Son of postmaster K.D. Harger, Burt was an internationally known café dancer and winner in a number of dance competitions. He became very well known in the ballrooms of New York City, dancing with Charlotte Maye and Helen Howell. Harger had appeared with Maye on Broadway in ‘Early to Bed' and in August of 1945 Harger vanished without a trace and was reported missing by Charlotte after he failed to appear for rehearsal at the Biltmore Hotel. Harger's dismembered torso washed up on a Queens beach in New York a few days later. A postmortem identified the remains and determined that he been murdered by multiple hammer blows. Harger's roommate, Walter H. Dahl, Jr. confessed to murdering Harger in self-defense, after being shadowed by detectives for two months – he had killed Harger with a hammer during an argument and dismembered the body in the bathtub of the apartment. Dahl and Harger were romantically involved and when Harger told Dahl he was going to get married, Dahl killed him. Dahl carried the towel wrapped parts of the body onto local ferries and dropped them overboard. Leaning on crutches and suffering from diabetes, Dahl was sentenced from 10-20 years for the crime. Newspaper stories across the country report the ‘Torso Murder Case.' At the time of the murder, the roommates were residing at 43 West 45th Street in New York.
Son of postmaster K.D. Harger, Burt was an internationally known café dancer and winner in a number of dance competitions. He became very well known in the ballrooms of New York City, dancing with Charlotte Maye and Helen Howell. Harger had appeared with Maye on Broadway in ‘Early to Bed' and in August of 1945 Harger vanished without a trace and was reported missing by Charlotte after he failed to appear for rehearsal at the Biltmore Hotel. Harger's dismembered torso washed up on a Queens beach in New York a few days later. A postmortem identified the remains and determined that he been murdered by multiple hammer blows. Harger's roommate, Walter H. Dahl, Jr. confessed to murdering Harger in self-defense, after being shadowed by detectives for two months – he had killed Harger with a hammer during an argument and dismembered the body in the bathtub of the apartment. Dahl and Harger were romantically involved and when Harger told Dahl he was going to get married, Dahl killed him. Dahl carried the towel wrapped parts of the body onto local ferries and dropped them overboard. Leaning on crutches and suffering from diabetes, Dahl was sentenced from 10-20 years for the crime. Newspaper stories across the country report the ‘Torso Murder Case.' At the time of the murder, the roommates were residing at 43 West 45th Street in New York.
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