How did stalking lead to Dorothy Jane Scott’s unsolved murder?

A murder unsolved leaves a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. The worst crime in the book should never go unpunished. Yet, thousands of murders go unsolved each year in the United States. In 2019 alone, out of 15,449 murders, nearly 6,544 of these cases were left unsolved by authorities. 

Now, let’s take a dive into one of the most unsettling unsolved murder cases that could’ve perhaps been prevented. The murderer of Dorothy Jane Scott had made it known that he was planning on horrifically killing her. Read the case of Dorothy Jane Scott and her stalker that was never found. 

Dorothy Jane Scott had a stalker 

Scott was a single mother living in Stanton, California, with her aunt and four-year-old son. She was thirty-two years old and a secretary for two jointly-owned Anaheim stores. Co-workers & friends all shared that she was a homebody, a devoted Christian, and didn’t drink or do drugs. 

Her parents, who lived in Anaheim, babysat their grandson while she was away at work. Scott’s father, Jacob, said his daughter may have dated on occasion but had no steady boyfriend, as far as the family was aware.

Months before her abduction, Scott had been receiving eerie phone calls at work from an unknown man. The caller confessed his love for her and his plan to murder her. Scott’s mother reported, “One day he called and said to go outside because he had something for her. She went out and there was a single dead red rose on the windshield of her car.” 

Scott’s mother said one call especially terrified her daughter. The man told Scott he would get her alone and “cut [her] up into bits so no one will ever find [her]”. Due to the horrifying calls, Dorothy Jane Scott considered the purchase of a handgun. Just a week before her disappearance, she began taking karate lessons.

The disappearance of Dorothy Jane Scott

At 9 pm on May 28th, 1980, Scott was at an employee meeting at work. It was then that she noticed her co-worker, Conrad Bostron, looked unwell. Scott and another co-worker, Pam Head, took Bostron to the emergency room at UC Irvine Medical Center. 

A doctor determined Bostron had suffered a black widow spider bite and treated him while Head and Scott remained in the waiting room. Head reported that Scott never left her side that entire time.

Bostron was released at around 11 pm and given a prescription. After, Scott offered to bring her car to the exit as it was clear Bostron was still suffering from the spider bite. Head said Scott used the restroom shortly before heading out to the parking lot. Meanwhile, Head and Bostron filled his prescription. When waiting at the exit for a few minutes, the two co-workers went out to the parking lot to find Scott.

Swiftly, they saw Scott’s car racing toward them. The headlights blinded them, thus they were unable to see who was at the steering wheel. Despite their attempts to wave the car down, it sped past and took a sharp turn out of the parking lot.

At first, Pam and Bostron believed Scott’s son may have had an emergency. Yet, after hours of not hearing back from her, the two reported Scott missing.

At almost 4:30 am on May 29th, Scott’s car was found burning in an alley about ten miles from the hospital. Neither she nor her kidnapper were anywhere nearby.

Scott’s remains discovered

Four years later, on August 6th, 1984, a construction worker discovered human bones about thirty feet from Santa Ana Canyon Road. The bones were partially burned after a bushfire had swept over the area in 1982. A turquoise ring and watch were also found.

Scott’s mother said the watch had stopped at 12:30 am on May 29th, about an hour after Head and Bostron last saw Scott’s vehicle. On August 14th, dental records were able to identify the remains as Scott’s. The autopsy could not ascertain the cause of her death.

An unknown caller harassed the family

Almost a week after Scott’s disappearance, her parents began receiving unnerving calls from who they believed was her stalker & killer. In the first call, the anonymous caller said, “I have her” before abruptly hanging up. 

The disturbing caller would mostly call when Scott’s mother was home alone. The phone calls were never long enough in duration for authorities to ever track a location. Once Scott’s father began picking up the telephone, the caller stopped harassing the family.

Yet, this wouldn’t be the end. An unidentified man called the front desk at the Orange County Register who released Scott’s missing story. A managing editor shared with the police that 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.” 

The editor also revealed that the caller knew Conrad Bostron had suffered from a spider bite the night of May 28th, which was never detailed in the published story. Authorities believe that this caller was the same one harassing the family and the same person who killed Dorothy Jane Scott.

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What do you think about this unsolved murder? What could have been done to prevent the unsolved murder of Dorothy Jane Scott? Let us know in the comments below.