Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood (71 page)

Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine, was protecting the killer. In fact, Woolwine was one of the few honest DAs in Los Angeles before World War II.
THOMAS LEE WOOLWINE PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY NICOLE WESTWOOD

Detective Ed King was a top-notch detective, and might have solved the Taylor case had he not become convinced that his boss, District
ED KING PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY KING FAMILY

Faith and Douglas MacLean, Taylor’s neighbors, in the pergola at Alvarado Court. Faith saw the killer leave Taylor’s bungalow, and her testimony was key to cracking the case.
COURTESY BRUCE LONG

Mary’s love letters to Taylor were splashed all over the newspapers. Rather than humiliating her, the publication of Mary’s missives only made her devotion to Taylor stronger.
COURTESY BRUCE LONG

A newspaper photograph and diagram of the murder house.
CORBIS

A fascinated public tried to solve the case on their own, using diagrams like these published in newspapers. Note that in the diagram of the courtyard
(below)
, the MacLean bungalow should not be opposite Taylor’s but rather immediately catercornered to it.
COURTESY BRUCE LONG

Edward Sands, aka Edward Snyder, Taylor’s valet with a criminal past. Sands was the investigators’ first suspect, and his image went out to police stations across the country.
COURTESY BRUCE LONG

The Taylor murder and the other scandals weren’t just grist for the tabloid press. They also ignited furious debate about Hollywood’s role in influencing the nation’s values.
COURTESY BRUCE LONG