy report after 79 years?” And, “Why would the LAPD refuse any cooperation in the research of this case? Don't Elizabeth and the Short Family deserve this? Big questions remain and this petition serves to ask those questions publicly…

With extremely limited resources for cold cases of this notoriety and magnitude, why should agencies prioritize resources before current cases? The continued withholding of the original and complete autopsy report no longer serves a meaningful, fiscal, or investigative purpose to the LAPD after seventy-nine years. 

In the age of new and rapidly emerging technologies, the advent of new forensic methods could extrapolate unseen and unknown clues, including biological evidence, even after many decades.

The Justice Cannot Be Silenced Foundation spent the last five years and major financial resources completing in-depth research for Elizabeth.

That researched evolved into an investigation when a relative of Thad Brown (LAPD Chief of Detectives during Elizabeth Short’s case in 1947) provided the foundation with a clue that had never been made public. During the course of our investigation, the foundation gained the interest of retired LAPD Homicide Detective Brian Carr (RIP). Carr was the custodian and the most knowledgeable LAPD detective of the historical Elizabeth Short homicide file. Carr put on a display of the case file for the LAPD Historical Society to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Short’s Death. Carr shared that the only item of value in the entire LAPD Elizabeth Short Homicide file was the autopsy report. After an exhaustive investigation and having uncovered a massive amount of new evidence, we believe that the autopsy report is the primary key to definitively solving Elizabeth Short’s murder. 

The foundation obtained several sets of investigative files from multiple law enforcement agencies, identified and located witnesses that law enforcement has never spoken with, are awaiting DNA evidence results from a world-renowned forensics laboratory. 

Since 2022, with the support of Carr and a full team of seasoned law enforcement agency professionals, we have requested the complete autopsy report of Elizabeth Short from the LAPD. This request was made many times over a 3-year period and was ignored. Last year, the request was finally approved, and then recently withdrawn. Why?

The Justice Cannot Be Silenced Foundation demands the Full Unredacted Autopsy Report with all Photos be released to the public for the justice of Elizabeth Short!

A documentary team has partnered with the foundation to make this amazing journey public, but we need your help to finally bring peace to Elizabeth and close this case!

Releasing the report to the public would:

• Support and promote historical accuracy

• Promote transparency in one of the most studied cases in American criminal history

• Allow independent researchers to examine evidence that may have been overlooked

• Honor the memory of Elizabeth Short and bring closure to her family, by encouraging renewed examination of the case

Please take a brief moment to register and sign this petition, so we can collectively show the LAPD that truth and transparency are “Justice.”

In addition to signing, you may contact the Los Angeles Police Department and let them know you stand with The Short Family, and demand the full unredacted autopsy report with photos be released. Contact: Los Angeles Police Department (213) 486-1000 | lapdonline@gmail.com or policecommission@lapd.online.

For more information about this petition and the upcoming day of protest at LAPD Headquarters, or to find out more about other cold cases we are assisting with, please visit the production company’s website at www.TaleStorm.com

THANK YOU