True Crime
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THE MIND-BOGGLING ABDUCTION OF DOROTHY JANE SCOTT
by Ria Melissa Agustin (Saturday, October 20, 2018)
The Life of Dorothy Jane Scott
Dorothy was a single mother living with her four year old son, Shawn Scott, and aunt in Stanton, California which was a 20 minute drive from her parents’ home and where she worked. In order to provide for the needs of her son, she worked as a back – office secretary for two jointly – owned businesses. The Swinger’s Psych Shop (previously owned by her father), and Custom John’s Head Shop, which was located on 517 South Brookhurst St. in Anaheim, California. On days that she worked, her parents, Vera and Jacob Scott often babysat their grandson considering the fact that Shawn’s father was absent and was living in Missouri at that time.
Dorothy was described by her friends and family as kind, compassionate, and very religious. According to her father, Dorothy would date men on a few occasions but her focus was really on her son. Her brother also described her as a person who exemplified the word ‘give’. “She’s just give, and give, and give, no matter what it cost her…”
Prior to Her Abduction
In the early months of 1980, she began receiving anonymous phone calls from a man whose voice she claimed to recognize but was unable to place who it belongs to. The unidentified male would often profess his love for Dorothy; other times he would be menacing towards her and would threaten to kill her. One phone call in particular haunted Dorothy in which the unidentified caller threatened: “Okay, now you’re going to come my way and when I get you alone, I will cut you up into bits so no one will ever find you.” He also openly admitted that he was stalking her, watching her every move; providing accurate details on what she was wearing and other information about her day – to – day activities at certain times during that day.
The said alarming and violent phone calls continued which pushed Dorothy to sign up for Karate class. She also considered buying a handgun but decided against it due to her fear that her son might get a hold of it and hurt himself.
May 28, 1980: The Day of Disappearance
At 9:00 p.m., Dorothy dropped Shawn off at her parents’ home to attend a staff meeting at her work. She took notice of one of her co – workers, Conrad Bostron, who looked ill at that time with a large, red streak in his arm which was becoming inflamed. Dorothy then volunteered to take Conrad to the hospital. Another co – worker, Pam Head, volunteered to help in assisting them. Before heading to the hospital, Dorothy made a quick stop at her parents’ home to check on her son and also switched her black scarf for a red one. She also informed her parents’ about her trip to the UC Irvine Medical Center.
Once at the hospital, Dorothy and Pam passed their time at the waiting room by chatting, and browsing through magazines while waiting for their co – worker’s discharge. At around 11:00 p.m., Conrad was released from the hospital with his prescription script, it was determined that Conrad was suffering from a Black Widow spider bite. At roughly around midnight, Dorothy went to the restroom (the only time that she left Pam’s sight.) After her trip to the restroom, she insisted that they go to the pharmacy store mere feet away to get Conrad’s prescription filled while she go and retrieve her car – a white 1973 Toyota Station Wagon – from the parking lot to bring it out front to make the walk easier for Conrad, considering his condition.
Conrad’s prescription was filled for only about 5 minutes. The two then decided to go to the restroom before heading out to meet Dorothy. When they stepped outside, Dorothy’s car was nowhere to be seen, which was odd considering the fact that the task should have only taken her a few minutes. They decided to wait for Dorothy for about 10-20 minutes before deciding to head to where her car was parked. They finally saw Dorothy’s car but it was coming towards them pretty fast with its headlights on full – beam, they tried to get her attention by waving their arms in the air but the driver did not stop. The car bypassed them and made a sharp turn to the right, then proceeded to turn off the headlights.
Conrad and Pam thought that maybe there was an emergency involving Dorothy’s son, and decided to wait for about 2 hours for Dorothy to come and pick them up, but she never returned. Pam phoned Dorothy’s parents to ask them if they had seen her or talked to her for the past few hours but they told Pam that they hadn’t. That’s when they decided to inform the police and reported Dorothy was missing.
After Her Disappearance
At 5:00 a.m. of 29th of May 1980, Dorothy’s car was found abandoned and in flames in a back alleyway about ten miles away from the hospital. Dorothy was nowhere to be seen. The police began their investigation and advised Conrad and Pam to never speak to any reporters. Several search parties were also conducted in hopes of finding Dorothy but to no avail, they never found any traces of her.
A week later, Dorothy’s mother, Vera, received a terrifying call from an unidentified male. In which the unknown person asked if she was related to Dorothy Scott, when she answered yes, the caller then told her that he got her before hanging up. The police were immediately informed about the disturbing phone call. They suggested to the family of Dorothy to not release any information regarding her disappearance to avoid any false confessions.
After about a week with no positive results from the investigations, Jacob, father of Dorothy Scott, decided to contact the local newspaper, Santa Ana Register, and told them of their daughter’s disappearance and that they are offering a reward of $2,500.00 to anyone who would be able to provide them information about their daughter’s whereabouts, dead or alive. On the 12th of June 1980, the publication released the story about Dorothy’s disappearance. On the same day, the editor, Pat Riley, received an anonymous call. The unidentified male told Pat Riley “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.” The truth is Dorothy wasn’t dating anyone at the time. The anonymous caller also told the editor details that only the person involved would know, such as the detail about Dorothy wearing a red scarf and the reason why Dorothy was at the UCI Medical Center, which are some of the details of this case that has been withheld from the public. The caller claimed that Dorothy told him about Conrad’s spider bite through a phone call when she was at the UCI Medical Center. According to Pam, the only time that Dorothy left her sight before offering to bring her car out front was when Dorothy made a quick trip to the restroom when they were at the hospital. Dorothy did not need to use the payphone the whole time that the three of them were together.
Every Wednesday for the next four years, Vera continued to receive phone calls from the anonymous caller. Some days, the caller would tell her that he’s got Dorothy. Other days he would confess to killing her. It only stopped one day (April 1984) when Jacob was the one to answer the phone. The Scotts had their phone tapped to be able to record the phone calls and also to trace the perpetrator, but the unidentified caller conveniently never stayed too long on the line which prevented the police to ever trace the calls.
August 1984: The Discovery
Four years after Dorothy’s disappearance, a construction worker discovered some skeletal remains at Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim approximately thirteen miles away from the UCI Medical Center. The skeletal remains that were first seen belong to a dog but underneath these remain were human skull, pelvis, two thighs, and an arm. A turquoise ring and a wristwatch was also unearthed by the construction worker which were then used to identify Dorothy. An interesting fact to note is that the wristwatch stopped at exactly 12:30 a.m. of May 29, 1980. After a week, an autopsy report would confirm that these remains were in fact Dorothy’s but the medical examiner was unable to identify the cause of death due to the state of the remains.
After the local newspaper announced the discovery, Vera received another call from the unidentified male, asking “Is Dorothy home?” The calls would then stop thereafter.
Other Information About the Case
Dorothy’s co – workers were investigated and questioned numerous times. The chances that the suspect was a customer were really slim considering the fact that Dorothy worked as a back – office secretary, she would never have the chance to interact with customers.
Shawn’s father was also questioned and investigated by the police, but was immediately ruled out as a suspect due to his alibi, that he had been in Missouri at the time of Dorothy’s disappearance.
A circumstantial evidence points to a brother of Dorothy’s female co – worker, Mike Butler. According to some acquaintances, Mike was obsessed with Dorothy. Unfortunately, there is hardly any evidence to prove that he is the one responsible for Dorothy’s death.