Thelma Todd

Case background and investigation

Thelma Todd was a film actress born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on July 29, 1906, who by 1935 was 29 and well known for her film work. She was also the public face of Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café, a restaurant in Pacific Palisades, and lived in an apartment in the same building.

On the night of Saturday, December 14, 1935, Todd attended a party at the Trocadero restaurant in Hollywood. According to published accounts, her chauffeur drove her home in the early hours of Sunday, December 15, and she arrived at about 4 a.m. That is the last time she is reliably reported to have been seen alive.

On the morning of Monday, December 16, her maid found her body in the front seat of her 1934 Lincoln Phaeton, which was parked in a garage on the hillside above the restaurant. The garage was part of the property occupied by her business partner, the director Roland West, and his wife, Jewel Carmen. Todd was still wearing the evening clothes from Saturday night. The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.

A coroner's inquest was held on December 18, 1935. According to Wikipedia's summary of the record, the jury found that the death appeared to be accidental but recommended further investigation. A Los Angeles County grand jury then heard testimony over several weeks. It returned no indictments; accounts differ on how to characterize the outcome, with some stating that the panel found no evidence of foul play and others that its members were divided. The explanation most often given for an accident is that Todd, unable to get into her apartment, went up to the garage and ran the car's engine to keep warm.

Because of her fame and the unusual circumstances, the death has been the subject of speculation for decades. Writers have proposed that she was killed or deliberately shut in the garage, and have pointed to various people in her life, including figures connected to organized crime. The Golden Globes' historical feature on the case and the New England Historical Society both describe these as theories rather than established facts. Some later accounts also describe injuries that they say were noted at autopsy, but these claims are disputed and were not the basis of any official finding.

No one was ever arrested or charged in connection with Thelma Todd's death, and the official conclusion of accidental death has never been changed.