“Dead Women Owned Me” – Survival, Guilt, and James Ellroy
“A cheap Saturday night took you down. You died stupidly and harshly and without the means to hold your own life dear.”
The body of Geneva “Jean” Hilliker Ellroy was discovered at approximately 10:00 am on Sunday, 06/22/58. Her body had been dumped in an ivy patch just a few inches shy of the curb near the playing field at Arroyo High school in the small city of El Monte, California. Officers from the El Monte Police Department arrived at the scene at approximately 10:15 am. According to Ellroy, they noted the following:
“It was a female Caucasian. She was fair-skinned and red-headed. She was approximately 40 years of age. She was lying flat on her back… Her right arm was bent upward. Her right arm was resting a few inches above her head. Her left arm was bent at the elbow and draped across her midriff. Her left hand was clenched. Her legs were outstretched.
She was wearing a scoop-front, sleeveless, light and dark blue dress. A dark blue overcoat with a matching lining was spread over her lower body.
Her feet and ankles were visible. Her right foot was bare. A nylon stocking was bunched up around her left ankle.
Her dress was dishevelled. Insect bites covered her arms. He face was bruised and her tongue was protruding. Her brassiere was unfastened and hiked above her breasts. A nylon stocking and a cotton cord were lashed around her neck. Both ligatures were tightly knotted.” (Ellroy 1996:4-5)
The officers on the scene noted something else, “…the odd position of the body. It looked haphazard and fastidious.” (Ellroy 1996:5)
At approximately 12:00 pm detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene. The investigation of homicide in El Monte city was contracted to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. Shortly after the arrival of the detectives from the L.A.S.D. a deputy from the coroner’s office made the scene.
He examined the body and made the following observations:
“…the coroner’s deputy lifted the coat off the victim’s lower body.
She was not wearing a slip, a girdle or panties. Her dress was pushed up above her hips. No panties and no shoes. That one stocking down her left ankle. Bruises and small lacerations on the insides of her thighs. An asphalt drag mark on her left hip.
…He had the body stripped and positioned face up on his gurney.
There was a small amount of dried blood on the victim’s right palm. There was a small laceration near the centre of the victim’s forehead.
The victim’s right nipple was missing. The surrounding areola was creased with white scar tissue. It appeared to be an old surgical amputation.
The coroner’s deputy took a scalpel and made a deep six-inch-long incision in the victim’s abdomen. He parted the flaps with his fingers, jabbed a meat thermometer into the liver and got a reading of 90 degrees. He called the time of death as 3:00 to 5:00 am.” (Ellroy 1996:5-7)
The detectives searched the immediate area. They did not find any of the missing articles of clothing. They could not locate any tire marks or drag marks. The ivy around the body did not appear to be trampled.
A dispatch was made to the local radio stations:
“Dead white woman found. Forty/red hair/hazel eyes/5’6”/135 lbs. Direct potential informants to the El Monte PD and Temple City Sheriff’s office…” (Ellroy 1996:8-9)
Later that afternoon a woman came forward. Her name was Anna May Krycki, she had heard the radio bulletin and called the El Monte PD. She told the dispatcher that the dead woman sounded like her tenant, Jean Ellroy. Two officers were sent to interview Mrs. Krycki. The officers described the clothing worn by the victim. Mrs. Krycki stated that it sounded like Jean’s favourite outfit. The officers mentioned the scar on Ms. Ellroy’s right nipple. Mrs. Krycki stated that Jean had showed her that scar. The officers sent a patrol car to find the detectives from the L.A.S.D. assigned to the case. They arrived within twenty minutes and continued the interview with Mrs. Krycki.
According to Mrs. Krycki, Jean Ellroy was a registered nurse. She had been divorced for several years. She lived with her son in a small bungalow that she rented from Mrs. Krycki and her husband. She and her ten-year-old son had been living there for approximately four months. The son spent weekdays with his mother and weekends with his father. The boy was with his father at the moment. She had spoken to Jean briefly Saturday night, but she did not discuss her plans for the evening. She stated that she had seen Jean drive off in her car, alone, at approximately 8:00 pm Saturday night. As far as she knew Jean was a private woman who did not have much of a social life. She kept men and alcohol to a minimum.
Mrs. Krycki and her husband were asked to accompany the detectives to the Los Angeles County Morgue to identify the body.
