CA CA - Jean Spangler, 27, Los Angeles, Oct 1949
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Jean Elizabeth Spangler
Missing since October 7, 1949 from Los Angeles, California.
Classification: Missing
Vital Statistics
- Date Of Birth: September 2, 1923
- Age at Time of Disappearance: 27 years old
- Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.
Jean Spangler. was a dancer and a bit player in movies and on TV. A divorcee, Jean lived in a house in the Wilshire District of Los Angeles with her mother, her brother, her sister-in-law, and her five-year-old daughter Christine. At 17.00, Jean kissed Christine goodbye and told her sister-in-law that she was going to meet her ex-husband, Dexter Benner, to talk about an increase in child support payments. After that, she was going to work on a night shoot for a new film.
When Jean failed to come home the following day, her sister-in-law went down to the Wilshire Division of the LAPD and filed a missing persons report. The police took down the details, but thought that the young starlet probably would show up in a day or two.
The following day, an employee at Griffith Park reported finding Jean Spangler’s purse near the entrance to the park, apparently with most of it's original contents still intact and undisturbed. After a 60-man search of Griffith Park turned up no additional clues, investigators went to work reconstructing Jean’s last hours before her disappearance.
Dexter Benner denied having seen Jean for weeks, a story backed up by Benner’s new wife. A check of the studios determined that no movies had been in production that night of the seventh. Jean had last been seen at a local market where the clerk said she appeared to be "waiting for someone."
Despite a massive nationwide effort by investigators and the over 200 plus individuals who made up the Griffith Park search party, no trace of Jean Spangler ever turned up. She has yet to be found.
Source Information:
PSL Online
meganabbott
Court TV
Palm Springs Life
IMDB
The Doe Network: Case File 436DFCA
Jean Elizabeth Spangler
Spangler, circa 1949
Spangler was an actress and a dancer mainly noted for small film roles in the 1940s. She left her home in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles, California on October 7, 1949 at approximately 5:00 p.m., en route to a farmer's market. She lived with her young daughter, Christine, her mother, her brother and her sister-in-law at the time.
Spangler told her sister-in-law that she was meeting her former husband, Dexter Benner, to discuss a possible increase in child support payments on his part for Christine. His child support was a week overdue. A photo of Dexter is posted with this case summary. Spangler said that she was scheduled to report to a nighttime film shoot after the support meeting.
Spangler's sister-in-law filed a missing person's report with the Los Angeles Police Department after Spangler did not return home by the following day. A Griffith Park employee found Spangler's purse, with its contents intact but its handles ripped off, on October 9, 1949, two days after she disappeared.
A photo of the purse is posted with this case summary. The purse was located near the Fern Dell entrance to the park in Los Angeles. A note stating the following message was found inside: "Kirk -- Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work out best this way while Mother is away,"
The note was not signed and it ended in a comma, leading authorities to believe Spangler did not have time to finish writing it. Spangler's mother was visiting relatives in Kentucky on the day Spangler disappeared, a fact mentioned in the note. The letter's discovery led to an extensive search of the Griffith Park area, but additional evidence was not uncovered.
Investigators questioned Dexter about the night Spangler vanished. Dexter claimed that he did not meet with his former wife that evening as she told her sister-in-law; his statement was substantiated by his current wife at the time. Dexter maintained the last time he had seen Spangler had been weeks prior to her disappearance.
The motion picture studios in Los Angeles reported that night shoots were not scheduled for any film production the night Spangler disappeared, contradicting another statement Spangler made to her sister-in-law.
A clerk at a local market told police that Spangler was in the store on October 7 and that she was apparently waiting for somebody. Robert Cummings, an actor who starred in Spangler's last film Pretty Girl, reported that she told him she was dating a man two weeks before she vanished. Cummings did not know the supposed suitor's name and he said Spangler told him the relationship was't serious.
