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Victorian Fallen Angel

Meaning of the Rose over Lizzie's Heart

Quoting from Dead Move: "Mrs. Elizabeth Wyllie, having learned the description of the (young) woman found dead in Coronado, sobbed inconsolably, and repeatedly cried out: 'It is my Lizzie, it is my Lizzie. Oh what is to become of me now?'

"The halls of the Hotel del Coronado are haunted as much by a loving mother's heart-rending cries, as by the ghost of a sweet and naive young woman cut down in the flower of life. This very Victorian story leaves sentimental echoes in Coronado's balmy air, like a fading bloom of long-ago roses."

Note: About the time of Lizzie's disappearance from Detroit, but before the body was found in California, an unidentified man visited Lizzie's stalwart and loving sister May in Detroit. The mysterious visitor told May he was leaving for the West Coast, saying: "I will be picking roses in California while your feet at freezing in Detroit." Many theorized at the time that he was the man who 'ruined' Lizzie, John Longfield.