Black Dahlia bombshell: Watch The Crime Desk panel reveal a chilling DNA breakthrough... and its link to the Zodiac

DNA is being sought for testing for the very first time in the unsolved Black Dahlia case - almost 80 years on from the chilling murder of Elizabeth Short.

In December, the Daily Mail revealed in a world exclusive that two of the most notorious unsolved cases in history had been linked to one suspect through an explosive cold case investigation. 

In January 1947, Los Angeles was rocked by the grisly murder of aspiring starlet Short when her mutilated body was found dumped in a vacant lot, severed in two at the waist and a smile carved into her cheeks.

Two decades later in the late-1960s, the Zodiac killer then reared its head, killing at least five victims in random attacks while leading police on a cat-and-mouse game with terrifying letters and cryptic codes.  

Following a years-long probe, investigative consultant Alex Baber concluded that Marvin Margolis - a late military veteran and father - was the perpetrator behind both haunting crimes.

And since then, the investigation - and law enforcement involvement - has snowballed. 

During a panel at the Daily Mail-sponsored Hamptons Whodunit festival in East Hampton, New York, Baber, Daily Mail Senior Correspondent Kayla Brantley and The Crime Desk US Editor Rachel Sharp discussed the inside story of the bombshell investigation - and revealed explosive new developments that could finally close these cases once and for all. 

Watch the panel in full here: