Prohibition Madness

Excerpt from the chapter "The Torso Murder." The Los Angeles River was where Ramon and his father Juan worked, where they tried to make enough money as river scavengers to support their family. They never knew what they'd find, especially after a flood, but 15-year-old Ramon Manriquez got the surprise of his life with what he discovered on April 4, 1929. It looked like a promising day to see what treasures the river had brought them. Two days of heavy rain had swollen the river and Ramon hoped he'd be able to salvage something he could sell to help put food on the table that evening. He saw an interesting shape floating in the river near a box. Surely it was a mannequin, though it looked like a body, but he couldn't be sure. thinking someone may have drowned in the flood he decided to notify the police. Following Ramon's lead downstream, police saw the odd object described by the boy washed up on the banks of the river near Lynwood. They decided to have a closer look and were stunned by what they found---the nude torso of a girl, possibly 18 or 20 years old. A horrifying scenario unfolded. The limbs had been neatly severed from the remains, definitely done by someone who knew what they were doing. The body itself didn't have a single scratch, other than the clean cuts which removed the head, legs and arms. When the torso was taken from the water the wounds where the arms, legs and head had been severed were still bleeding. This, physicians said, indicated the victim had not been dead much longer than twelve hours. Who was the woman? The torso provided no clue to the murder victim's identity and police believed that only by checking the disappearance of every woman reported missing would they possibly get a lead to the murderer. It was a daunting task. In addition, parking garage attendants and car rental agencies were asked to report any instances where they noticed blood on the vehicles, and trash bundles that might contain the missing portions of the woman's body were ordered inspected. Police were overwhelmed until they got help from an unexpected source---two young Long Beach boys. On May 18, 1929, two boys stalking imaginary prey along the river found something that put their imaginations to shame. They were in for a big surprise. Ten-year-old Winton Pettibone picked up a piece of bamboo and poked the end of it into what he thought was a turtle shell and lifted it up for his friend to see. Then, to their horror, they realized it was a human head. With the head on the end of the stick they ran up on the roadway and waved it at a woman motorist. Stunned, she loaded the boys and their find into her car, quickly drove to a phone and called police. When sheriffs arrived the boys showed them where they had discovered their grisly find. The boys had found the missing head.