The disturbing events that lead to the unsolved murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

Dorothy Jane Scott was a 32-year-old single mother of a 4-year-old boy named Shawn. They lived in Stanton, California with her aunt. She worked in Anaheim as a back office secretary at Swinger’s Psych Shop and Custom John’s Head Shop while her parents, who just lived a few blocks down from her work, watched Shawn.

Every evening, Dorothy would pick her son up from her parents home and drive the 20 minutes back to their home. She would cook dinner and then watch cartoons with Shawn or read him a book.

She had a normal life. Until the calls started.

The calls.

For several months, Dorothy had been receiving phone calls from a man she did not know. The calls were alarming, to say the least. The man threaten her and warned her that he was watching her ever move.

When I get you alone, I will cut you up into bits so no one will ever find you.

On one occasion, Dorothy received a phone call telling her to look outside because he had left her a gift. On the windshield of her car was a dead rose.

Other calls would be to tell her he knew where she was and what she was wearing.

The calls left Dorothy terrified.

Dorothy once said that the voice sounded like someone she knew but never mentioned who, and the caller never revealed who they were either.

The disappearance.

It was May 28, 1980, and Dorthy Jane Scott was in a meeting at work. She noticed that her coworker, Conrad Bostron, looked ill and had a red mark on his arm. The mark on his arm was red and swollen, so she knew he needed medical attention.

Another coworker, Pam Head, and Dorothy took Conrad to the emergency room at UCI Medical Center where it was determined he had been bitten by a black widow spider. Pam said she and Dorothy stayed in the waiting room together.

Once Conrad was discharged, Dorothy offered to bring her car around to pick him and Pam up at the door. When she still hadn’t picked them up after a few minutes, they went out to the parking lot to try to find her. Suddenly they saw Dorothy’s white 1973 Toyota station wagon speeding toward them. Her headlights were on full beam, blinding them, so they couldn’t see who was behind the wheel. The car sped past them and took a sharp right turn out of the parking lot.

A few hours later after not hearing from Dorothy, Pam and Conrad call her parents to ask if they had seen her. But she had not shown up to pick up her son from their house yet. Her parents eventually called the police to report her missing.

In the early morning hours of May 29th, just hours after her disappearance, Dorothy’s car was discovered on fire in an alley in Santa Ana.

The calls continued.

A week later, an unknown man called Vera Scott, Dorothy’s mother.

“Are you related to Dorothy Scott?” the called asked. “Yes,” Vera answered. “I’ve got her,” he said before quickly hanging up.

Was this the same man that was calling Dorothy before she disappeared?

This man would continue to call nearly every Wednesday for the next four years. The calls were usually short, and usually occurred when Vera was home alone.

Police told Dorothy’s parents to keep the details surrounding the disappearance quiet. This is so when someone is brought in they do not know all the details from reading them in the paper. So, if a suspect can tell details of the crime that only the investigators know, they’re likely the one who did it.

Well, Jacob was tired of keeping quiet. He called the Register newspaper in Santa Ana, who then ran a story about Dorothy’s disappearance. The same morning that the story was ran, managing editor, Pat Riley, received a phone call.

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 voice on the line sobbed.

Pat Riley said that this caller knew details about Dorothy’s disappearance that weren’t even published in the article. One detail being what she was wearing that night, a red scarf. He also knew the reason she was at the UCI Medical Center.

However, in April of 1984, the man called during the evening. Jacob Scott was home and answered the phone. The calls stopped after that.

The investigation.

Shawn’s father was looked into and questioned. He had an airtight alibi, he had been in Missouri at the time, and he was immediately ruled out as a suspect. Dorothy’s coworkers were questioned numerous times. Since Dorothy worked in the back office, she never interacted with customers so the chances were slim that any one of them were responsible either.

Because of all the calls from the unknown man, the police planted a record to catch what was being said and the phones tapped to trace the calls. Conveniently, the perpetrator never stayed on the line long enough for the to be traced though.

The murder.

On August 6, 1984, a construction worker discovered skeletal remains that were buried on Santa Ana Canyon Road. The remains first seen were from a dog but underneath them there was the charred remains of a human. A turquoise ring and watch were also found. The bones were identified as Dorothy Jane Scott’s. Dorthy‘s mother said the watch had stopped at 12:30 a.m. on May 29 – about an hour after Pam Head and Conrad Bostron last saw Scott’s vehicle. An autopsy could not determine the cause of death.

And according to police, the mysterious caller who had tormented both Dorothy and her parents is the man who killed Dorothy.

One last call.

After the news of the grim discovery made the news, Jacob and Vera received one last phone call:

Is Dorothy home?

The killer.

To this day the man responsible for Dorothy’s death has not been caught.

However, friends of Dorothy and her own son believe that a man named Michael Butler is responsible for her death.

Below is an excerpt from a true crime blog where I got all that information, I’ll link it here.

I’ve recently been in contact with Shawn Scott, Dorothy’s son. He added some interesting things to my investigation of his mother’s cold case.

Apparently there was a suspect that Shawn became aware of through several of Dorothy’s friends who lived in Missouri.

The suspects name was MIKE BUTLER.

Apparently, Butler was an unstable individual who lived in the Santiago Mountains and was involved in cult activity. Which makes me think the dead dog that was discovered with her remains makes all the more sense now.

Apparently he was obsessed with Dorothy. (Sound like our caller anyone?) His sister worked with Dorothy at Swinger’s Psych Shop. (Funny, It makes total sense now as to how the stalker would know Dorothy’s schedule so well.)

Apparently LE was aware of Butler at the time. But never had enough evidence to consider him a suspect or person of interest.

Who else could have terrorized and killed Dorothy?

News articles.

I got these clippings from the “References” section here if you want to see clearer images.