Aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, was last seen. Her body, mutilated and cut in half, was discovered a week later in a Los Angeles parking lot. The gruesome case had it all: sex, violence and beauty. It has spurred widespread speculation, numerous books, movies and Web sites.

There is debate about which came first, the nickname or the murder. Newspapers said Short received the nickname in the summer of 1946, as a play on a movie title, “The Blue Dahlia,” and she liked to wear her black hair up like a bouquet. However, Los Angeles County district attorney investigators’ reports say the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the crime.