Case overview
Dorothy Jane Scott disappeared from a hospital parking lot in Anaheim, California, on May 28, 1980, after driving two coworkers to an emergency room visit. Her car was found abandoned four hours later, her personal belongings inside, and for the next four years, an unidentified caller contacted her family with information only the person responsible could know.
The hours before she vanished
Dorothy Jane Scott was a 32-year-old single mother working as a secretary at Swinger’s Psych Shop, a custom printing business in Anaheim. On the evening of May 28, 1980, she attended a staff meeting with coworkers Pam Head and Conrad Bostron. During the meeting, Bostron complained of severe pain and a red mark on his arm that appeared infected.
Scott offered to drive Bostron and Head to the emergency room at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. The three left the office around 8:30 p.m. in Scott’s white 1973 Toyota station wagon. Bostron was treated and released, and the group prepared to return to Anaheim shortly before 11:00 p.m.
Scott told her coworkers she had left something in the car and would meet them at the entrance. Head and Bostron waited outside the emergency room. Minutes later, they saw Scott’s station wagon speed out of the parking lot. She did not stop. She did not slow down. She was gone.
The search and the abandoned vehicle
Head and Bostron reported Scott missing to hospital security, then to the Anaheim Police Department. Officers searched the area but found no sign of her. At approximately 3:30 a.m. on May 29, Scott’s station wagon was discovered abandoned at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Ball Road, roughly four miles from the hospital. The doors were locked. Her purse, identification, and belongings were still inside.
There were no signs of a struggle in the vehicle. No witnesses reported seeing her leave the car. Investigators could not determine what had happened between the time she left her coworkers and the moment her car was found hours later.
Scott lived with her four-year-old son, Shawn, and her elderly parents. She had scheduled appointments for the following day. There was no indication she intended to leave.
The calls that followed
One week after Scott vanished, her mother, Vera Scott, received the first phone call. A male voice told her that Dorothy was dead and that he had killed her. The caller did not provide details. He hung up before the call could be traced.
The calls continued. Over the next four years, the same male caller contacted the Scott family repeatedly. He called Vera Scott. He called Dorothy’s former employer. He sometimes called late at night. He repeated that Dorothy was dead. He sometimes described what she had been wearing the night she disappeared. He knew details that had not been made public.
Investigators attempted to trace the calls, but the technology available in the early 1980s was limited. The caller never stayed on the line long enough for a successful trace. His voice was described as calm and deliberate. He did not make demands. He did not explain why he was calling.
A pattern of reported stalking
After Scott’s disappearance, family members and coworkers told investigators that she had been receiving strange phone calls in the weeks and months before May 28. The caller never identified himself but told Scott he was watching her. He described what she was wearing. He mentioned where she had been.
Scott reported the calls to police, but no suspect was identified. She told friends and family she believed someone was following her. She noticed the same vehicles in her vicinity on multiple occasions. The behavior escalated in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, but no arrest was made.
Investigators later examined whether the stalking calls and the post-disappearance calls were made by the same individual. The timeline, the tone, and the knowledge displayed suggested a connection, but no voice analysis technology was available to confirm it.
The discovery in 1984
On August 6, 1984, construction workers discovered human remains in the Santa Ana Mountains near the Ventura Freeway in Orange County. The remains were partially decomposed and scattered across a remote area. Dental records confirmed the identity: Dorothy Jane Scott.
The location was approximately 30 miles from the hospital where she was last seen. The remains were found in an area not easily accessible by standard vehicle. Investigators determined that the body had been there for an extended period, but decomposition and animal activity made it difficult to establish a precise time of death or cause.
No clothing, jewelry, or personal effects were recovered with the remains. There were no obvious signs of trauma that could be conclusively linked to cause of death. The autopsy results were inconclusive.
The investigation after the discovery
After the discovery of Scott’s remains, the phone calls stopped. The unidentified male caller never contacted the family again. Investigators reviewed the case file, reinterviewed witnesses, and attempted to connect the case to other unsolved disappearances or homicides in Southern California during the same period.
Several persons of interest were considered. Coworkers, acquaintances, and individuals Scott had encountered in the weeks before her disappearance were questioned. No suspect was charged. No physical evidence linked any individual to the crime scene, the abandoned vehicle, or the remains.
One investigative theory centered on the possibility that Scott knew her abductor and had been lured from the hospital parking lot under a pretext. Another theory suggested she was taken by force in the brief window between leaving her coworkers and reaching her car. The lack of witnesses, surveillance footage, or forensic evidence left the sequence of events unresolved.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators kept the case open. Tips were followed up. Advances in forensic technology were applied when possible. DNA testing was conducted on evidence from the vehicle and the remains, but no matches were found in available databases.
What remains unresolved
The disappearance of Dorothy Jane Scott remains unresolved. No arrest has been made. No suspect has been publicly identified. The case is classified as a homicide, but the identity of the person responsible has never been determined.
Investigators have noted several key gaps. The timeline between Scott’s departure from her coworkers and the discovery of her abandoned car is compressed but critical. The caller’s knowledge of unpublicized details suggests direct involvement but provided no actionable leads. The remote location where her remains were found indicates familiarity with the terrain but offers no geographic profile that narrowed the suspect pool.
The case has been featured in multiple true crime publications, television programs, and investigative podcasts. Public interest has generated tips over the years, but none have resulted in a break in the case.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department continues to accept information related to the case. Investigators have stated that advances in DNA technology and genealogical databases may eventually provide new leads, but as of this writing, no significant developments have been announced.
Where to look next
- Documentary: “Disappeared: Dorothy Jane Scott” (Investigation Discovery)
- Book: “Unsolved California: Dorothy Jane Scott” by R. Barri Flowers
- Podcast: “Dorothy Jane Scott” (“Casefile True Crime”, Casefile Presents)
