1. Jean Elizabeth Spangler was an American actress who appeared in bit parts in several Hollywood films in the late 1940s.
19 Facts About Jean Spangler
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Jean Spangler garnered public attention for her mysterious disappearance in late 1949.
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Jean Spangler's disappearance generated various theories, which ranged from her alleged death in a botched abortion to her fleeing with Los Angeles gangsters with whom she was acquainted.
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Jean Elizabeth Spangler was born on September 2,1923, in Seattle, Washington, as the youngest of the four children of Cecil Martin Spangler and Florence Matilda Morris.
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Jean Spangler had two brothers, Richard Martin and Edward Franklin Spangler, and an older sister, Betsy Anne Shreckengaust.
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Jean Spangler attended Franklin High School in Los Angeles, California, and graduated in 1941.
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Two hours after leaving, Jean Spangler called home and spoke with Sophie as well as her daughter; she told Sophie she would "have to work the full eight hours" and would probably not return home that evening.
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Jean Spangler claimed that he had not seen his former wife for several weeks.
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On October 9,1949, Jean Spangler's purse was found near the Fern Dell entrance of Griffith Park in Los Angeles, approximately 5.5 miles from her home.
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Jean Spangler had once been involved with an abusive man she called "Scotty," but her lawyer said she had not seen him since 1945.
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At the time she disappeared, Jean Spangler had recently completed filming a bit part in the film Young Man with a Horn starring Kirk Douglas; this led to public speculation that he was the Kirk mentioned in the note found in her purse.
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Jean Spangler's friends told police that she was three months pregnant when she disappeared and that she had talked about having an abortion, which at the time was illegal.
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Witnesses, who frequented the same nightclubs and bars as Jean Spangler, told police they had heard of a former medical student known as "Doc", who performed abortions for money, but police could not locate him, nor prove that he existed.
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The theory that Jean Spangler disappeared under circumstances related to a botched abortion attempt was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Jean Spangler had told her friend, actor Robert Cummings, that she was having a casual affair at the time, but did not mention the identity of the man.
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At the time, some newspapers reported that Jean Spangler was feared to be one of several female victims in a series of killings in Los Angeles, potentially linked to the Black Dahlia murder in 1947, given her hair coloring and resemblance to the victim Elizabeth Short.
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Jean Spangler had allegedly been seen with Davy Ogul, an associate of Cohen's, in Palm Springs, as well as in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Ogul and Frank Niccoli, another associate of Cohen's.
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Shortly after Jean Spangler disappeared, custody of her and Benner's daughter, Christine, was temporarily awarded to Benner on October 27,1949.
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Jean Spangler is still listed as a missing person, and the LAPD still considered the case "open" in 2017.