My TiVo's already full. I think the full and fun summer sessions are to blame for me not thirsting for new things to add to my season passes. Of course I want to watch SpyDaddy and Gina Torres. But I just finished The 4400 and Dead Zone, and there's still the finale of Closer to watch. Meanwhile, Eureka's going strong.

No thirst.

Ah, sorry. In head I had a coherent point, which on review I didn't express very clearly, and then confusion reigned. Really, I'm just saying that to me it's more of a "once-notorious" case than something everyone today would recognize. I do suspect that slightly more people would recognize "Zodiac Killer," if only because it's more recent.

At least, I think that was my point. Lord knows.

Tonight's lesson is, I shouldn't rewrite my posts so much. Especially when it's late.

I don't think I've ever heard of the Zodiac Killer, but I came at this all bass ackwards. But assuming more people have heard of him/her, it's separate for me, since it's about the killer and not the killed.

I think.

Jack the Ripper is notorious--I bet many people who've heard of him couldn't tell you how many people he killed, or what the profession was.

People would know Jack the Ripper killed someone but not know it was a bunch of prostitutes? That would surprise me.

OK, here's a question: In the ads for the Black Dahlia movie, they keep qualifying everything with "in California history." What more notorious unsolved murder is there elsewhere in the country?

My own choice has Hollywood ties--Bob Crane's murder. More sex, less noir.

There was a goofy book a few years ago that claimed that Orson Welles was the Black Dahlia killer. He apparently was acquainted with the victim, and he had this fascination with stage magic; hence the sawing in half .

My own choice has Hollywood ties--Bob Crane's murder. More sex, less noir.

I was thinking about that while catching up with the thread, Cashmere.

There was a goofy book a few years ago that claimed that Orson Welles was the Black Dahlia killer. He apparently was acquainted with the victim, and he had this fascination with stage magic; hence the sawing in half.

The Black Dahlia is a sled?

More notorious unsolved killing in California history? Surely Nicole Simpson and that really unlucky waiter qualifies... at least on technical grounds. (Totally discounting the civil trial result, which should only get an asterisk in the record book at best.)

I'd still rate Zodiac above the Short case, what with the number of victims, length of activity, geographic spread. What the Black Dahlia case has going for it is that the victim was a starlet, and in Hollywood's backyard.

What more notorious unsolved murder is there elsewhere in the country?

As another with a twisted interest in true crime, I'll vote for Jack the Ripper.

Another argument for both Black Dahlia and JtR -- they're still able to generate this discussion all these years (60 in one case, almost 120 in the other) years later. And, unlike Lizzie Borden, Nicole Simpson, et al., they're genuinely unsolved as opposed to "the one we're sure is the real killer got off."

Bob Crane gets points for sensationalism but isn't remembered as well.

That would surprise me.

I have given up on a lot of surprise.

What more notorious unsolved murder is there elsewhere in the country?

As another with a twisted interest in true crime, I'll vote for Jack the Ripper.

See? Fred even thinks Jack the Ripper happened in the US.

Kidding!