1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Well, we've all heard stories about glamorous movie stars and 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: singers who were murdered by crazed fans or maybe a 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: jealous lover. But one of the most heartbreaking murders was 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: that of twenty year old Dorothy Stratton. Yeah, just twenty 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: years old. I'm Patty Steele. This is what happens when 6 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: love turns to obsession and then becomes lethal. That's next 7 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Dorothy Stratton 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,480 Speaker 1: was a rising star in what they called the New 9 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 1: Hollywood era. It was the late nineteen seventies, and she 10 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: was on the cusp of stardom. She was impossibly young, 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: impossibly beautiful if you like tall slender blondes, and destined 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: to become a Hollywood icon, at least according to folks 13 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: like Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. But that brief moment in 14 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: time is where it all ended, a brutal and senseless 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: murder carried out by somebody who was supposed to love her. 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: It's the late nineteen seventies and Vancouver, Canada, where Dorothy 17 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: Hoog Stratton later known as Dorothy Stratton, was born into 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 1: a working class family. As a teenager, she worked at 19 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: Dairy Queen. She was shy and soft spoken, but again 20 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: strikingly beautiful, five foot nine, blonde hair, captivating, deep blue eyes, 21 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: and an innocence about her that made her even more appealing. 22 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: It was actually her job at Dairy Queen, believed it 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 1: or not, that changed her life. Paul Snyder, a guy 24 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: who ran a will nightclub, was a hustler and sometime pimp, 25 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: walked in and saw Dorothy. He was instantly smitten, and 26 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: he also saw Dorothy as his ticket to the big time. 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: She was just eighteen years old, and Snyder convinced Dorothy 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: to let him groom her for a much bigger life 29 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: than a Vancouver dairy queen. She trusted him, and the 30 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: next year he talked her into posing for nude photographs, 31 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: which he then sent to Playboy. Playboy was just as impressed, 32 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:10,519 Speaker 1: and they flew Dorothy to Los Angeles to meet Hugh 33 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: Hefner and his team. In no time, they chose her 34 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: as Playboys Miss August nineteen seventy nine and then Playmate 35 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: of the Year in nineteen eighty. Hefner was so blown 36 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 1: away by her he called Dorothy the next Marilyn Monroe, 37 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: which is kind of scary and in comparison, when you 38 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 1: think about Marilynd's life right, Dorothy became the it girl. 39 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:38,799 Speaker 1: Her looks, her innocence, and her charm captivated Hollywood insiders. 40 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: In her first year there. She appeared in three movies, 41 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: several TV shows, and became one of Hefner's favorite playmates. Meantime, 42 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: she married Paul, and the problem is, as she headed 43 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: for stardom, Paul's tenuous grasp on the big time was plummeting. 44 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: As Dorothy soared, Paul began to lose control of her. 45 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,280 Speaker 1: Worse yet, while he saw her as his creation and 46 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 1: sort of his possession, she started to see him as 47 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: a toxic parasite. The big shots at Playboy wanted her 48 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: to cut ties with him, and he couldn't stand the 49 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: thought of her slipping away. He became crazy, jealous, and paranoid, 50 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: and then everything imploded for him when Dorothy attracted the 51 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: attention of filmmaker Peter Bogdanovitch, another rising star. At first, 52 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:34,079 Speaker 1: Dorothy and Peter's relationship was just professional. He cast her 53 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: in his upcoming film called They All Laughed, But then 54 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: their professional connection became something a little more heated, Bogdanovitch 55 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: adored her, respected her, and saw her potential above and 56 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: beyond the playboy brand. Now, Paul, already jealous and insecure, 57 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: panicked at the thought of Dorothy slipping away from him emotionally, financially, 58 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: and romantically. He became obsessed with maintaining control over every 59 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: facet of her life. Okay, now it's the summer of 60 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty and Dorothy tells her friends and close business 61 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: associates that she wants to leave Snyder. She felt she'd 62 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: outgrown him, but more importantly, she was terrified of him. 63 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: He'd become even more abusive and erratic as she tried 64 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: to pull away. And it was right around this time 65 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: that the relationship between Dorothy and Peter Bogdanovitch became romantic. 66 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,239 Speaker 1: Paul was beside himself, and Dorothy was feeling guilty about 67 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: leaving him. They'd been together since Dairy Queen, after all, 68 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: but she knew she needed to escape now. The problem is, 69 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: when she tried to break up with him, he became enraged. 70 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: He wanted her, and if he couldn't have her, nobody could. 71 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: On August fourteenth, nineteen eighty, Dorothy agreed to talk things 72 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: over with Paul at their old apartment. She'd been staying 73 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: with Bogdanovitch, but she wanted to find analyze things with 74 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: Paul and smooth out the separation. She didn't know it, 75 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: but he had a plan. If Dorothy wasn't going to 76 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: stay with him, there was only one solution. In the 77 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: days leading up to their get together, he bought a 78 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: twelve gage shotgun. He told people that Dorothy was betraying him, 79 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: that he had made her who she was and she 80 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: was now abandoning him. When Dorothy arrived at the apartment, 81 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: the two went to the bedroom to talk. Not long after, 82 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: there was complete silence. Hours later, her friends, worried that 83 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: she didn't come home, went to the apartment and one 84 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: of them made a horrifying discovery. Dorothy's nude body was 85 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: on the bed. She'd been shot in the face at 86 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: point blank range by the shotgun Snyder had bought. Next 87 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: to her, Paul Snyder was also dead. He killed himself. 88 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: Snyder couldn't stand to lose Dorothy, along with the fame 89 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,239 Speaker 1: and money she represented for him, so he decided murder. 90 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: Suicide was the only way out. Dorothy Stratton's murder shocked 91 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: Hollywood and the world. Obsession had taken the life of 92 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: a twenty year old girl, a rising star. Hugh Hefner 93 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: and Peter Bogdanovitch were, of course devastated by her murder. 94 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: Bogdanovitch was heartbroken and later actually married Dorothy's younger sister, 95 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: Louise Folks, who knew Dorothy, said she was just beginning 96 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: to come into her own, not just professionally but personally. 97 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: She was breaking free from the toxic environment that had 98 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: kept her trapped. Was it mental illness that caused Paul 99 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: Snyder to kill Dorothy and then himself. No real way 100 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: to know, but his growing paranoia and need for control 101 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: sure suggests that Dorothy Stratton was just twenty years old 102 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,599 Speaker 1: when Paul Snyder's obsession cost her everything. It's a reminder 103 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: of how dangerous jealousy and the need for control can 104 00:06:55,320 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 1: become when obsession is disguised as love. I hope you 105 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: like the backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it 106 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: if you would subscribe or follow for free to get 107 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to DM me 108 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: if you have a story you'd like me to cover 109 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: On Facebook. It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Reel Patty Steele. 110 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 111 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 112 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 113 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 114 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 115 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 116 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 117 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.