george hodel. >> he hated mankind.nd this was his way of getting even. >> reporter: hodel says when his dad died in 1999, this mysterious photograph he believes is elizabeth short turned up in his father's personal effects. hodel says that sparked an interest in the black dahlia case. and then he saw one of the old letters that the killer had sent to police. >> that's my father's handwriting. >> reporter: he'd set out to clear his father's name, but the more he probed, other things started falling into place. >> i started looking and researching the crime itself and discovered that killer was actually a surgeon. couldn't have been anybody else other than a surgeon. well, dad was a skilled surgeon. >> reporter: the police file reveals that dr. george hodel was an original suspect. his gnome, this frank lloyd wright mansion on franklin avenue in hollywood, was even bugged by police. during the same time period, hodel was arrested for raping his 14-year-old daughter. he was found not guilty at trial. but the most damning