In the midst of World War II, Georgette Elise Bauerdorf was a vibrant and privileged 20-year-old woman with a promising future. The daughter of a New York oil tycoon, Georgette had moved to Los Angeles with her family in 1935 after the death of her mother. She attended prestigious schools, including the Marlborough School and Westlake School for Girls, and aspired to become an actress. In August 1944, she moved into her own apartment at the El Palacio building at 8493 Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood. Eager to contribute to the war effort, the young heiress volunteered as a junior hostess at the popular Hollywood Canteen, where she danced with servicemen and offered them a friendly ear before they shipped out to war.
On the night of October 11, 1944, Georgette finished her shift at the Canteen around 11:15 p.m. and went dancing at the Hollywood Palladium. She left the club around 2 a.m.
On her way home, she offered a ride to a hitchhiking Army sergeant, Gordon Aadland, who was one of the last people known to see her alive. She told him she was in a hurry to get home for a phone call from her soldier boyfriend, who was stationed in Texas. The day before, Georgette had purchased a plane ticket to El Paso to visit him. Friends later noted she had seemed agitated that day and had asked a friend to spend the night, though the friend was unable to.
The next morning, October 12, the building's janitor and his wife discovered a horrific scene. Georgette's apartment door was ajar, and they found her lifeless body face down in an overflowing bathtub. An autopsy later revealed she had been brutally beaten, raped, and strangled. The cause of death was asphyxiation from a nine-inch piece of bandage or cloth material that had been forced down her throat. Dr. Frank R. Webb, the county autopsy surgeon, noted she had fought fiercely for her life; her knuckles were bruised, and her body showed multiple contusions, including the clear imprint of a hand on her thigh.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department led the investigation. Detectives believed the killer had been waiting for Georgette inside her apartment. An automatic night light in the hallway outside her door had been unscrewed, suggesting the intruder lay in wait in the darkness. Fingerprints were found on the lightbulb. Investigators theorized the killer may have entered with a passkey or simply knocked after she was home. Inside the kitchen, an empty string bean can and melon rinds in the trash suggested Georgette had a small snack before going upstairs. Her stomach contents confirmed she had eaten string beans about an hour before she died.
The crime scene was perplexing. While about $100 was missing from her purse, thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry and sterling silver were left untouched in an open trunk. Her sister's 1936 Oldsmobile coupe, which Georgette had been driving, was missing. It was later found abandoned on East 25th Street, having run out of gas. There was a fresh dent on one fender, but its significance was never determined. During the investigation, a neighbor told police he was awakened around 2:30 a.m. by a woman's screams. He distinctly heard a voice cry out, "Stop, stop, you're killing me!" but dismissed it as a domestic dispute and went back to sleep.
The investigation quickly focused on the many servicemen Georgette had met at the Hollywood Canteen. Her date book contained numerous names, and Army authorities joined the search for her killer. Detectives scrutinized her letters and questioned several soldiers, but each lead went cold. Her work at the Canteen, where she often gave soldiers rides or invited them for a meal, created a vast and transient pool of potential suspects. The case was a national sensation, but despite the intense media coverage and law enforcement effort, no one was ever arrested or charged with her murder.
Over the decades, the brutal slaying of Georgette Bauerdorf has remained one of Los Angeles's most haunting cold cases, sometimes mentioned in connection with the later, more famous Black Dahlia murder due to the time period and the brutality of the crime. The case has been the subject of numerous articles and historical crime blogs, but no new evidence has emerged to definitively identify her killer. As of 2024, more than 80 years after her death, Georgette's murder remains unsolved, a tragic story of a young woman's life cut short in the middle of a bustling, war-time city.
