Michelle, she was cut in half.
WARNING - EXPLICIT INFORMATION:
According to autopsy reports, there was quote, "a deep laceration on the face 3" long, which extends laterally from the right corner of the mouth.....There is a deep laceration 2 1/2" inches long extending laterally from the left corner of the mouth." (Those who witnessed the body lying in the ditch said that it appeared Short was smiling.) Severe bruising was present in several places on Short's head and neck, and there were also several small cuts on her upper lip. However, the hyoid bone was intact and there was no evidence of trauma near the thyroid glands or trachea, which would be indicative of strangulation. Multiple cuts and scratches also marked her chest, torso, and arms. A small, square shaped piece of skin was missing from her thigh - it was later found shoved far into her vagina, along with a fair amount of grass. For whatever reason, her killer or killers had cut off the small rose tattoo on her thigh and placed it inside her body. It also appeared that Short had been brutally sodomized post-mortem. Her stomach was also filled with quote "greenish brown granular matter, mostly feces and other particles that could not be identified." Perhaps surprisingly, there was no precense of sperm anywhere on her body.
Elizabeth Short was no doubt subjected to some form of torture before and after she died, as brusing only occurs in the living. In the end, the injuries to her face and head were listed as the cause of death. Her injuries display obvious signs of overkill...the cuts to the face and head injuries are hallmarks of overkill. The extent of her injuries could mean one of two things: Elizabeth Short was killed by someone who knew her, someone close to her, in a fit of rage. (Overkill is often present in crimes where the killer and victim are close to one another, as are injuries to the face and head, and other forms of mutilation.) On the other hand, her killer may have been a psychopath who chose her as his next victim. But if this were true, the murder of Elizabeth Short would not be such a person's first victim. It takes years of festering madness to reach the level of brutality achieved in her death. Serial killers evolve over time and modify how they kill. If an act gives them gratification, they will build on that. If a roaming killer murdered Elizabeth Short, this was no fledging criminal.
MORE AT:
http://members.tripod.com/~VanessaWest/elizabeth.html
but the whole time I was reading this book, I felt like not only was Hodel trying to convince me that his dad was the killer but felt like he was also trying to convince himself. 
