His mother, nee Dorothy Harvey, was married to director John Huston and was Huston's first wife. Dorothy and John were married for seven years. (1926-1933) Dorothy married Steve's father in 1940.
He has an older sister, Tamar, and a younger brother Kelvin. The early life of Tamar's daughter, Fauna Hodel, inspired the as yet unreleased feature film Pretty Hattie's Baby (1991).
He had a twin brother, John Dion Hodel, who died three weeks after birth.
A 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department and as a Homicide Detective Supervisor handled over 300 murder investigations in Hollywood Division before retiring in 1986. New Line Cinema optioned his bestselling book "Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder" in 2006.