Given that Spangler referred to a man named Kirk in the note found in her purse, rumors began spreading as to the person's identity. Actor Kirk Douglas came forward and told authorities that Spangler had been cast as an extra in one of his recent films at the time, but said he barely remembered her. Spangler's mother stated that her daughter had mentioned someone named Kirk, but she had no idea who the man was.
A friend of Spangler's told investigators that Spangler informed her that she was pregnant before she disappeared. This announcement led to speculation that the Dr. Scott mentioned in the note was a physician who performed abortions, which were illegal in the United States in 1949.
Authorities investigated the majority of doctors in the Los Angeles area, but the identity of Dr. Scott, if he indeed existed, remained elusive. Police did have one lead into a possible suspect; a former medical student who frequented the Sunset Strip section of Los Angeles performing abortions for fees. The unidentified individual's nickname was Scotty. He was never located or questioned about Spangler's disappearance.
Probing deeper into Spangler's background, investigators learned that she had an affair with a Air Corps Lieutenant named Scotty when Dexter was stationed with the United States Army in the South Pacific. According to Spangler's former attorney, Scotty was violent towards Spangler and threatened to murder her if she broke off their relationship. The lawyer said that Spangler told him she ended the affair in 1945 and had not had contact with Scotty since that time.
Spangler apparently had numerous affairs or relationships with men in the Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California area in the ensuing years. One of the men was David Ogul (nicknamed Little Davy), an associate of organized crime figure Mickey Cohen. Palm Springs had been known as one of Cohen's favorite partying spots in 1949.
Witnesses told investigators that Spangler and Ogul were seen in the Palm Springs area the week before Spangler vanished. Curiously, Ogul himself had disappeared only two days prior to Spangler; he had been indicted on conspiracy charges shortly beforehand.
Twists in Spangler's case continued into February 1950. United States Customs agents in El Paso, Texas informed Los Angeles detectives that they may have spotted Spangler with Ogul and another Cohen associate, Frank Niccoli, in a hotel. Niccoli was indicted on similar charges as Ogul and had disappeared from California in September 1949, leaving authorities to find only his car keys on a street.
A hotel employee identified Spangler from a photo as the woman who accompanied the fugitives in Texas. Customs officials believed that the three were headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, but nothing developed from the lead.
Spangler was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from Franklin High School. She married Dexter at age 19 and filed for divorce six months later, accusing him of cruelty. She and Dexter continued to see each other off and on for the next five years, however.
Their divorce, which wasn't finalized until 1946, was messy and involved a bitter custody battle over Christine; Dexter got custody of the child, and Spangler alleged that afterwards he prevented her from seeing Christine on 23 different occasions. A judge granted custody to Spangler after two years.
Sightings of Spangler continued over the next few years in California, Arizona and Mexico, but nothing concrete was found.
Dexter was granted custody of Christine after Spangler failed to reappear, but his new wife was not allowed to legally adopt the child due to Spangler's undetermined fate. Spangler's mother got a court order granting her visitation rights to her granddaughter, but Dexter repeatedly defied it. When ordered to serve 15 days in jail as a result, he took Christine, left the state and never returned.
Spangler's case remains unsolved; there's been no trace of her since 1949.
Investigating Agency
Spangler, circa 1949
- Missing Since 10/07/1949
- Missing From Los Angeles, California
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race White
- Date of Birth 09/02/1923 (96)
- Age 26 years old
- Height and Weight Unknown
- Medical Conditions Spangler was rumored to be three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, but this has not been confirmed.
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Spangler's ears are pierced.
Spangler was an actress and a dancer mainly noted for small film roles in the 1940s. She left her home in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles, California on October 7, 1949 at approximately 5:00 p.m., en route to a farmer's market. She lived with her young daughter, Christine, her mother, her brother and her sister-in-law at the time.
Spangler told her sister-in-law that she was meeting her former husband, Dexter Benner, to discuss a possible increase in child support payments on his part for Christine. His child support was a week overdue. A photo of Dexter is posted with this case summary. Spangler said that she was scheduled to report to a nighttime film shoot after the support meeting.
