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Real Crimes: A Marriage Made In Heaven

Real Crime Stories of 1947 Los Angeles that Inspired L.A. Noire Cases

In the L.A. Noire Traffic desk case, "A Marriage Made in Heaven", a man is found dead in the street - the apparent victim of a hit and run. A case inspired by the true story surrounding the death of Jay Dee Chitwood in 1944.

Presenting the real crime story that inspired L.A. Noire's "A Marriage Made in Heaven" Traffic desk case.

On August 10th 1944, Los Angeles county resident Jay Dee Chitwood was found killed at the corner of 203rd St and Western Avenue in Torrance (203rd has since been renamed Del Amo Blvd). Upon examining the body and scene, traffic detectives concluded that Chitwood was the fatal victim of an apparent hit-and-run.

In response to this traffic death, local Torrance City Council lawmakers sought to improve pedestrian safety in the area by constructing new sidewalks. Area newspapers reported that without those paths, many local residents of new housing developments and trailer parks in the surrounding neighborhood had been forced to walk on the highways putting themselves in danger.

A sad and unfortunate case indeed, but it appeared to at least have led to an improvement in local safety to prevent future accidents. Jay Dee was laid to rest - and his widow, Helen thereafter remarried and re-settled down again in San Pedro.

Fast forward about two and a half years later to January 1947.

Local detectives are alerted to a tip from a male friend of Helen's that she had suddenly related a quite shocking tale. The apparent revelation being that counter to how things originally seemed that fateful August night, it was no hit-and-run case at all.

San Pedro detectives stated to the news media that Mrs. Chitwood confessed to having stabbed her husband following an argument they had that night in the street near 203rd and Western Ave, jabbing him twice in the chest with a knife. As he fell, the story goes, he was struck by a passing car.

The surprised detectives subsequently booked Helen on suspicion of murder pending a new full investigation. Quite a wrinkle in a seemingly straightforward traffic accident case.

But just one day later, the true life plot turned once again.

A revisiting of the original autopsy findings yielded that there was no evidence of a knife wound on the body – the conclusion being that Chitwood died of a punctured lung from the impact of his chest being struck by an automobile.

Why would Helen lie about such a thing so many years later?

"I was drunk and didn't know what I was saying and wanted to make my present hubby angry" was her explanation as reported by in the papers.

She was released from custody. And the traffic death case of Jay Dee Chitwood was closed. Again.

They say that truth is so often stranger than fiction, and this odd tale of twists certainly applies.

While L.A. Noire's fictionalized case "A Marriage Made in Heaven" is inspired by this story of a dream wife who lies about killing her previous husband in order to upset her new husband – it doesn't quite play out in the same way.

In our case, is it in the end a straightforward hit-and-run accident? Is the wife in our rendition guilty of foul play? Are there other persons or factors involved? What's that note in his inside pocket say?

Like all cases in L.A. Noire, an already interesting true story was used to inspire an original crime case with even more elaborate turns and revelations you'll have to play to discover...

Real Crimes: The Red Lipstick Murder

Real Crime Stories of 1947 Los Angeles that Inspired L.A. Noire Cases

An element of our "Red Lipstick Murder" directly inspired by this case - the eponymous red lipstick scrawled on the corpse.

In L.A. Noire, virtually all of the cases you'll play are inspired in some part by real life incidents that happened in and around Los Angeles circa that crime-plagued era of 1947. Team Bondi meticulously researched stacks of original articles reported in the newspapers of the day to cull authentic elements of real life crimes that would inspire the in-game cases.

One of those is "The Red Lipstick Murder" from the Homicide desk. Like all such cases in the game, our version is an original story inspired by some element of the 1947 crime. It could be an intriguing aspect of the crime scene, or a particularly fascinating twist of a case, or a surprising lead. The game's writers embellished and fictionalized these real cases to create a thrilling playable story - including in some instances, re-imagined outcomes to real world cases that remain unsolved to this day.

"The Red Lipstick Murder" is based on the real life homicide investigation into the murder of Jeanne French. French was a 45 year old veteran Army nurse who was discovered stripped and stomped to death in an isolated lover's lane type area of LA known as "The Moors" early one morning in February '47.

Occurring just weeks after the notorious 'Black Dahlia' murder of Elizabeth Short, the killer in this case infamously created a stir when it was discovered that the letters "B.D." (along with some obscenities) were scrawled in red lipstick on Mrs. French's nude body. Was this the work of a serial killer, responsible for both killings, and possibly others? Or was it a sick copycat inspired by the Black Dahlia crime? As one would imagine, a sensational media frenzy ensued and the case of Jeanne French spurred a wide LAPD dragnet.

The investigation yielded an intriguing list of possible suspects who were investigated by the police. French's husband, who proclaimed his innocence as the tabloids reported he was abusive to Mrs. French and even had an argument with her the very evening of her murder. The mysterious "other man" who shared a private post office box with her? The unidentified 'dark-haired' male companion who reportedly shared a last meal with her at a Chinese restaurant hours before her death?

In the end, the case remained unsolved. French's husband famously passed a lie detector test in effort to prove his innocence. The other men were proven to be false leads or never identified. Jeanne French was just another cold case from the year of 1947.

Our "Red Lipstick Murder" in L.A. Noire takes some very specific kernels of inspiration from this tragic story, including the eponymous red-lipstick scrawled on the corpse, other similarities to the crime scene, and the suspected husband who protests his innocence. But in the game's original story, the player does close the case. The outcome is one we won't be spoiling for you of course, leaving it to you to solve the mystery this May.

Look for more real crime case stories to come...

An original Jeanne French case article clipping as it appeared in the Los Angeles Times, February 13th 1947

Crime Desk: Arson (3/3)

With fire trucks still on site, Nicholson surveys the damage first hand.

Howard Hughes addresses the press about his revolutionary new aircraft, the "Hercules H-4".

Phelps grills Fred Nicholson for all he knows at the site of the explosion.

Phelps and Biggs have an unexpected meeting with retired LAPD officer Vernon Mapes.

Phelps surveys the devastation from the Nicholson explosion.

Crime Desk: Arson (2/3)

Cops bantering in the briefing room.

Phelps and Detective Herschel Biggs arrive at the scene.

The explosion took many casualties including several Nicholson employees.

Nicholson walks amongst the ruins of his factory.

Phelps and Nicholson discuss the case.