The grisly murder that inspired LA Noire

Not only is a game that perfectly recreates the city of Los Angeles in the 1940s, LA Noire also allows players to investigate a real-life murder.

Rockstar Games’ LA Noire is a perfect rendition of life in 1940s Los Angeles. The action-adventure game follows Detective Cole Phelps as he works his way through the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, solving cases. in five different divisions (Patrol, Traffic, Murder, Cruelty, and Fire).

Gameplay elements include third-person shooter, decision-making, driving, puzzles, etc. The open world map allows the player to explore Los Angeles by car or on foot to visit all the attractions. Place names are inspired by real places from that time period.

Of course, landmarks aren’t the only inspiration behind LA Noire. Rockstar Games revealed in 2011 that developer Team Bondi had “researched a series of articles from the period to gather authentic elements of real-life crimes” in order to be included in LA Noire. . Every case in the game is inspired by some part of real cases, but one particularly notorious case stands out from the rest.

It’s still unclear if LA Noire 2 will be in development, but in the meantime, you can try your hand at solving the murder of Black Dahlia.

The Black Dahlia case

In the game’s “The Red Lipstick Murder” case, Phelps and his new colleague, Rusty Galloway, investigated the death of a woman named Celine Henry, which occurred in an area called The Moors

The woman’s body was found naked, mutilated and badly beaten, with a mysterious “BD” allusion written on her skin in red lipstick. In the LA Noire world, the case seems to have some connection to “Werewolf,” a killer from six months ago that the LAPD was unable to catch.

The word “BD” in red lipstick can also be found in real life

Henry’s murder was inspired by the real-life 1947 murder of Jeanne French, a 45-year-old former army nurse. Her body was found in the condition as described by the game

Also, just like in real life, the murder happened a few months after the murder of young aspiring actress Elizabeth Short. The press at the time named the case Black Dahlia, because Miss Short liked to wear black and the movie The Blue Dahlia had just hit theaters nearby.

Also in LA Noire, Phelps and Galloway found a stolen social security card called Betty Short, which was also stolen from a real-life body.

Although the real Black Dahlia case is still open and unsolved, players have the opportunity to solve the case and seek justice in LA Noire.