DEADGIRLWALKING

Dorothy Jane Scott was a 23-year-old, single parent to a 4-year-old boy named Shawn. She was described by everyone as a caring mother and friend, a reliable and organised worker and a deeply faithful Christian. Dorothy and her son lived with Dorothy’s aunt in Stanton, CA. She worked as a back room secretary in two jointly owned stores in Anaheim, Swinger’s Psych Shop and Custom John’s Head Shop. Dorothy’s father, Jacob, was a co-owner of Swingers.

Months before her murder, Dorothy was receiving strange phone calls at work from a man claiming to be in love with her one day and how he wanted to kill her and “chop her up into bits so no-one would find her” the next. He also recited details of Dorothy’s life that he would only know if he was following her, like her daily routine or what she was wearing. Dorothy recognised the voice but couldn’t place it. Dorothy started to take karate lessons and considered buying a gun because of these phone calls.

On May 28th 1980, Dorothy dropped Shawn off at her parents and went to work as usual. She had told her parents that she would be late to pick Shawn up that evening as there was a staff meeting at 9pm. During this meeting, Dorothy noticed her co-worker, Conrad Bostron, was looking unwell and had a red swelling on his arm. Dorothy and Pam Head, another Swingers co-worker, decided to leave the meeting early to take Conrad to the hospital. Dorothy stopped off at her parent’s house to let them know that she was taking Conrad to the hospital and didn’t know when she would be back. When Dorothy came out of her parent’s house, she had changed her scarf from a black one to a red one. The three drove to UC Irvine Medical Center where the two women sat in the waiting room while Conrad was treated for his spider bite. Conrad went with Pam to get his prescription filled whilst Dorothy went to the bathroom and said after she would pull the car round to the front of the hospital to meet them. This was around 11pm.

Conrad and Pam were waiting for around 20 minutes until they saw Dorothy’s car come towards them but instead of slowing down, the car sped up past them. Neither of Dorothy’s co-workers could see who was driving the car. The two waited several hours at the hospital to see if Dorothy would return for them but when she didn’t, they used a hospital phone to call Dorothy’s parent’s house to ask if she’d been to pick up Shawn. She hadn’t. They called the police and reported their co-worker missing. However, as she was an adult, the police didn’t seem concerned – until Dorothy’s car was discovered at 4:30am on May 29th in Santa Ana, around 10 miles for the hospital. Her car was parked in an alleyway and had been set on fire.

Dorothy’s parents, Jacob and Vera, started receiving phone calls from the man about a week after the disappearance. Vera answered the phone and the man asked if she was related to Dorothy and that he had her. This was the first clue the police had but still the search was fruitless. No press had been contacted as it could have a negative impact on the investigation. Jacob was giving up on the police and called a paper, who ran a story about Dorothy. The editor, Pat Riley, received a phone call after the story ran, the man said, “I killed her. I killed Dorothy Scott. She was my love. I caught her cheating with another man. She denied having someone else. I killed her.” He included details about the night of her disappearance, for example that she was wearing a red scarf and that Conrad was being treated for a spider bite. The police believe that only someone involved in Dorothy’s disappearance could know these things.

The call to the paper’s editor confused friends and family of Dorothy as they didn’t know of a possible boyfriend in Dorothy’s life as she was so busy with two jobs and a child to look after.

The phone calls to Vera continued almost every Wednesday afternoon for 4 years and the man would only call when Vera was home alone, suggesting he knew the Scott’s routine. However, once, the unknown caller made a mistake and called in the evening when Jacob was home. Jacob answered and the calls stopped after this. Police had tried to trace this calls but the man didn’t stay on the phone long enough.

Dennis Terry, the father of Shawn, was looked into and ruled out as a suspect in Dorothy’s disappearance. Internet sleuths have highlighted a man that worked as a mechanic next door to Swingers as a suspect. His sister worked with Dorothy and he was considered a little strange and possible involved in the occult. He has never officially been named as a suspect and there is no evidence against him.

Human bones, along with dog bones, were found on August 6th 1984 in a remote construction site around 10 meters from Santa Ana Canyon Road. Just over a week later, dental records confirmed that these were the remains of Dorothy Scott. Along with the remains, police found a turquoise ring and watch that Vera confirmed belonged to Dorothy.

After this, the Scott’s continued to receive phone calls from the unknown man.