[Janice Knowlton] said that her father had been having an affair with [Elizabeth Short] and that Short was staying in a makeshift bedroom in their garage, where she suffered a miscarriage. Knowlton said she was later forced to accompany her father when he disposed of the body.

Recently, [Larry Harnisch]'s curiosity was piqued by Knowlton's silence after a Nov. 21 Los Angeles Times Magazine article on Hodel. Harnisch began investigating and discovered that Knowlton, 67, had died March 5 at her home. The Orange County coroner's office classified the death, which escaped public notice, as a suicide from the combined effect of five drugs.

After her father allegedly killed Short, whom Knowlton said she called "Aunt Betty," he had her accompany him to serve as a "cover" when he disposed of the blanket-wrapped remains, Knowlton wrote.