In October 1949, aspiring Hollywood actress Jean Spangler left her Los Angeles apartment and never returned. Despite a major police investigation and decades of speculation,Jean Spangler was never found. In this episode, we examine the evidence behind one of Hollywood’s most enduring unsolved disappearances.

Source Materials

Lewis, Jon. Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles. University of California Press, 2017.

Charles River Editors. The Disappearance of Jean Spangler: The History of One of Hollywood’s Most Enduring Mysteries. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016.

Gilmore, John. Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder. Amok Books, revised edition.

Lyons, Arthur. “The Mysterious Disappearance of Jean Spangler.” Palm Springs Life.

Patmore, Neil. “Inside The Haunting Hollywood Mystery Of Aspiring Actress Jean Spangler’s Disappearance.” All That’s Interesting.

Contemporary reporting from the Los Angeles Times archive.