The Grave

Avron Goldbogen or Michael Todd started in the construction business and then got his start in the film industry when he worked on soundproofing stage sets when the pictures changed from silent to talking films. He would go bankrupt during the depression but soon rebounded first ventures into the construction business. After WW II, Michael Todd worked on a new big-screen film process called Cinerama. He then broke off and developed another Widescreen film process that would become known as Todd-AO. His first success was a film version of a popular musical, Oklahoma. His next big hit was Around the World in 80 days, which would win an Academy Award for the Best Picture of 1957. In 1958, Michael Todd was killed in an airplane crash. He was at the high point of his career.  At that time, he was married to the most popular and beautiful actress in Hollywood, Elizabeth Taylor. They lived the Hollywood legend throwing grandiose parties on a lavish. After he died, Michael Todd left an estate estimated from $3 million to $5 million. After his death and internment, a story circulated that Elizabeth Taylor placed a 10-caret diamond ring valued at $100,000.00 on her husband’s finger before his burial.  Anyone who did even a little research about the accident could figure out that Michael Todd hadn’t enough body left for Elizabeth to put any ring. Reporters questioned the manager of the Albuquerque, N.M. funeral home that processed Todd’s body immediately after the crash, and they learned that Todd’s body had been burned “100 percent” and had to be identified by dental charts.  He said, “We did not attempt to embalm Mr. Todd’s body.” A spokesman for Miss Taylor said that to their knowledge, there were no valuables in the grave. After a well-attended funeral in Todd’s native Chicago, the family buried his few remains inside a full-size casket for the show: this was in the Jewish Waldheim Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park.

The Crime

In June of 1977, 20 years later, a lady visiting a nearby grave noticed a recently open grave under the headstone containing the names of Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen and Michael Todd. Responding authorities quickly learned this was the grave of the famous movie director, Michael Todd, and the third husband of movie star Elizabeth Taylor. The Chicago police described this grave as being 100 feet south of Roosevelt Road, just west of Des Plaines Avenue. They found that unknown persons had opened the casket, and the remains of Mr. Todd were missing. They speculated the graverobbers had to do their digging sometime between 5 p.m. Friday, when the cemetery closed, and Sunday morning when it reopened. Their investigation noted the gravediggers buried the casket only about 4 ½ feet deep in the Congregation Beth Aaron section of the cemetery. Hidden by large branches they placed near the gravesite, the thieves pried open the coffin’s bronze lid and smashed through a glass case to remove the remains. Crime scene technicians could not find any fingerprints, and searchers found some digging tools they believe were used by the graverobbers. Forest Park police received no other complaints about disturbing graves in the cemetery. The cops got in touch with Elizabeth Taylor and learned she had received no threats or ransom demands, and, in an unusual coincidence, she visited the grave the previous Friday was the first time in years. She said she had some time to kill between flights at a stopover at O’Hare International Airport. Within a couple of weeks, the famous Hollywood private eye, Anthony Pellicano, got involved. He claimed he received instructions from an informant on where to find the body. He directed cemetery workers to a plastic body bag with human remains inside hidden under a pile of branches and leaves in an out of the way section of the Jewish Waldheim cemetery. Of note, they could see a heavy canvas web belt like an airplane seatbelt inside the bag with the remains.