Spangler's sister-in-law filed a missing person's report with the Los Angeles Police Department after Spangler did not return home by the following day. A Griffith Park employee found Spangler's purse, with its contents intact but its handles ripped off, on October 9, 1949, two days after she disappeared.
A photo of the purse is posted with this case summary. The purse was located near the Fern Dell entrance to the park in Los Angeles. A note stating the following message was found inside: "Kirk -- Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work out best this way while Mother is away,"
The note was not signed and it ended in a comma, leading authorities to believe Spangler did not have time to finish writing it. Spangler's mother was visiting relatives in Kentucky on the day Spangler disappeared, a fact mentioned in the note. The letter's discovery led to an extensive search of the Griffith Park area, but additional evidence was not uncovered.
Investigators questioned Dexter about the night Spangler vanished. Dexter claimed that he did not meet with his former wife that evening as she told her sister-in-law; his statement was substantiated by his current wife at the time. Dexter maintained the last time he had seen Spangler had been weeks prior to her disappearance.
The motion picture studios in Los Angeles reported that night shoots were not scheduled for any film production the night Spangler disappeared, contradicting another statement Spangler made to her sister-in-law.
A clerk at a local market told police that Spangler was in the store on October 7 and that she was apparently waiting for somebody. Robert Cummings, an actor who starred in Spangler's last film Pretty Girl, reported that she told him she was dating a man two weeks before she vanished. Cummings did not know the supposed suitor's name and he said Spangler told him the relationship was't serious.
Given that Spangler referred to a man named Kirk in the note found in her purse, rumors began spreading as to the person's identity. Actor Kirk Douglas came forward and told authorities that Spangler had been cast as an extra in one of his recent films at the time, but said he barely remembered her. Spangler's mother stated that her daughter had mentioned someone named Kirk, but she had no idea who the man was.
A friend of Spangler's told investigators that Spangler informed her that she was pregnant before she disappeared. This announcement led to speculation that the Dr. Scott mentioned in the note was a physician who performed abortions, which were illegal in the United States in 1949.
Authorities investigated the majority of doctors in the Los Angeles area, but the identity of Dr. Scott, if he indeed existed, remained elusive. Police did have one lead into a possible suspect; a former medical student who frequented the Sunset Strip section of Los Angeles performing abortions for fees. The unidentified individual's nickname was Scotty. He was never located or questioned about Spangler's disappearance.
Probing deeper into Spangler's background, investigators learned that she had an affair with a Air Corps Lieutenant named Scotty when Dexter was stationed with the United States Army in the South Pacific. According to Spangler's former attorney, Scotty was violent towards Spangler and threatened to murder her if she broke off their relationship. The lawyer said that Spangler told him she ended the affair in 1945 and had not had contact with Scotty since that time.
Spangler apparently had numerous affairs or relationships with men in the Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California area in the ensuing years. One of the men was David Ogul (nicknamed Little Davy), an associate of organized crime figure Mickey Cohen. Palm Springs had been known as one of Cohen's favorite partying spots in 1949.
Witnesses told investigators that Spangler and Ogul were seen in the Palm Springs area the week before Spangler vanished. Curiously, Ogul himself had disappeared only two days prior to Spangler; he had been indicted on conspiracy charges shortly beforehand.
Twists in Spangler's case continued into February 1950. United States Customs agents in El Paso, Texas informed Los Angeles detectives that they may have spotted Spangler with Ogul and another Cohen associate, Frank Niccoli, in a hotel. Niccoli was indicted on similar charges as Ogul and had disappeared from California in September 1949, leaving authorities to find only his car keys on a street.
A hotel employee identified Spangler from a photo as the woman who accompanied the fugitives in Texas. Customs officials believed that the three were headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, but nothing developed from the lead.
Spangler was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from Franklin High School. She married Dexter at age 19 and filed for divorce six months later, accusing him of cruelty. She and Dexter continued to see each other off and on for the next five years, however.
