What motive could he and his sister have in badmouthing their father like they have?
His book also makes an assertion the case has never been solved due to a massive coverup on part of the Los Angeles Police Department.
In the piece that I saw,an official of today's LAPD acknowledged that the department was,in fact,very corrupt during the period in question.Also,they showed other evidence (I think newspaper headlines were involved) demonstrating corruption,including payments of cash in exchange for dropping investigations.
Author Gary Indiana, reporter Larry Harnisch and even CBS News have absolutely shredded Hodel's ludicrous claims. And yet, like Michael Moore, he refuses to face reality.
The father was,in fact,on a list of several suspects that the LAPD had at the time.Evidence was presented that strongly suggested that Hoddell paid off one or more investigators and,after having done so,his name was mysteriously placed on the "back burner".
From LA Weekly, July 10, 2003:
Hodel’s half sister, Diane Hodel, agrees that the photos are not of Elizabeth Short. She also says she remembers her father as a kind, loving, sophisticated man, not a serial murderer. Hodel’s other half sister, Tamar, doesn’t remember her father so kindly, having accused him of incest, a scandalous charge of which Hodel père was eventually acquitted. Tamar Hodel is thankful to her brother for sticking up for her claims against her father in Black Dahlia Avenger, but even she won’t vouch for the photos. Of the two pics, which appear side by side in the book, she says the photo on the left “looks really different from the one on the right.”
From CBS News:
Shocked and angered by the LAPD's response, Steve also dismisses the findings of two handwriting experts hired by 48 Hours and the LAPD -- who both said they were not convinced that the handwriting in the killer's letters matched Dr. George Hodel.
"It's my father's handwriting," says Steve. "I don't have to be convinced. I don't need an expert to tell me. I know it as a fact."
Why is he so determined to prove that his father was the Black Dahlia killer? "Because it's the truth," says Steve.
Seems like the only truth here is Steve Hodel is full of crap.