Dorothy Jane Scott

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Orange County Sheriffs Department (CA)

Offense Location:

Anaheim, California

Summary:

Dorothy Jane Scott was a 32-year-old single mother who disappeared on May 28, 1980, from the UCI Medical Center parking lot in Orange, California. For months prior, she had been receiving threatening stalker calls from an unidentified man. Her remains were discovered in August 1984 in Anaheim Hills; the case remains unsolved with no arrests made.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On May 28, 1980, Dorothy attended a staff meeting at the shops where she worked. During the meeting, coworker Conrad Bostron became ill with what was later confirmed to be a black widow spider bite. Dorothy and another coworker, Pam Head, volunteered to drive him to UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Before arriving at the hospital, Dorothy stopped at her parents' house in Anaheim to check on her four-year-old son Shawn and changed her scarf from black to white. Around 11:00 p.m., after Bostron was treated and discharged, Dorothy offered to bring her car around to the front entrance. She went to the parking lot to retrieve her white 1973 Toyota station wagon. Pam and Conrad waited outside for Dorothy to arrive with the vehicle. Instead, they saw her car speed toward them with an unidentified driver at the wheel; the headlights blinded them and they could not see who was driving. Dorothy never returned. Her coworkers reported her missing a couple of hours later, after not hearing from her. Around 5:00 a.m. on May 29, Santa Ana police discovered Dorothy's white Toyota station wagon burning in an alley in the 800 block of South Townsend Street in Santa Ana, approximately 10 miles from the hospital. The car had been deliberately set on fire and was empty. Dorothy's jewelry—a turquoise ring and a watch—were found with her remains years later.

Additional Details:

In the weeks and months leading up to her disappearance, Dorothy received disturbing anonymous phone calls from an unidentified male stalker at both work and home. The caller alternated between professing love for her and making graphic threats. He claimed he was watching her, describing intimate details of her daily life, her movements, and what she was wearing. On one occasion, he told her to look outside her car, where she found a dead rose on the windshield. One particularly chilling call included the threat: 'When I get you alone, I will cut you up into bits so no one will ever find you.' Dorothy confided in her mother that the voice sounded familiar but she could not place it. She was concerned enough to consider buying a gun for protection and instead took karate classes for self-defense. The calls went unreported initially. About a week after Dorothy's abduction, her mother Vera began receiving calls from the same stalker. He asked if she was related to Dorothy Scott and said 'I have her.' Police began tapping the phone. On June 12, 1980, the Santa Ana Register received a call from an unidentified man who claimed responsibility for Dorothy's death. He told the managing editor: '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.' Police believe this caller was Scott's killer. From 1980 to 1984, Vera Scott received periodic calls, usually on Wednesdays, from the same man claiming to have Dorothy or to have killed her. The calls were intentionally brief—the caller would not stay on the line long enough for police to trace them. When Dorothy's father Jacob answered the phone in April 1984, the caller immediately hung up and the calls stopped temporarily. In 1984, after the discovery of her remains, the calls resumed. The family installed a recording device, but the short calls still yielded no technical leads. The family never changed their phone number, hoping the caller would eventually allow them to speak with Dorothy. On August 6, 1984, construction workers discovered partial skeletal remains at a construction site along Santa Ana Canyon Road in Anaheim Hills, approximately 30 feet from the road in a remote, brushy area that had been damaged by a brush fire in fall 1982. The bones were scattered over a 25-foot radius, suggesting animal activity. A human skull, two femurs, a pelvis, an arm, dog bones, a turquoise ring, and a watch were recovered. The watch had stopped at 12:30 a.m. on May 29, 1980—approximately one hour after Dorothy was last seen. Dental records confirmed the remains belonged to Dorothy Jane Scott. Her mother recognized the turquoise ring. The bones were partially charred, estimated to have been at the site for over two years. The cause of death could not be determined due to advanced decomposition and charring. Dorothy's parents, Jacob and Vera Scott, offered a $25,000 reward for information about their daughter's case. Jacob Scott passed away in 1994 and Vera in 2002, neither knowing who murdered their daughter. Dennis Terry, the father of Dorothy's son Shawn, was questioned and ruled out as a suspect; he was in Missouri at the time of the abduction with verifiable alibi. A possible person of interest emerged from a blog and communication with Dorothy's son: Mike Butler, who allegedly became obsessed with Dorothy. Butler's sister worked at the same shop, which would have allowed him knowledge of Dorothy's schedule and what she wore. Butler lived in the Santiago Mountains and was known to be unstable, reportedly involved in cult activities. Law enforcement was aware of him but did not have sufficient evidence to pursue charges. Butler passed away in 2014. No official suspect has been named in the case. The Orange County Sheriff's Department continues to investigate as an open homicide.

Case Last Updated:

Jul 27, 2026