Hi there folks, living in LA for all my life and totally into old Hollywood, I am embarrassed to admit that I never heard of Jean Spangler until recently. She disappeared without a trace in 1949, but they found her purse with a partially written note in Griffith Park. There is lots and lots of stuff about her on the internet, very fascinating if you have time to google.
Lots of theories, the most salacious being that she was three months pregnant with Kirk Douglas's baby and that she died as the result of an illegal abortion. But she also had connections to the mob with talk that she either fled the country with one of them or was killed with a Mobster who also disappeared at the same time, custody issues with her ex-husband over their young daughter, and an abusive former boyfriend who vowed to kill her if she ever broke up with him.
Here's a photo of her, a still from "Wabash Avenue," 1949.
The Times' photo of Spangler's purse and the note (which was retouched, by the way, so it would be readable in the photograph) found in Griffith Park.
Photograph by Jack Carrick / Los Angeles Times