If you’ve spent any time in the true crime rabbit hole, you’ve probably seen their faces or heard their voices. Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro aren't just your average podcast hosts. They are the great-granddaughters of Dr. George Hodel, the man many investigators—including his own son—believe was the Black Dahlia killer.
That’s a heavy legacy to carry. Honestly, most people would probably change their names and hide. But these sisters did the opposite. They went deep.
The Root of the Evil
It started with a podcast that basically took over the charts in 2019. Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia wasn’t just about a cold case from 1947. It was a visceral, often painful look at a family tree that seemed poisoned from the top down. Yvette and Rasha didn't just narrate; they invited us into their living rooms while they sifted through the trauma of their mother, Fauna Hodel.
Their mother’s story is wild. Fauna was given away at birth because her mother, Tamar Hodel, told her she was biracial. She grew up in Nevada, thinking she was Black, only to find out decades later that her "white" family was actually a wealthy, influential, and deeply disturbed Los Angeles dynasty.
Why Their Perspective Matters
A lot of people think they know the Black Dahlia case. They know the gruesome details of Elizabeth Short’s body being found in Leimert Park. But Yvette and Rasha brought something different to the table: the human cost of being related to a monster.
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- They provided archival audio of Fauna Hodel that had never been heard.
- They interviewed aunts and cousins who had been silenced for years.
- They connected the dots between Dr. George Hodel’s alleged crimes and the abuse that trickled down through generations.
The sisters managed to turn a tabloid mystery into a study on generational trauma. They don't just talk about the "who did it"; they talk about "how do we fix the people left behind?"
Facing the Darkness Head-On
After Root of Evil, the sisters didn't just stop. They realized they had a platform. In 2022, they launched Facing Evil, a weekly show that takes the lessons they learned from their own messy history and applies them to other cases.
It's kinda refreshing. Unlike some true crime shows that feel like they're just exploitation for entertainment, Rasha and Yvette focus heavily on the victims. They talk a lot about healing. Rasha often brings her perspective as an LGBTQ+ advocate and a body-positivity model, while Yvette brings this calm, grounded energy as a yoga instructor and actor.
They’ve recently branched out even more with So Supernatural, co-hosting with Ashley Flowers. It shows their range. They can do the gritty, "my great-grandpa might be a serial killer" stuff, but they also have a genuine curiosity about the weird and unexplained.
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The Connection to "I Am the Night"
If you haven't seen the TNT limited series I Am the Night, starring Chris Pine and directed by Patty Jenkins, you’re missing out. It’s based on Fauna Hodel’s autobiography, One Day She'll Darken.
Yvette and Rasha were consultants on that show. They were on set, making sure the essence of their mother’s journey was captured. It wasn't just about getting the 1960s costumes right—though they helped with that too—it was about the emotional truth of a woman searching for an identity that had been stolen from her.
Common Misconceptions
Some skeptics argue that there is no "smoking gun" DNA evidence linking George Hodel to Elizabeth Short. They're right. We don't have a modern forensic lock. But if you listen to Yvette and Rasha, the circumstantial evidence—the surgical precision of the murder, the recorded conversations where George basically bragged about it—paints a picture that's hard to ignore.
The sisters aren't trying to be detectives in the traditional sense. They are the witnesses to the aftermath.
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What They Are Doing Now in 2026
As of early 2026, Yvette and Rasha are still very much at the forefront of the "ethical true crime" movement. They’ve moved past just being "the Hodel girls." They are producers and creators in their own right.
They continue to record Facing Evil, which has grown into a community for survivors. It's less about the gore and more about the "now what?"
- Yvette Gentile continues to balance her creative life between Hawaii and Italy.
- Rasha Pecoraro remains a vocal advocate in the LGBTQ+ space, living in the Pacific Northwest.
They’ve basically taken the "Root of Evil" and planted something else entirely. They proved that you aren't defined by the worst thing your ancestors did. You're defined by what you do with the truth once you find it.
Next Steps for True Crime Enthusiasts:
If you want to understand the full scope of the Hodel legacy, start by listening to the original Root of Evil podcast to get the foundational history. Once you've processed that—and it's a lot to process—move on to Facing Evil to see how the sisters have transitioned into advocacy. Finally, watch I Am the Night to see the dramatized version of Fauna Hodel's life, which provides the visual context for the world Yvette and Rasha grew up trying to understand.