Dorothy Jane Scott took a coworker to the hospital, went to get the car, and never came back. In a matter of minutes, at a public place, she disappeared. This case moved beyond a missing person report almost immediately. Witnesses saw Dorothy’s car leaving the hospital parking lot, and a few hours later, police found it burning in Santa Ana.
Dorothy Jane Scott was born on April 23, 1948, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, to Jacob and Vera Scott. By 1980, she was 32 and living in Stanton, California, where she was raising her young son, Shawn. Her family and friends described her as quiet, loving, and devoted. She worked as a secretary for several businesses in Anaheim, and most of her life centered on her son, her family, and her job.
On the night of May 28, 1980, Dorothy attended a work meeting and noticed that her coworker Conrad Bostron was not feeling well. He had a red, inflamed mark on his arm, so Dorothy Jane Scott and another coworker, Pam Head, drove him to UCI Medical Center in Orange. Doctors said a black widow spider bit him and he needed medication. While Conrad and Pam went to the pharmacy, Dorothy went to get her 1973 white Toyota station wagon. She disappeared shortly after midnight on May 29. A friend saw a suspicious figure driving her car out of the hospital parking lot, but could not identify the driver.
Around 5:00 a.m., police found Dorothy’s car burning in an alley near the 800 block of South Townsend in Santa Ana. That suggested concealment, not a random theft. The timing also mattered. The walk to the parking lot gave the person only a narrow window, which suggests someone was watching and waiting.
Months before she vanished, Dorothy had been getting anonymous calls. The man shifted between saying he loved her and threatening her. He said he knew what she was doing, what she had done, and what she was wearing. Her mother later said he told her, “When I get you alone, I will cut you into bits, and no one will ever find you.” At one point, he told Dorothy to go outside because he had something for her, and she found a dead rose on her windshield. She was scared enough to talk about buying a gun and taking karate classes.
On June 12, 1980, Santa Ana Register editor Pat Riley received a call from a man who said, “Dorothy Jane Scott, she was my love. I caught her cheating with another man. She denied having another man. I killed her.” Police took the call seriously because he knew details that were not public, including what Dorothy was wearing, that she changed her scarf on the way to the hospital, and that the trip happened because of a spider bite. His words sounded possessive, but there there is no proof of any relationship between him and Dorothy.
About a week after Dorothy disappeared, a man called her parents and asked if they were related to Dorothy Scott. When Vera said yes, he replied, “I’ve got her,” and hung up. Those calls continued for four years, often on Wednesdays when Dorothy’s mother was home. Police installed voice recorders, but the caller never stayed on long enough to trace. Her parents kept the number in case Dorothy could call. In April 1984, Dorothy’s father answered one of the calls, and they stopped for a few months. After they found remains that August, the family got two more calls asking, “Is Dorothy home?”
On August 6, 1984, two construction workers found burned skeletal remains in a brushy area 30 feet from Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim Hills. They also found a turquoise ring and a watch. Investigators could not determine whether the person who left the remains there set them on fire, or whether the 1982 brush fire burned them later. Dorothy’s mother recognized the ring, and the watch. She said it stopped at 12:30 a.m. on May 29, 1980, about an hour after friends last saw Dorothy. On August 14, dental records confirmed the remains were Dorothy Jane Scott. Her cause of death could not be determined. Later that month, a memorial service was held, and her brother Jim Scott gave the eulogy.
Investigators looked at those closest to her. Investigators considered the father of Dorothy’s son first, but they cleared him because he had an airtight alibi and was out of state. They also questioned coworkers, friends, and people connected to her work, but made no arrests. The Orange County Sheriff said investigators believed the man who called Dorothy before she disappeared and tormented her parents afterward may have been the same person who killed her.That fits the pattern, the inside details, and the control behind the calls. He was likely closer to Dorothy than anyone realized.
Dorothy Jane Scott was not wealthy, and nothing in her routine made her an obvious target. She and her family encountered a man who wanted control. They never got justice. The case is cold, not closed. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Task Force in Santa Ana is still seeking leads. If you have any information please call them at 714-647-7000.
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