 The Big Alibi
What does it all mean? It means insane Ed planned the murder of the Dahlia so precisely that he had already chosen the shortest possible distances from the horror to any one of three area municipal airports, none of which are actually in Los Angeles. These are Santa Monica, Hawthorne and Torrance.
Ed clearly must have made a series of airplane flights in order to establish his alibi to the FBI, who duly record the fact that Ed was at home and out of California, early on the fourteenth and late on the fifteenth of January, 1947. Not stupid LAPD probably figured that one out, but without the cartogram, chances are they go for LAX, though I doubt they would have made the a big deal out of the "X" in the day.
FBI File, Page 11; "[Redacted] POLICE, [Name redacted] KNOWS [Name redacted] AND SAW HIM AT [Lenghty redaction] JANUARY FOURTEEN LAST. [Redacted] AND [Redacted] THIS STORE PRODUCED RECORDS AND ADVISED [Name] HAS ACCOUNT AT STORE. [Redacted] IN STORE [Redact] AND MADE PURCHASE ON JANUARY FOURTEEN, NINETEEN FORTY SEVEN...NEIGHBOR [Name redacted] ADVISED [Name] ACCOMPANIED BY [Redacted] LAST [Redact] NAME UNKNOWN, LEFT FOR CALIFORNIA, ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY FIFTEEN LAST, DRIVING..."
He could have used all three of these aerodromes, or none of them. But there is evidence of Ed being in the Torrance Airport area late on the fourteenth. The Times reports on Feburary third that Ed had been seen looking for a room with a bath at two auto courts and a motel in Harbor City and Lomita both directly adjacent to TMA to the west and astride his probable beeline, Western Ave.
I pushed to the summit of San Pedro Hill on the map, for old times sake. I stoved way up the spine of that hill and for my money that's the best nightime view of Los Angeles possible. And a reality check. The place I lived at was west of the ripline, though not as far as the Lindgrin house. Though a hard ninety degrees out of Torrance Muniport would find and enormous nest of cockroach infested duplexes where we were dupliving at the time when JFK magically got his.
 The Grumman Avenger
7:54:27 AM 
|