Their divorce, which wasn't finalized until 1946, was messy and involved a bitter custody battle over Christine; Dexter got custody of the child, and Spangler alleged that afterwards he prevented her from seeing Christine on 23 different occasions. A judge granted custody to Spangler after two years.
Sightings of Spangler continued over the next few years in California, Arizona and Mexico, but nothing concrete was found.
Dexter was granted custody of Christine after Spangler failed to reappear, but his new wife was not allowed to legally adopt the child due to Spangler's undetermined fate. Spangler's mother got a court order granting her visitation rights to her granddaughter, but Dexter repeatedly defied it. When ordered to serve 15 days in jail as a result, he took Christine, left the state and never returned.
Spangler's case remains unsolved; there's been no trace of her since 1949.
Investigating Agency
- Los Angeles Police Department 213-485-5381
- Palm Springs Life Magazine
- E! Entertainment Network
- The Strange Disappearance Of Jean Spangler
- Wikipedia
- Official Cold Case Investigations
- Porchlight International for the Missing and Unidentified
- The Doe Network
- Native Intelligence
- The Los Angeles Times
- Jean Spangler
- Jean Elizabeth Spangler – The Charley Project
imstilla.grandma
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the_dahlia
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Not really relevent to the mystery but I stumbled across Jean's high school yearbook the other day. It's sad seeing her as a carefree, happy young woman, not knowing the horrible fate that's in store for her. I think sometimes a lot of people forget these old cases are about real people, with real lives and loved ones just as much as any modern case.
the_dahlia
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Also found this high school picture of Christine. She had her mother's eyes
Diane Redfern
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This case obsessed me the first time I read about it.
I think there are two possibilities:
- She was murdered by her ex to avoid the payments. In that case, I think Lynn helped him.
- She died during an abortion (Was Kirk Douglas the father? I don't know). George Hodel was known to had been part of an abortion ring, so even he can be involved.
This case is mysterious, but it's also extremelly sad: a young girl grew up without her mother and her maternal family. A family lost a daughter, and it wasn't the first time: Jean's brother (Sophie's husband) died in WWII, his body was never recovered. TSGT Edward Franklin Spangler (1921-1945) - Find A...
I think there are two possibilities:
- She was murdered by her ex to avoid the payments. In that case, I think Lynn helped him.
- She died during an abortion (Was Kirk Douglas the father? I don't know). George Hodel was known to had been part of an abortion ring, so even he can be involved.
This case is mysterious, but it's also extremelly sad: a young girl grew up without her mother and her maternal family. A family lost a daughter, and it wasn't the first time: Jean's brother (Sophie's husband) died in WWII, his body was never recovered. TSGT Edward Franklin Spangler (1921-1945) - Find A...
USAAF B-29 "Big Poison Second Dose" and her aircrew, Tinian Island 1945.
...In the early morning of 1 June 1945, Eddie Spangler's B-29, dubbed Big Poison Second Dose, climbed through a heavy overcast on the way to the Japanese mainland. Near the assembly point, off the coast of Japan,[near Osaka} the top of the overcast had been breached and the plane was seen flying in the clear preparing to join their formation leader... Suddenly, another plane came up out of the clouds beneath them and crashed into a wing. Both planes disappeared into the clouds below. Air-Sea Rescue facilities were contacted and a search of the area was made, to no avail...
LINK:
TSGT Edward Franklin Spangler (1921-1945) - Find A...
the_dahlia
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The more I think about this case, the more I question if Kirk, Dr Scott and the letter are red herrings.
The bottom line is this - whoever killed her hid her body disposed of it so well, it has not been found in 75 years. So why on earth would they leave her handbag, with such an incriminating note inside, to be so easily found? There's a whole city full of trash cans where it could have been permanently gotten rid of.
