After actor Jean Spangler disappeared, a man found her purse and a cryptic note.

It was a worker in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park who found the bag. A double-handled purse with one strap torn, almost as if the owner had been involved in a struggle. There was no money inside. But there was a handwritten note.

"Kirk, Can't wait any longer," it read. "Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,"

The note ended with a comma, as if unfinished. It wasn’t signed.

The purse, discovered on October 9, 1949, belonged to Jean Spangler, an actor who had vanished two days prior.

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The case enthralled the people of Los Angeles, who were still reeling from the unsolved 1947 mutilation and murder of aspiring actor Elizabeth Short — better known in the press as 'the Black Dahlia'.

Handed this new headline-grabbing mystery, police probed a wide range of theories. Among them, an anonymous abortionist, organised crime, and even a Hollywood leading man. But many questions remained.

Jean Spanger’s disappearance.

Raised in Los Angeles, Jean Spangler had dreams of silver screen stardom. 

As a teen, she worked as a dancer at Los Angeles nightclubs and then as an extra on several Hollywood films. Her last job was an uncredited role on The Petty Girl, a musical rom-com released in 1950.

Spangler was also a single mother.

Image: Getty.

According to The Los Angeles Times, she’d wed plastics manufacturer Dexter Benner when she was 19 years old, but filed for divorce just six months later, citing cruelty. The pair continued an on-off relationship for another four years, before their divorce was finalised in 1946. They then entered a lengthy court battle over custody of their daughter, Christine, in which Spangler ultimately emerged victorious.

On the evening of October 7, 1949, Spangler left her little girl, then aged five, in the care of her sister-in-law, Sophie.

She told Sophie she was going to be gone most of the night; first, she was off to meet Benner to discuss an overdue child-support payment, then she was heading to work on a late-night shoot for a new film.

Spangler kissed Christine goodbye and walked out the door at around 5pm. It was the last time her family saw her.

When Spangler failed to return the following morning, Sophie reported her missing to police.

What happened to Jean Spangler?

According to The Los Angeles Times, Dexter Benner denied having seen his ex-wife that evening, or for several weeks prior. His new wife supported his alibi. 

It appeared Spangler hadn’t gone to work either. Police investigators found no record of her being on set that night.

When her purse was found on October 9 in Griffith Park, roughly 9 kilometres from her home, dozens of police and volunteers combed the area, but no further clues were found. 

As police raced to identify the mysterious 'Kirk' to whom Spangler had addressed her note, Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Thad Brown received a phone call. It was from a 'Kirk', perhaps the most famous in the world at that time (and since): Hollywood actor, Kirk Douglas.

Kirk Douglas. Image: Getty.

Douglas was the star of Young Man with a Horn, on which Spangler had recently worked as an extra. Having seen media coverage about Spangler’s note, Douglas phoned from a holiday in Palm Springs, eager to deny any involvement in her disappearance.

Kirk Douglas with Jean Spangler in Young Man with a Horn. Image: Warner Bros.

In a statement quoted in The San Bernardino Sun newspaper on October 13, 1949, Douglas said he had never associated with Spangler socially and didn’t actually know her by name.

"I told Detective Chief Thad Brown that I didn't remember the girl or the name, until a friend recalled it was she who worked as an extra in a scene with me in my picture Young Man With a Horn," Douglas said. "Then I recalled that she was a tall girl in a green dress and that I talked and kidded with her a bit on the set, as I have done with many other people around on a day of shooting. But I never saw her before or after that and have never been out with her."

Douglas was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

So who was Kirk? And what about Dr Scott?

According to The Los Angeles Times, during their investigation, detectives learned of a mysterious former medical student known as 'Doc' who reportedly hung around the Sunset Strip nightclub district and performed free abortions. Spangler was known to frequent the bars and clubs on the Strip, and while police were unable to locate the mystery doctor, they couldn't rule out the possibility that Spangler had been the victim of an abortion gone wrong. ("Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away...")

According to media reports, a friend of Spangler’s said the actor had confided in her that she was pregnant shortly prior to her disappearance. Another said Spangler told him she was having a casual affair, though didn’t tell him with whom.

Spangler’s ties to the Sunset Strip threw up another theory about her fate: organised crime. Mobsters ruled the Strip throughout the ‘40s, and  — according to NBC — there were reports that Spangler had been seen with Frank Niccoli and Davey Ogul, henchmen for L.A. mob boss Mickey Cohen. Niccoli and Ogul disappeared around the same time as Spangler. There was speculation that she could have been collateral damage in a mob hit against the pair. But again, police investigations proved fruitless.

Despite early pleas for information from her family and ongoing media attention, Jean Spangler’s disappearance remains unsolved.

LAPD homicide detective Rick Jackson, who fielded inquiries about the case during his career, told EW that he believes Spangler was killed.

"Nothing I've ever read would indicate [she skipped town]," Jackson said. "People generally don't do that kind of thing unless there's a motive or a unique set of reasons. Obviously, she cared for her daughter enough to get custody back. It just makes sense that she met foul play. There's no doubt she was dead, and that's why she never surfaced."

A dark Hollywood mystery that, just like Jean Spangler’s note, is missing its ending.

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Feature Image: Getty.