Later that day, Jean Ellroy’s car was found behind a bar called the Desert Inn. The Desert Inn was located two miles from the dump site and about one mile from the victim’s house. The car was searched. It appeared to be in pristine condition. The victim’s keys, purse, underwear, and shoes were not in the car. They did find six empty beer bottles, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.
The victim’s ex-husband and son were tracked down around 6:30 pm, Sunday afternoon. The husband’s name was Armand Ellroy. He was about sixty years old. When questioned about his ex-wife it became apparent that there was no love lost between them. They’d married in 1940, divorced in 1954. When questioned on his ex-wife’s social life Ellroy stated that she was a secretive woman. He that said she lied when it suited her, was promiscuous, and an alcoholic. He figured that her recent move to El Monte was a “run from or run to some lowlife she was seeing.” (Ellroy 1996:15) He went on to state that his son had caught her in bed with strange men several times. (Armand Ellroy was never considered a suspect.)
The victim’s son was named Lee Earle Ellroy1. He seemed to be holding up OK.
An autopsy was performed. The cause of death was ascribed to “asphyxia due to strangulation by ligature.” (Ellroy1996:28) He discovered that the victim was in her menstrual phase. A tampon was in place at the rear of the vaginal vault. He took a smear for spermatozoa, it came back positive. When he shaved the victim’s head he noted that the tissues of the victim’s head were “Intensely cyanotic and suffused with dark bluish-purple discoloration.” (Ellroy 1996:29) When he examined the contents of her stomach he found whole kidney beans, bits of meat, masses that appeared to be carrots or squash, and a mass that appeared to be some form of cheese. A toxicology screen returned a blood alcohol level of .08%.
In his report the medical examiner stated that she had been struck in the head six times or more and was possibly unconscious when strangled. The condition of the contents of her stomach placed her last meal one to two hours before he death. He stated that the meal probably consisted of some sort of “Mexican-type” food. (Ellroy 1996:31) She had engaged in sexual intercourse at some time during the evening of her death.
As the investigation progressed, using witness accounts, the detectives assigned to the case were able to piece together what appears to be a fairly plausible chronology of the events that lead up to Jean Ellroy’s murder:
According to Mary Kay Krycki, Jean Ellroy left her house at approximately 8:00 pm on Saturday evening 06/21/58. She was next seen by a waitress at the Momma Mia restaurant at “around” 8:00pm. The waitress stated that she appeared to be “looking for someone.” (Ellroy 1996:360) She was next seen at a bar called the Desert Inn. Patrons who identified her stated that she arrived alone “about eight o’clock.” (Ellroy 1999:57) She was joined by a man and woman. The witnesses at the bar stated that neither Jean Ellroy nor her companions were ‘regulars.’ The man was described as a swarthy Caucasian or possibly a Mexican, approximately forty years old, 5’8”-6’ tall, with straight dark hair slicked back into a widow’s peak. The woman was described as being white, “hippy or broad across the hips” (Ellroy 1996:47), with “dishwater blond hair” (Ellroy 1996:47) pulled back into a ponytail, they estimated her age to be late-twenties. The patrons stated that both women seemed familiar with the Swarthy Man.
Jean Ellroy was next sighted at a place called Stan’s Drive In by a car-hop named Lavonne Chambers. Ms. Chambers served Jean Ellroy on two occasions that night. The first time, she and the Swarthy Man arrived at around 10:20 pm. They pulled up in a two-tone green ’55 or ’56 Oldsmobile. (Not Jean Ellroy’s car.) Jean ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. The Swarthy Man ordered a coffee. Ms. Chambers noted that Jean was in quite a good mood and appeared to be intoxicated. The Swarthy Man appeared to be sober. She did not see them leave.
Ms. Chambers served them again at approximately 2:15 am. Jean Ellroy ordered a cup of coffee and a bowl of chilli. Again, the Swarthy Man just ordered a coffee. Jean Ellroy appeared to be quite drunk, but still in a good mood. Her clothing was dishevelled. Ms. Chambers stated that she “could see practically the whole breast, (on) one side.” (Ellroy 1996:64) She described the Swarthy Man as acting “very bored.” (Ellroy 1996:65) They paid and left. It was the last time Jean Ellroy was seen alive. The “Blond Woman” and “Swarthy Man” were never identified, despite the efforts of the L.A.S.D. Detectives in 1958-59 and James Ellroy’s re-investigation from 1994-on.