I don't buy she was meeting Kirk that day. If she was meeting him, why would she be writing him a note? The only logical explanation is that he stood her up, but then I would want to know where and how, after giving up waiting for him, she wrote the note. I couldn't see any signs of a pen/pencil or pad of writing paper in the contents of her handbag. I would suggest the possibilty she wrote the note either before she left the house (and was intending on either posting it or dropping it off at Kirk's residence/work, rather than planning to meet him), or wrote it AFTER she disappeared.
As for Dr Scott and the whole abortion gone wrong theory, I agree it is a strong theory. However, if she died in the abortion process, how did her bag end up with a broken strap in the park with an incriminating note conveniently left inside? It doesn't fit in. The doctor would have made sure the bag disappeared with the rest of her.
The bag with the note seems so staged to me. It's like something from a book or movie. I would consider the theory that it was planted there by someone who wanted to make this look like a kidnapping, to divert attention away from someone closer to home. Another possibility would be that she taken by a complete stranger in the park and lost the bag in the scuffle, and the letter is a complete red herring.
The bottom line is this - whoever killed her hid her body disposed of it so well, it has not been found in 75 years. So why on earth would they leave her handbag, with such an incriminating note inside, to be so easily found? There's a whole city full of trash cans where it could have been permanently gotten rid of.
I don't buy she was meeting Kirk that day. If she was meeting him, why would she be writing him a note? The only logical explanation is that he stood her up, but then I would want to know where and how, after giving up waiting for him, she wrote the note. I couldn't see any signs of a pen/pencil or pad of writing paper in the contents of her handbag. I would suggest the possibilty she wrote the note either before she left the house (and was intending on either posting it or dropping it off at Kirk's residence/work, rather than planning to meet him), or wrote it AFTER she disappeared.
As for Dr Scott and the whole abortion gone wrong theory, I agree it is a strong theory. However, if she died in the abortion process, how did her bag end up with a broken strap in the park with an incriminating note conveniently left inside? It doesn't fit in. The doctor would have made sure the bag disappeared with the rest of her.
The bag with the note seems so staged to me. It's like something from a book or movie. I would consider the theory that it was planted there by someone who wanted to make this look like a kidnapping, to divert attention away from someone closer to home. Another possibility would be that she taken by a complete stranger in the park and lost the bag in the scuffle, and the letter is a complete red herring.
Frank Smith
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Jean Spangler's creepy vanishing seemed well planned and executed, and the fact that her handbag somehow remained behind is strange ...
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Frank Smith
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... I am trying to recall all the details her disappearance, but agree there is something about the note in Jean's handbag that suggests stagecraft, especially given the conspicuous location her bag was found in.
I always thought that Jean's vanishing likely had something to do with the disappearance of her alleged boyfriend David Ogul. Ogul was a soldier in Mickey Cohen's outfit and the Mickster apparently had good reason to want him to vanish. Ogul, and Frank Niccoli, were under indictment along with Cohen and five other hoods for assaulting a bookmaker. Ogul and Niccoli's testimony could have probably put Mickey behind bars. In any event, Cohen was acquitted after Ogul and Niccoli mysteriously disappeared.
As Mickey may have had reason to think that Ogul had told Jean things that could incriminate him, he might have decided to tie up loose ends by making her disappear as well.
I always thought that Jean's vanishing likely had something to do with the disappearance of her alleged boyfriend David Ogul. Ogul was a soldier in Mickey Cohen's outfit and the Mickster apparently had good reason to want him to vanish. Ogul, and Frank Niccoli, were under indictment along with Cohen and five other hoods for assaulting a bookmaker. Ogul and Niccoli's testimony could have probably put Mickey behind bars. In any event, Cohen was acquitted after Ogul and Niccoli mysteriously disappeared.
As Mickey may have had reason to think that Ogul had told Jean things that could incriminate him, he might have decided to tie up loose ends by making her disappear as well.
