Mother of Three Choked to Death; Body Flung in Signal Hill Oil Field

May 12, 1947
Long Beach

While driving to his post early this morning, oil company patrolman Bert Winfield made a ghastly discovery, just a block from busy Long Beach Blvd. There in the dirt of the oil field was the body of a woman, still warm and apparently but recently hurled from an automobile. The victim’s clothing included one open-toed white shoe, a three-quarter length black coat and a cotton garrote around her neck.

Seeking to identify her, reporters on the Long Beach newpaper police beat canvased local dry cleaners about a laundry mark on her coat and got a name: Mrs. Laura Eliza Trelstad, 37. Soon they had a husband, too: Ingman Trelstad, 34, 2211 Locust Ave.–just a dozen blocks from his wife’s dump site in the 3400 block of Locust.

Ingman Trelstad described his last encounter with his wife for Long Beach Det. Capt. Lorin Q. Martin. The couple had been playing cards with some friends in the late afternoon, and Mrs. Trelstad grew bored. If he was going to play cards, she said, then she was going to a dance. Mr. Trelstad went home to cook dinner for the couple’s three children, Audrey, 8, Janet, 7, and Thomas, 3. When Mrs. Trelstad failed to return home, he said he couldn’t go out and look for her, as there was no one else to watch the children.

Meanwhile, Coroner’s Surgeon Frederick Newbarr made a preliminary examination of the body and announced that Mrs. Trelstad had been sexually assaulted before death. Police called for the public to be on the look out for the missing white shoe, which might be at a primary crime scene. They also requested that anyone who might have seen Mrs. Trelstad at a dance last night come forward to give a statement.

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

One thought on “Mother of Three Choked to Death; Body Flung in Signal Hill Oil Field”

  1. This is, of course, one of the many killings attributed by “Black Dahlia Avenger” to George “Evil Genius” Hodel, who in addition to committing every unsolved murder in Los Angeles (with stops in Chicago, Cleveland and elsewhere) from 1900 to 1975, designed the 1958 Edsel, developed New Coke and treated Rin-Tin-Tin for a bad case of STD from Lassie. He also introduced John Lennon to Yoko Ono, gave Bob Dylan his first electric guitar and taught Nancy Ling Perry (then a Barry Goldwater Republican) to play blackjack.

    Note the incredible similarities between the Black Dahlia and Trelstad cases:

    Drunk
    Elizabeth Short: No
    Laura Trelstad: Yes

    Crime scene
    Short: Residential neighborhood
    Trelstad: Oil field

    Manner of death
    Short: Hemorrhage and shock from concussion and loss of blood
    Trelstad: Strangulation

    Body clothed
    Short: No
    Trelstad: Yes

    Sexually assaulted:
    Short: No
    Trelstad: Yes

    Body posed
    Short: Yes
    Trelstad: No

    Postmortem mutilation
    Short: Yes
    Trelstad: No

    Cut in half
    Short: Yes
    Trelstad: No

    Coffee mug/T-shirt/tank top/baby bib/dog bandana icon and Internet meme
    Short: Yes
    Trelstad: No

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

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