CA CA - Dorothy Scott, 32, Anaheim, 27 May 1980

[chatnoir84]

Does anyone know where in Santa Ana, Dorothy's vehicle was found? I have only found guesstimates on Reddit, but I don't recall cross streets mentioned in any newspaper clippings. TIA.

 

[jaejae]

This video features two other crimes as well but one part is the chilling phone calls Dorothy Scott and her family received. As mentioned and others will know this is a chilling case where the killer basically told Dorothy Scott he was going to kill her and taunted her family for years afterwards. The killer also alternated between twisted 'praise' for Dorothy and outright threats to kill. Stating they were a very disturbed and deranged individual:

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Here are another couple of You Tube videos that feature Dorothy's case:

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[jaejae]

It is just my feeling that in this case and in the Keddie Murders also the killer himself likely reported his own crime. Here is a link with some information about the case and a picture of Dorothy with her son I had not seen before which of course as in all of these cases brings home the wickedness of the crime:

https://tallypress.com/fun/5-shocking-and-gruesome-unsolved-murders/

3) Tainted Love
In 1980, a man stalked and expressed love for Dorothy Scott, a 32-year-old single mother. She did not return his feelings. Unrequited love swiftly turned into hate, and the man threatened to cut Dorothy into pieces so that no one can ever find her. One day, Dorothy disappeared. 4 years later, a construction worker found some skeletal remains, confirmed to be Dorothy’s. During the 4 years, the same man contacted Dorothy’s mother repeatedly and informed her that he had Dorothy. The man also contacted the radio station, confessing to the murder of Dorothy and revealing her last moments after that. The family still received a couple of phone calls asking “Is Dorothy home?” after her confirmed death. The calls eventually stopped, but the killer still remains at large.

 

[jaejae]

It is just my feeling that in this case and in the Keddie Murders also the killer himself likely reported his own crime. Here is a link with some information about the case and a picture of Dorothy with her son I had not seen before which of course as in all of these cases brings home the wickedness of the crime:

https://tallypress.com/fun/5-shocking-and-gruesome-unsolved-murders/

3) Tainted Love
In 1980, a man stalked and expressed love for Dorothy Scott, a 32-year-old single mother. She did not return his feelings. Unrequited love swiftly turned into hate, and the man threatened to cut Dorothy into pieces so that no one can ever find her. One day, Dorothy disappeared. 4 years later, a construction worker found some skeletal remains, confirmed to be Dorothy’s. During the 4 years, the same man contacted Dorothy’s mother repeatedly and informed her that he had Dorothy. The man also contacted the radio station, confessing to the murder of Dorothy and revealing her last moments after that. The family still received a couple of phone calls asking “Is Dorothy home?” after her confirmed death. The calls eventually stopped, but the killer still remains at large.

Other posters may have a different opinion but my gut feeling is that Dorothy's killer did not know her and vice versus and that it was a warped joke that 'tainted love' thing and a way of controlling her.

 

[jaejae]

The Dorothy Scott to me is a terrifying one and one I would like to see solved so I will give it another bump with a You Tube video about the case. I often find there is a lot of good information in this type of video:

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[jaejae]

I will give this case a bump again as I feel it may be a Golden State Killer case. Here is a recent Podcast about it:

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[jaejae]

Here is a list of 29 very nasty but interesting Unsolved Murder cases including that of Dorothy Scott:

29 Unsolved Murders That Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine

A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

All of this cases are nasty but the stalking in the Dorothy Scott case makes it one of the most frightening and perhaps the 'ultimate' stalking case for want of a better was of putting it.

 

[jaejae]

Here is a link to a recent Podcast about the case. As mentioned by others including the makers of this Podcast the Golden State Killer or EAR/ONS as I like to call him would be a possible suspect in this case and he would be mine:

Ep71 - Dorothy Jane Scott from Criminology

 

[jaejae]

Here is a link to a recent Podcast about the case. As mentioned by others including the makers of this Podcast the Golden State Killer or EAR/ONS as I like to call him would be a possible suspect in this case and he would be mine:

Ep71 - Dorothy Jane Scott from Criminology

A possible connection with the two cases are the taunting telephone calls:

LE DID WIRETAP THEIR PHONES. THEY HAVE RECORDINGS OF HIS VOICE. ITS DESCRIBED AS GRUFF AND PLAINLY DISGUISED. HOWEVER THE CALLER WOULD NEVER STAY ON THE PHONE LONG ENOUGH FOR THE CALLS TO BE TRACED. (PUSSY) THE CALLS FINALLY STOPPED IN APRIL 1984 WHEN HE CALLED AND JACOB ANSWERED THE PHONE. THE CALLER HUNG UP. (LIKE I SAID HE'S A PUSSY. PROB WET HIMSELF.)

The Mind Boggling Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

Golden Backbone : Who Killed Dorothy Jane Scott?

 

[md70]

Hi All,
I just heard about this case this morning on the podcast Trace Evidence. Here's a link to it: 006 - Dorothy Scott & Jesse Ross

There are two cases but Dorothy's case is the first half. It immediately intrigued me and I had a couple questions that I didn't hear answers to in the Podcast or see in the articles I read. If I missed them, I apologize.

1. Were the calls before and after Dorothy's disappearance ever traced? I saw that they had recordings of the caller's voice but did they trace the actual calls, and if so, where did that lead? I assumed it was possible that they were all traced to pay phones or were unable to be traced or it would have been mentioned but even payphones can tell you something based on the locations. Also, are the authorities certain that the calls to Dorothy before her disappearance and the calls her parents received later are from the same person? Is it possible that the news reports of her disappearance triggered a completely different weirdo? The reason I ask is that in the Trace Evidence podcast, he mentions that the caller knew and mentioned that Dorothy was at the hospital to get her co-worker treated for a spider bite. How would he know that? Even if he followed her to the hospital, how would he know what she was there for? Unless he went into the hospital and asked (pre-HIPPA) but that would be another avenue to explore/investigate, right?