“Dead women owned me”
In his paper Murderers, Victims and ‘Survivors’: The Social Construction of Deviance Paul Rock contends that the aftermath of a homicide is experienced by typical ‘secondary victim’ or ‘survivor’ as “…a continuing and profound problem of powerlessness, vulnerability, and guilt. Secondary victims were unable successfully to prevent the death and its attendant distress.” (Rock 1998:89)
In the beginning, at least, James Ellroy was not a typical secondary victim. His parents had gone through a messy divorce. Ellroy blamed her for the divorce. She got custody. Ellroy’s father went out of his way to poison James against Jean. Armand told James that his mother was “…a drunk and a whore. …she was fucking her divorce lawyer.” (Ellroy 1996:105) Ellroy Sr. was permissive. He fed James burgers and let him make meals out of Cheez Whiz and crackers. They spent the day reading and watching boxing on TV. James was firmly in his father’s pocket. His relationship with his mother was a mixture of resentment, lust, and towards the end, hatred. Ellroy states it like this, “I hated her, I hated El Monte. Some unknown killer had bought me a brand-new beautiful life.” (Ellroy 1996:101)
Ellroy’s ‘beautiful life’ was not what he bargained for. He moved in with his father. He developed an obsession with crime. It started with Hardy Boys novels, moved through Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels, and went over the top when his father got him a copy of Jack Webb’s The Badge. The Spillane novels had turned him on to sex and death. Webb’s book turned him on to true crime, more specifically The Black Dahlia case.
The Black Dahlia case still stands as one of the most sensational murder cases in American history. The facts of the case are contentious, but this much seems to be agreed upon: In January of 1947, the body of a young, white, female was found in a vacant lot. The body had been cut into two pieces. She appeared to have been tortured before her murder. She had been dumped just inches from a city sidewalk.
As the investigation progressed, it was discovered that the woman was a twenty-two year old aspiring actress named Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Short. The press of the time played her as a sultry femme fatale who was, to some degree, complicit (via her lifestyle) in her own death.
In Elizabeth Short, Ellroy had found a stand-in for his mother. He obsessed about the case continually. He transferred the trauma of his Mother’s murder into the Short case. Rock states, “(survivors)…are often beset by recurrent, frightening images of the terror and helplessness which the victim may have suffered…” (Rock 1998:190) Ellroy suffered recurrent nightmares and day-flashes. He would see Elizabeth Short “…drawn and quartered on a medieval torture rack. I saw a man drain her blood into a bathtub… I’d see entrails stuffed in a toilet bowl and torture gadgets poised for business…” (Ellroy 1996:125)
Rock posits that survivors are given to “What-if?” scenarios, “What if I had driven him or her rather than allowed him to make his own way to a meeting? What if I had known more about what he (or she) was getting up to?” (Rock 1998:191) Ellroy formulated his own take on the “What-if?” scenario with the Dahlia murder, “My Black Dahlia Obsession assumed new fantasy forms. I rescued Betty Short and became her lover. I saved her from a life of promiscuity. I tracked down her killer and executed him.” (Ellroy 1996:127) James Ellroy was eleven years old.
As he entered his teen years, Ellroy obsession with crime, especially crime centered in and around the Los Angeles area deepened. Throughout Junior High school Ellroy was a petty criminal, he shoplifted books and peeped on neighbourhood women. His world became bifurcated.
His inner world consisted of hard-core, kiddie-noir fantasies, “…a killer was stalking all the girls I grooved on. Jill, Kathy, and Donna lived in great peril. My rescue fantasies were richly detailed. My intercessions were swift and brutal. Sex was my only reward.” As he got older he graduated to fantasies about fortyish red-heads.
The outer world was framed by school, petty crime, and the realization that his father’s health was declining AND that he was the mirror image of his old-man: “weak, lazy, slothful, duplicitous, fanciful, and painfully neurotic.” (Ellroy 1996:139)
His father died on June 4th, 1965. It was about this time that he descended into a booze and methamphetamine fuelled hell. Eventually he stumbled into Alcoholic Anonymous. He cleaned up and lived out his redemption fantasies for real. He picked up junkie prostitutes and brought them to AA. He tried to scare them straight with stories of the Black Dahlia. He was successful at scaring his way into their pants.
