Dorothy Jane Scott was a devoted single mother to her four-year-old son, Shawn, living a quiet life in Stanton, California. At 32, her world revolved around her son, her family, and her faith. She worked as a secretary for two jointly owned shops in Anaheim, Swinger's Psych Shop and Custom John's Head Shop. Described by those who knew her as a devout Christian who preferred home life to going out, Dorothy lived with her aunt, while her parents, Jacob and Vera Scott, lived nearby in Anaheim and often cared for their grandson while she was at work. She was a loving, giving person who, as far as her family knew, was not in a serious relationship.
In the months leading up to the spring of 1980, a shadow fell over Dorothy’s life. She began receiving a series of disturbing, anonymous phone calls at her office. The male caller’s tone would shift dramatically, one moment professing his love for her and the next threatening to kill her. He revealed an unnerving knowledge of her daily routine, describing what she was wearing and where she had been. Dorothy confided in her mother that the voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. The harassment escalated when the caller told her to go outside, where she found a single dead red rose on the windshield of her car. One call particularly terrified her, in which the man threatened to get her alone and "cut [her] up into bits so no one will ever find [her]." The constant menace prompted Dorothy to consider buying a handgun, and just a week before she vanished, she began taking karate lessons.
On the evening of May 28, 1980, Dorothy attended an employee meeting. She noticed a coworker, Conrad Bostron, was unwell and had a red mark on his arm. Concerned, she and another colleague, Pam Head, offered to drive him to the emergency room at the UCI Medical Center in the city of Orange. They first stopped at her parents' house to check on her son, where Dorothy changed from a black scarf to a red one. At the hospital, doctors determined Bostron had been bitten by a black widow spider. Around 11 p.m., after he was treated and given a prescription, Dorothy went to get her white 1973 Toyota station wagon from the parking lot to spare him the walk.
She never came back. As Head and Bostron waited near the exit, they suddenly saw Dorothy’s car accelerating toward them. The vehicle's high beams were so bright they couldn't see who was behind the wheel. They waved, trying to get her attention, but the car sped past them, made a sharp turn, and left the parking lot. At first, they thought she might have had an emergency involving her son. After several hours passed with no word, they reported her missing. Early the next morning, at about 4:30 a.m., her station wagon was found engulfed in flames in an alley in Santa Ana, about 10 miles from the hospital.
The investigation began, but the terror for Dorothy's family was only just beginning. About a week after her disappearance, her parents received a phone call from a man who said, "I've got her," and hung up. For the next four years, the same man would call their home, usually on Wednesday afternoons when he knew her mother would be alone, tormenting her with claims that he either had Dorothy or had killed her. On June 12, 1980, a man called the Orange County Register, which had reported on the case, and confessed. "I killed her. I killed Dorothy Scott," he said. "She was my love. I caught her cheating with another man." The caller proved his connection by mentioning two details that had not been made public: Bostron's spider bite and Dorothy's last-minute change to a red scarf.
For four years, the family lived with the agonizing uncertainty and the chilling phone calls. Then, on August 6, 1984, the worst fears of the Scott family were confirmed. Construction workers digging in a trench in Anaheim Hills, about 30 feet from Santa Ana Canyon Road, discovered a human skull and other skeletal remains alongside the bones of a dog. Among the remains was a turquoise ring Dorothy had been wearing. Dental records confirmed the identity of Dorothy Jane Scott. A brush fire in 1982 had charred the bones, obscuring the cause of death.
Decades later, the murder of Dorothy Jane Scott remains one of Orange County's most haunting cold cases. The phone calls to her parents stopped after her remains were found, but the identity of the man on the other end of the line was never discovered. As of April 2026, the Orange County Sheriff's Department Homicide Task Force considers the case open and is actively searching for new leads to bring justice to Dorothy and her family. Anyone with information about the murder of Dorothy Jane Scott can submit a tip anonymously through the Orange County Crime Stoppers website.