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Noirdame79
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It is unknown how precisely or when Kirk Douglas came to learn of the Spangler case, but at the first mention of it in the papers, he preemptively called the police, a gesture that the detectives found odd. Kirk was not an overly popular name among men in that era, but it was not entirely rare either. In his two phone conversations with the police, Douglas offered without inquiry that at first he had struggled to remember Spangler, and had only remembered her with the help of a friend prodding his memory. Once recalling her presence on the set as that "tall girl in the green dress", he went on to say that on one or two occasions, he had "kidded with her on the set", in the way he did with almost every woman working on his films. Without being asked, he offered a quick qualification to the notion that he had been romantically involved with the missing actress - "But I never saw her before or after that, and have never been out with her." As for the disappearance itself, Douglas was quick to point out that on the night of October 7, he was recovering from the flu in Palm Springs.
He must have acted quickly after learning of the disappearance as his full testimony to the call appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 13, 1949, less than a week later. Even more odd, police thought, was the fact that the actor had called them twice on the matter, without provocation. In both instances, Douglas was questioned by Chief Brown, who concluded that he was satisfied with the actor's explanation, but he did not seek out Douglas personally, and the two did not meet.
According to her mother and sister-in-law, Kirk Douglas was the only Kirk that Spangler ever mentioned at home, which was perfectly understandable for a woman who was preoccupied with getting ahead in Hollywood. However, they did add that she dated a man named Kirk briefly, although they could not identify him. He declined to get out of the car in the two instances when he picked her up. Likewise, no identification of the car he was driving was ever made. Whatever the dating relationship with Spangler's mysterious Kirk, it was altogether secretive, and none of her friends ever saw him. Spangler's mother told the police that although she had heard the name, her daughter's dating life was not something with which she pre-occupied herself - "I heard her talk about a Kirk she knew around the sets . . . . but she was first at one studio and then another." If the man who called on Spangler at her home was Kirk Douglas, he went to great pains to avoid being seen or appearing in the papers. This was, in itself, unusual, as Spangler was garishly public when dating prominent men, and no one without a fair degree of clout in a lucrative industry, film or otherwise, ever seemed to receive a spot on her social calendar. In the end, although detectives believed that Douglas had become somewhat "entangled" in the case, they stopped short of naming him as a suspect.
A link between the note found in Jean Spangler's purse and actor Kirk Douglas is not automatic, but his association with the would-be starlet's last film was a recent one, and Douglas was famous for his antics with young women on his movie sets. Did he enjoy such a status in the Hollywood film industry that the LAPD felt obliged to back off from an eye-to-eye interview? One of Hollywood's most notorious womanizers, Douglas was, during his film career, notorious for his aggressive sexual advances. Even his son Michael observes that it was all but impossible to bring anyone home during his youth. Questions abound half a century later about an alleged assault of the elder Douglas on Natalie Wood behind closed studio doors. Above all, he was a convincing actor and might have been watched more closely in his interviews (the police in the Spangler investigation only spoke with Douglas by phone). Well into the 21st century, investigative websites, albeit not immune to a degree of amateurism and rumor, have still wondered about whether "skeletons" will emerge once Douglas has "finally kicked it" and whether, upon his death, the case will experience what one post author calls, "a Bill Cosby Moment". - The Disappearance Of Jean Spangler: The History Of One Of Hollywood's Most Enduring Mystey by Charles River Editors
While he may not have been involved in her disappearance, it wouldn't surprise me if Douglas was involved with Spangler and possibly got her pregnant, or thought that he had. Spangler's ex-husband, Dexter Benner, definitely had the motive to want her out of the picture and was under investigation regarding her disappearance.
He must have acted quickly after learning of the disappearance as his full testimony to the call appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 13, 1949, less than a week later. Even more odd, police thought, was the fact that the actor had called them twice on the matter, without provocation. In both instances, Douglas was questioned by Chief Brown, who concluded that he was satisfied with the actor's explanation, but he did not seek out Douglas personally, and the two did not meet.