Ellroy continued to run from his Mother’s memory. He used Elizabeth Short as a sort of shield. He took on his mother’s story in a fleeting, obtuse, and manipulative way. He wrote a heavily fictionalized, and partially uninformed account of his mother’s murder. The novel was called Clandestine. “The story details a young cop’s obsession: linking the death of a woman he had a one night stand with to the killing of a redheaded nurse in El Monte. The supporting cast includes a nine-year-old boy very much like I was at that age. I gave the killer my father’s superficial attributes… I have never understood my motive for doing this.” (Ellroy 1999:53)
He wrote a fictionalized account of the Black Dahlia case. He called the book, The Black Dahlia and dedicated it to his mother. He dredged up the story of his mother’s murder as a publicity booster for the book.
He was able to keep running until 1994. A friend of his named Frank Giradot called and said he was doing a piece on old San Gabriel Valley murders. He was to write on five unsolved murders, including the murder of Geneva Hilliker Ellroy. Giradot would have access to his Mother’s case file.
Ellroy’s reaction was instinctive: He had to see the file and write about. It would help stir up publicity for his next novel. Something else hit him, his wife had found an archival newspaper picture of him on the day his mother was murdered. Ellroy: “That picture was 36 years old. It defined my mother as a body on the road and a fount of literary inspiration. I couldn’t separate the her from the me.” (Ellroy 1999:248)
The photo also sent him on a journey,
“I knew things about us. I sensed other things. Her death corrupted my imagination and gave me exploitable gifts. She taught me self-sufficiency by negative example. I possessed a self-preserving streak at the height of my self-destruction. My mother gave me the gift and the curse of obsession. It began as curiosity in lieu of childish grief. It flourished as a quest for dark knowledge and mutated into a horrible thirst for sexual and mental stimulation. Obsessive drives almost killed me. A rage to turn my obsessions into something good and useful saved me. I outlived the curse. tHe gift assumed its final form in language. …She was the hushed centre of the fictional world I’d created and the joyful world I lived in-and to date I had acknowledged her in an altogether perfunctory manner.” (Ellroy 1999:248-9)
These realizations set Ellroy on the path to the re-investigation of his Mother’s death. It also allowed him to reconcile her as a person and a victim. The actual re-investigation allowed him to see his Mother’s murder clearly, to situate it.
In his book, Serial Killers: Death and Life in America’s Wound Culture, Mark Seltzer talks about “a ‘gothic’ rapport between persons and places…” in serial murder. (Seltzer 2000:49) Ellroy does not see his mother as the victim of as serial killer2, however he does have his on take on the “people/places” angle.
“Look at the bags under the redhead’s eyes. Look at her stretch marks. She’s putting that cunt rag back in. She’s getting blood all over your seat covers-
He killed her that night. He could not have killed any other woman. He did not seek out a woman to kill that night, she could not have prompted any other man to that explicative flashpoint. Their alchemy was binding and mutually exclusive.” (Ellroy 1996:350)
Ellroy was not able to solve his mother’s murder, but he was able to situate it. He was able to see how she came to be murdered and how her murder shaped him as a person and a writer.
Works Cited
Ellroy, James. 1996. My Dark Places: An L.A. Crime Memoir. Toronto: Random House of Canada Ltd.
Ellroy, James. 1999. Crime Wave: Reportage and Fiction from the Underside of L.A. Toronto: Random House Canada Ltd.
Rock, Paul. 1998. Murderers, Victims, and ‘Survivors’: The Social Construction of Deviance. British Journal of Criminology 38(2):185-196
Seltzer, Mark. 2000. Serial Killers: Death and Life in America’s Wound Culture. New York: Routledge
References
1 Ellroy eventually legally changed his name fro “Lee Earle” to “James.”
2 Ellroy doesn’t see his mother as the victim of a serial murderer, but it is possible. During their re-investigation of the death of Geneva Hilliker Ellroy, James Ellroy and Det. Bill Stoner (Ret.) discovered a note in the case file referring to the murder of a woman named Bobbie Long. She was found lying on her back next to a dirt road. The bottom part of her body had been covered with a red overcoat. She’d been strangled with a nylon stocking. The murder took place seven months after the murder of Jean Ellroy. There were no witnesses and the case is still unsolved. It is worth noting that the officers who originally investigated the case thought it might have been linked to the Ellroy slaying.
Neddal Ayad can be contacted at: nayad@nf.sympatico.ca