2. The two co-workers at the hospital. I can't think of a scenario that makes sense with them abducting her or being involved in her disappearance/murder. However, it's commonly reported that they waited 2 more hours after they saw her car speed away. Two hours seems like an excessive time to wait in my opinion. It really does seem like stalling but I can't figure out the motivation for it. If I was in their shoes and cell phones didn't exist yet, I would wait maybe 20-30 minutes and then go back into the hospital and call a cab. It was late at night and had been a long day. Not only that but just the weirdness of her rushing off like that without a word should have been a red flag so why would they wait 2 hours relatively unconcerned?

For the record, if it can be established that the calls both before and after were from the same person, I would lean toward it not being a serial killer but am open to the idea. It's a very strange and mysterious case that feels like it should have been solvable back then but does not sound like there was much of an investigation.

 

[kemo]

I lived in SoCal at the time but didn’t know of this case. There was a sense that there were a lot of crazy people running around killing folks. Arrests and trials of high profile cases got a lot of media attention but individual murders were normally not front page news. It is hard to tell how much effort was put into the initial investigation. This would have been a Missing Person case involving multiple jurisdictions and small town police departments; not likely to demand a major expenditure of resources. Once the body turned up it become an official homicide case. Before that it is unlikely that any attempt was made to trace the calls.

There is one name that comes up as a person of interest but there is no explanation as to what evidence there was against this guy. It is said that his sister was a friend or perhaps a coworker of Dorothy (who went on to be a minor celebrity in Orange County) but the exact relationship between this guy and Dorothy is unclear and how he became a POI has never been disclosed. He died in 2014 without having been charged.

At this point, it is unlikely the case will be solved. There is no forensic evidence and not much evidence that could lead anywhere. Were this crime to have occurred today, things might be different.

 

[md70]

Were the calls before and after Dorothy's disappearance ever traced? I saw that they had recordings of the caller's voice but did they trace the actual calls, and if so, where did that lead? I assumed it was possible that they were all traced to pay phones or were unable to be traced or it would have been mentioned but even payphones can tell you something based on the locations.

I got an answer to this, I just needed to be more patient. I thought the Dorothy half of the podcast was over but there was another 10 minutes or so left. He does use most of that time going into great depth on why the calls were not traced. They were not traced because the caller was not on long enough for them to trace with the technology they had in 1980. He says most of the calls were under a minute. It sounds like the calls to her parents had to have been longer than based on the how they are described but the question is answered. They were not able to trace them.

Some take aways from the podcast:
1. He says he thinks the person someone Dorothy knew and not a stranger. Quite possibly someone she went on a date or two with. This was based upon her supposedly saying that the voice on the phone sounded familiar but that she couldn't place it. He theorized this was someone she had talked to enough times to recognize the voice but did not know well enough that she would immediately recognize who the caller was. Also, the fact that the person continued to call and torment her parents after her disappearance. Lastly, because of the risks he took abducting her from a public place.
2. I forgot this detail but the caller supposedly also called a newspaper and made claims that he killed Dorothy because they were "lovers" and that she left him for someone else. The police believed the caller was the killer and the same caller that made the stalking calls though I don't understand how they could know that.

Agree this will not be solved because too much time has passed and there zero physical evidence. It's just haunting me for some reason. So strange...

 

[jaejae]

Here a couple more You Tube videos about the case:

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There is some interesting information in the videos and I had never heard about the rose on her car before. This is truly a frightening case. Dorothy of course took self-defence classes. The killer of course left the hospital with his headlights on full beam. My take on it is the killer was playing some sick game and joke as if her was dating her while stalking her. I might be wrong but I go for a stranger.

 

[chatnoir84]

August 22, 2019: Dorothy Jane Scott

 

[jaejae]

Here appears to be quite a good page about the case:

True Crime Society - The disturbing events that lead to the unsolved murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

 

[chatnoir84]

Here appears to be quite a good page about the case:

True Crime Society - The disturbing events that lead to the unsolved murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

Very sad to see Dorothy's photos, but a very good and accurate write up about the case. I wonder why there wasn't further investigation into Mike Butler and his sister. I also wonder where in Santa Ana the car was found.

 

[jaejae]

Very sad to see Dorothy's photos, but a very good and accurate write up about the case. I wonder why there wasn't further investigation into Mike Butler and his sister. I also wonder where in Santa Ana the car was found.

I am not a member of LE so I am not certain but my feeling is I doubt if there is any DNA in this case. Of course those people are worth looking at but I favour a stranger who had no connection to Dorothy. I would say the stalking and saying he loved Dorothy was a 'joke' and the product of a sick and warped mind. What the killer was saying in my opinion was that he was in total control and Dorothy and would decide when she died. Just my thoughts. My suspect is the Golden State Killer because the location if I remember right is pretty close to some of his murders in Southern California. Cheers.

 

[scott1123]

I just started reading about this fascinating case the other day. Does someone have the actual recorded call(s) posted somewhere? Would love to hear them.

 

[jaejae]

I just started reading about this fascinating case the other day. Does someone have the actual recorded call(s) posted somewhere? Would love to hear them.

There are people who have posted much more on the case than I have but I have seen the calls posted anywhere and I have read most of the information these others have posted. Whether LE still have them another question I suppose. Cheers:

A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

True Crime Diary

Dorothy Jane Scott - The Strangest Disappearance On The Books

 

[chatnoir84]

I just started reading about this fascinating case the other day. Does someone have the actual recorded call(s) posted somewhere? Would love to hear them.

Yes, there are some podcasts that played them. If I find it, I will post on here.