According to her mother and sister-in-law, Kirk Douglas was the only Kirk that Spangler ever mentioned at home, which was perfectly understandable for a woman who was preoccupied with getting ahead in Hollywood. However, they did add that she dated a man named Kirk briefly, although they could not identify him. He declined to get out of the car in the two instances when he picked her up. Likewise, no identification of the car he was driving was ever made. Whatever the dating relationship with Spangler's mysterious Kirk, it was altogether secretive, and none of her friends ever saw him. Spangler's mother told the police that although she had heard the name, her daughter's dating life was not something with which she pre-occupied herself - "I heard her talk about a Kirk she knew around the sets . . . . but she was first at one studio and then another." If the man who called on Spangler at her home was Kirk Douglas, he went to great pains to avoid being seen or appearing in the papers. This was, in itself, unusual, as Spangler was garishly public when dating prominent men, and no one without a fair degree of clout in a lucrative industry, film or otherwise, ever seemed to receive a spot on her social calendar. In the end, although detectives believed that Douglas had become somewhat "entangled" in the case, they stopped short of naming him as a suspect.
A link between the note found in Jean Spangler's purse and actor Kirk Douglas is not automatic, but his association with the would-be starlet's last film was a recent one, and Douglas was famous for his antics with young women on his movie sets. Did he enjoy such a status in the Hollywood film industry that the LAPD felt obliged to back off from an eye-to-eye interview? One of Hollywood's most notorious womanizers, Douglas was, during his film career, notorious for his aggressive sexual advances. Even his son Michael observes that it was all but impossible to bring anyone home during his youth. Questions abound half a century later about an alleged assault of the elder Douglas on Natalie Wood behind closed studio doors. Above all, he was a convincing actor and might have been watched more closely in his interviews (the police in the Spangler investigation only spoke with Douglas by phone). Well into the 21st century, investigative websites, albeit not immune to a degree of amateurism and rumor, have still wondered about whether "skeletons" will emerge once Douglas has "finally kicked it" and whether, upon his death, the case will experience what one post author calls, "a Bill Cosby Moment". - The Disappearance Of Jean Spangler: The History Of One Of Hollywood's Most Enduring Mystey by Charles River Editors
While he may not have been involved in her disappearance, it wouldn't surprise me if Douglas was involved with Spangler and possibly got her pregnant, or thought that he had. Spangler's ex-husband, Dexter Benner, definitely had the motive to want her out of the picture and was under investigation regarding her disappearance.
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Noirdame79
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The note was analyzed and it was concluded that it was her handwriting and that it had been written recently, as it referred to her mother being out of town. It's possible she was forced to write it, who knows.
Noirdame79
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I've probably mentioned this before, but Jean's sister-in-law Sophie told historian Kyle J. Wood that the police informed her that when they went to question Jean's ex-husband Dexter Benner the day after her disappearance, he had scratches on his face, although his new wife confirmed his alibi.
Ozoner
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Well now, if his WIFE gave him an alibi, then of course he must be innocent!
Noirdame79
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Well now, if his WIFE gave him an alibi, then of course he must be innocent!
I know, right? Like she had no motive to lie!
AliceInPain
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Not sure if I posted these before. It's what Kirk wrote in his memoirs and it's ugly.
I did some research a long time ago to find out how many "Kirk"s were living in LA at the time and there weren't many.
I also don't believe in coincidences.
But I don't think he was the person responsible for her disappearance.
Her cousin doesn't believe Dexter is guilty, but I don't know how well he knew them, and like someone said, a wife is not a good alibi.
eta: These are from a book on archive.org, a free, online library.
I did some research a long time ago to find out how many "Kirk"s were living in LA at the time and there weren't many.
I also don't believe in coincidences.
But I don't think he was the person responsible for her disappearance.
Her cousin doesn't believe Dexter is guilty, but I don't know how well he knew them, and like someone said, a wife is not a good alibi.
eta: These are from a book on archive.org, a free, online library.
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