Photograph was edited for publication purposes. Fifty-two year old Arthur Eggers was a sworn Deputy Sheriff working as a desk clerk in the Temple City Substation. Eggers seemed to everyone to be a meek little man who possessed an inordinate amount of patience, was intimidated by his own shadow, and dominated by his wife. Over the years his wife Dorothy had taunted her mild-mannered husband with ribald tales of hitch-hiking and picking up truckers. How often had he visualized Dorothy at a truck stop in the arms of the sweaty antithesis of himself? It would have been enough to drive any man completely mad. Neighbors of the Eggers' recalled that Dorothy had an unseemly number of male callers and rumors of Dorothy's infidelities had been reaching Eggers's ears for a very long time before he finally snapped under their weight. In fact it was the sighting of one of Dorothy's male 'friends' that had ultimately pushed Eggers over the edge into murder. He'd arrived home from work about 1 a.m. on December 28, 1945 to see the dark figure of a man exiting the back door of his home. Once inside the house Eggers confronted a completely naked Dorothy with what he'd seen and accused her of having an affair. Rather than being contrite, or even denying everything, Eggers later claimed that Dorothy had laughed at him and said that if she was having an affair, what was he going to do about it? What he did about it was grab a gun, pump a couple of rounds into her and then, in a blind rage, years in the making, cut off her head and hands. He wrapped his dead wife in a blanket and drove out to the Rim of the World Highway where he dumped her body. Somewhere along the way he had discarded her head and hand--they were never found. He filed a missing persons report on Dorothy but his co-workers became suspicious of him and an investigation was launched. A headless, handless body was discovered within hours after it had been dumped and was subsequently identified as Dorothy because of a surgery she'd had to remove bunions on her feet. In an exclusive jail house interview Eggers swore to Aggie Underwood that he was too chicken-hearted to commit murder, "I couldn't even kill a rabbit." he said. He was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin. Photograph dated January 29, 1946 reads, "Arthur R. Eggers, center, is shown with his attorneys, James Starritt, left, and John C. Rotchford, when he was arraigned today on a charge of murdering his wife. He flatly refused to reveal how or where he disposed of his wife's head and hands."
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Trials (Murder)--California--Los Angeles Murderers--California--Los Angeles Uxoricide--California--Los Angeles Criminals--California--Los Angeles Lawyers--California--Los Angeles Audiences--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Courtrooms--California--Los Angeles Interiors--California--Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
