Excerpt from my contributory chapter, “The Snake and Bake Murder” in Los Angeles in the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine,(Rare Bird Books 2016), edited by David Kukoff

THE SNAKE AND BAKE MURDER

by Steve Hodel

The following is an actual murder investigation. It is just one of the approximately three hundred that I investigated during my seventeen-year assignment in homicide.

The facts are true. Only the names have been changed and the dates slightly modified, to protect the children and the grandchildren of the guilty.

THE CALL-IN

It was a Saturday night in early June, 1974. I was home, in my apartment in East Hollywood. Girlfriend and I were on our third Scotch when the phone rang. It was my D3, Paul O’Steen. An old schooler’s old schooler.

“Steve, we got one. Total clusterfuck, and from the briefing I just got from the Watch Commander, I mean that literally. One wit and three suspects at the station. Get your ass in. It’s a mess.”

Forty-five minutes from call-in to the red zone in front of Hollywood station. I prided myself on getting there in under an hour. O’Steen was sitting at his desk talking to a female with long red hair. Her back was to me.

As I crossed the squad room, I noticed four uniformed coppers, coffee cups in hands, standing and talking at the nearby auto theft table. All four kept stealing furtive glances at Paul and the woman with the red hair.

Paul stood up at my approach. The woman remained seated but turned in my direction. “Steve, this is Mrs. Brandy Dawson. She and her husband were kidnapped from their home in Laurel Canyon. She’s also a witness to his murder. We have the three suspects in custody in lockup. She’ll give you the full story. Better use the interrogation room. You will want to tape this one.” He glanced over at the blue suiters. “I’m taking uniform with me up to their residence. Need to secure it. The crime started there.”

“Started? I asked. “Is the husband’s body at the house?

Paul shook his head as he walked toward the blue suits, “No. His body’s buried somewhere in Arizona. She’ll fill you in.”

I turned to Brandy, “Arizona?”

She gave me a nervous smile, “It’s a long story. I could sure use some whiskey. Is that possible?”

“Only in the movies. How about some coffee?”

The Snake and Bake Murder[311]

THE INTERVIEW

I escorted her to the tape room, handed her a cup of coffee, and, for the first time, gave her a complete once over. She was absolutely stunning. Probably in her late twenties, but had a much younger, almost hippie-teen look. Tall, about five seven, trim, and was wearing cut-off Levi’s shorts, brown leather sandals, and a see-through peasant blouse that revealed an ample pair of breasts.

I noticed she had a number of fresh scratches and bruises on her arms and both legs, and her clothing was heavily soiled with what looked like dark black oil stains. Not to mention her perfume was quite unusual—eau de gasoline.

I turned on the recorder. “Would you state …

…

Steve Hodel is a New York Times bestselling author. He spent twenty-four years with the LAPD, where, as a homicide detective, he worked on more than three hundred murder cases and achieved one of the highest “solve rates” in the force. He is a licensed PI and author and his first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for an MWA Edgar Award in the Best Fact category. Steve has written three additional books: Most Evil, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, Black Dahlia Avenger II, a sequel and an eight-year follow-up to his true-crime investigations, and the recently published Most Evil II (Rare Bird Books, 2015). His investigations, now in their sixteenth year, have been featured on NBC Dateline, CBS 48-Hours, Court TV, A&E Bill Kurtis, Cold Case Files, CNN Anderson Cooper, and the Discovery Channel. Steve resides in his hometown of Los Angeles.