Crimes Of Yesteryear: The Cole Valley Suitcase Murder

Crimes Of Yesteryear: The Cole Valley Suitcase MurderImage: San Francisco Chronicle
Walter Thompson
Published on August 29, 2015

On February 7th, 1964, a Cole Valley landlady killed her roommate inside their flat at 826 Ashbury St., ultimately hiding the dismembered body in two suitcases. The chilling case made headlines for months. Today, we look back at the lurid crime and its aftermath for a local true crime weekend read. (If you're sensitive, note that grisly details lie ahead.)

826 Ashbury in 1964. (Photo: SF News-Call Bulletin, via SFPL)

The murderer, Jean Toman, 35, shared an apartment with the victim, Elinor Kahn, 21, and also managed the rooming house at 826 Ashbury. The discovery of Kahn's dismembered body inside two burned suitcases made front page headlines in the Chronicle's Wednesday, March 4th final edition.

Police had begun investigating Kahn's disappearance two days earlier, after Upper Haight resident Arnold Kottwitz told them that Toman had confessed to killing Kahn days earlier while they ate dinner in his apartment.

In its reporting, the Chronicle played up Kahn's youth, beauty and "wild" background, describing her as "pretty" and "attractive" and even running swimsuit photos she took as a teenager. Toman was depicted as "a mother of six with a record of mental illness" and "once-attractive divorcee" who'd had three children out of wedlock that were placed in foster care.

According to Kottwitz, Toman said Kahn "became hysterical and began taking narcotics" on the night of her death. To "silence the girl's screams," Toman told Kottwitz that she tied her roommate to a chair and gagged her, accidentally strangling her in the process. According to reports, Kottwitz "mulled the fantastic tale over during the weekend and decided to call police on Monday."

Questioned two days before the grisly discovery, Toman "denied Kottwitz's story flatly" and said her roommate had taken a trip. When police found Kahn's car near where Kottwitz described, the trunk held women's clothing, purses, a tennis racket and a shovel.

Front page of the Chronicle, 3/4/64.

On Tuesday, police began searching another area Kottwitz named, "a lonely gully off the coast highway, near San Gregorio." At 1:45 pm, officers found two partially burned suitcases, with body parts inside.

"Miss Kahn's head, both legs and one arm had been severed from her torso," and an autopsy revealed that she suffocated after a towel was shoved into her throat. Later that day, Toman was arrested in a Tenderloin hotel after SFPD received an anonymous tip. Two days later, she was indicted for murder by a grand jury.

According to Kottwitz's statement, Kahn's body remained in the apartment "for several days" before Toman "cut the body apart on her kitchen table" and packed it in suitcases. Kovita Cox, another 826 Ashbury resident, told police that she'd heard "long, anguished screams through the early morning of that night." A "hysterical" Toman appeared at her door "and asked to help her tie Ellie up," but Cox declined. Several days later, Cox said she heard "someone sawing something in the apartment," reported the Chronicle. Other residents reportedly heard a "screaming, bitter battle" on the night of the murder, although none called police.

San Francisco Chronicle, 3/5/64

After Kahn's body was found, police discovered "two rusty-toothed saws" in Toman's apartment, one of which bore traces of blood. Toman refused to explain herself to police or reporters, claiming she didn't "know a damned thing about it." State records indicated that Toman was hospitalized in 1955 and 1961 for "schizophrenic reaction" but had been fully discharged. At her arraignment, the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation.

Reporters quickly dubbed Kahn "the torso girl," making her a recurring front-page feature. One story, "The Torso Girl's Short, Wild Life," portrayed Kahn as a "moody and extremely desirable girl" who "grew up early, if you know what I mean," said ex-boyfriend Bob Daniels. Reporters dished details about her fondness for tight clothing, picking up sailors, and a history of drug use that resulted in multiple hospitalizations.

At the end of her life, Kahn was studying to become a veterinarian, had adopted a cocker spaniel and working as a pharmacy clerk. "She's become a really nice girl again," said Daniels. "What a waste." According to reports, Kahn and Toman had lived together for less than a week before the murder.


San Francisco Chronicle, 3/5/64

Three days after Kahn was found, the Chronicle ran a story speculating about whether the disappearance of Kahn's dog was the inciting incident that led to her murder. Police investigators said multiple residents heard Kahn scream, "What have you done with my dog?" on the night she was killed. The black cocker spaniel was last seen leaving a Potrero Hill groomer's shop in Toman's care.

Once in custody, Toman refused to speak to reporters and accused police and others of conspiring against her. In an April 22nd court appearance, she fired her attorney after he tried to enter an insanity plea, then tried to attack a photographer and claimed that she'd been beaten in jail all in "rapid fire," the Chronicle reported. Toman maintained her innocence in a subsequent court appearance, before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity on June 2nd.

826 Ashbury Street in 2015. (Image: Google Street View)

Toman's second-degree murder trial began on August 11th; now represented by a public defender, she chose to waive a jury trial. Two days later, a doctor from a state mental hospital testified that Toman was "basically mentally ill" and "incompetent" to stand trial, describing Kahn's death as an "accidental tragedy." Judge Harry J. Neubarth found Toman guilty of the murder charge but deemed her insane when she killed and dismembered Kahn.

To the end, Toman protested her innocence. "I am sane," she said. "I am not mentally ill. I didn't get a fair trial and I'm being shipped off to Mendocino." In 1972, Mendocino State Hospital closed after the state changed its guidelines for involuntary commitment for mental disorders; it's unclear what happened to Toman thereafter.

If you've read this far, you now have a ghoulish story to tell your friends and neighbors as Halloween approaches, especially if you're passing by 826 Ashbury St.