Overview
- Alex Baber says he used AI and classical cryptanalysis to resolve the 13‑character Z13 as “Marvin Merrill,” after generating 71 million name candidates and narrowing them with public records and witness details.
- Baber contends Merrill was an alias for Marvin Margolis, a USC pre‑med and WWII Navy corpsman who was questioned in Elizabeth Short’s 1947 killing, later left California, and died in 1993.
- Former NSA cryptographers Ed Giorgio and Patrick Henry and retired LAPD detectives say the work appears compelling, while other researchers cite an LAPD report that said Margolis was interviewed and cleared.
- Baber and his team say they have presented or been invited to present findings to an interagency group that includes the FBI, SFPD, and Napa and Solano county authorities, and they have notified the LAPD.
- Margolis’s family provided a sketch titled “Elizabeth” and boxes of materials for forensic analysis, but officials have not confirmed independent verification and the LAPD says the Black Dahlia investigation remains open.