The vanishing of Hollywood showgirl Jean Spangler in 1949 left behind more questions than there would ever be answers for. Born in Seattle in 1923, Spangler graduated from Franklin High School in Los Angeles in 1941, and soon afterwards landed work as a model with a local clothing firm. Later, as a dancer with both the Earl Carroll Theatre and Florentine Gardens, she also appeared as a bit player and background extra in films and on television. Now, over 50 years later, there are those who still wonder whether then up-and-coming actor Kirk Douglas told police everything he knew about meeting the attractive beauty on the set of his film, Young Man with a Horn?

While a key piece of recovered evidence (the note), along with police statements from several of Spangler's friends, would circumstantially seem to link Douglas to the case, he denied knowing the girl or even remembering meeting her until questioned by LAPD homicide Captain Thad Brown, who had previously headed up the infamous "Black Dahlia" murder investigation two years earlier. Though the note would mention the name "Kirk", there was no last name to imply that actor Kirk Douglas was the intended recipient. But Douglas, on vacation in Palm Springs at the time of the disappearance, aroused the suspicions of authorities by contacting them before they even had a chance to contact him first. A steadfast denial by Douglas and his attorney that he never knew Jean Spangler, was met with outrage by Jean's family. Florence, Jean's mother, adamantly remembered Douglas picking Jean up at the apartment on two seperate occasions.

Worried because Jean had not come home or even called, her sister-in-law filed a missing persons report the following evening. On Sunday morning, a groundsman came upon her abandoned black purse laying alongside Gate 2 off Fern Dell Road in Griffith Park, it's carrying strap pulled loose, as if a struggle had occurred. Oddly, all of it's contents appeared still intact and undisturbed. Because Jean was flat broke at the time, there was no money in the purse, other than the lucky silver dollar she always carried.

Among other items found within the purse was the so-called abortion note (in Spangler's handwriting, but undelivered) thought to have been meant for Douglas. And though it is still up for debate as to whether or not the note was actually meant for movie actor Kirk Douglas, it seemed more than plausible to assume that Jean had indeed headed off into the rainy overcast of October the 7th to obtain an illegal abortion while her mother was out of town. Questioned later by detectives, several close friends confirmed that Jean was 3 months pregnant at the time. If the doctor mentioned in the note had indeed performed the operation (but perhaps botched it, killing her) why would he so carelessly cast aside the purse after disposing of the body?

About a year or so before the mystery began, Jean Spangler had experienced a very bitter and very public court battle over regaining custody of her young daughter from her estranged ex-husband, Dexter Benner. Benner, who had been given full custody following their messy divorce in 1946 continued to charge that his former wife was nothing more than a Hollywood glamour girl who prefered "parties to priorities". But the courts disagreed. In 1948 a judge awarded full custody to Jean, citing "a daughters place is with her mother". One year later, the week of the disappearance, Jean began telling friends that she was going to meet Dexter that night, to see if she could collect his overdue child-support payment that had been due on October 1st but never paid. Though this could have been just a cover story to hide the fact she was heading off to have an abortion, it doesn't discount the possibility that she may have intended to meet Dexter first. Benner denied knowledge of any such planned meeting with Jean, stating he had been home all evening and had not seen his ex-wife for weeks. Custody of the daughter was returned to Benner in December, but with the understanding that he would allow Jean's mother to visit the little girl. A very public and bitter visitation rights war broke out between the two, after Dexter began preventing the grandmother from seeing the child. Benner continued to defy the court's orders, until finally in May of 1953, a fed-up judge ordered Dexter to serve a 15-day jail sentence for contempt-of-court. Delayed 14 times by Benner's attorney, appeals ran out in December(1953). But instead of surrending himself as ordered, Dexter Benner fled the state, taking his daughter along with him. They were never seen again.

The Spangler case was to become to missing persons what the 1947 "Black Dahlia" murder of Elizabeth Short was to homicides. In fact, detectives still investigating that ghastly crime closely examined several key similarities between the two cases, but nothing concrete ever materialized to indicate a substantial connection.

Confusing the situation further was Jean's marginal association with gangster Mickey Cohen. Cohen, the former bodyguard of Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, and who was ironically "absent" the day his former boss was gunned down (later inheriting Siegel's westcoast gambling operation as a result), hosted an impressive stable of henchmen. Among these was one Johnny Stompanato ( later stabbed to death by the daughter of actress Lana Turner ), and Mike Howard (who did Cohen's book-keeping). Both had dated Jean in the recent past. Stompanato had even been obsessed enough to follow her to Las Vegas when she was visiting her sister there. Because two of Cohen's men (out of jail on bond and awaiting trial) vanished around the same time Jean did, there was wide-spread speculation that they must have therefore "run off together." While supposed sitings of the group stemmed from Mexico City to San Francisco, police found no supporting evidence that any of the three were either alive or together.

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. Theories and leads continued to trickle in over the years, each one more outlandish and bizarre than the previous. And to this day, the question of what really happened on that October 7th evening so many years ago still looms...and still haunts.

Additional Pages