The Playboy Murders Season 2 Episode 6
#PrimeUSTV
#PrimeUSTV
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Paula wanted to be in Playboy.
00:03We've taken her away and gotten her out in Detroit.
00:06The 50th anniversary Playmate was presented as being like a very special Playmate.
00:12It doesn't matter if you pose nude in Playboy.
00:15That doesn't give somebody access or the right.
00:19But it's really important as a woman going out to really be on your guard.
00:23You know, there's people trying to slip things into your drinks.
00:26There's people trying to grab you as you walk across the room.
00:30You never know who you're surrounded by.
00:32It can be really scary.
00:34It's one of the most heinous cases that I've ever worked.
00:38This is an animal out there that did this.
00:41You never know who you were.
00:47You never know who you're surrounded by.
00:49You never know who you're surrounded by.
00:52It's a very important place.
00:54You never know who you're surrounded by.
00:55I don't know.
01:25I don't know.
01:55Paula was this very dainty, sweet girl.
01:59She had a little dog that she loved.
02:01She always took care of her family.
02:03I met Paula through a friend at a party.
02:07We started hanging out, and we kind of headed off at the party.
02:10She was a little shy at first, so I welcomed her, made her feel comfortable.
02:14And from that point forward, we'd hang out a lot, do a little party in it.
02:18We would go out to a club called Electricity in Pontiac.
02:23And this was before she was 21, so they had an 18 overnight on Sunday nights, and we'd go dancing there.
02:30Paula was the life of the party.
02:32She always wanted to have fun.
02:34She looked like a movie star, model.
02:39Remember, we were coming back home from the electronic music festival, and we're in her Mustang, convertible top down.
02:45And she's doing about 90, 95 miles an hour.
02:49And I look behind us, and I'm like, Paula, there's a state trooper behind you.
02:52And the state trooper just pulls up next to her, gets on the loudspeaker, and goes, you're hot, and drove off.
03:04My name is Robert Leck.
03:06I own the Modern Talent Agency in Detroit.
03:11I happened to meet Paula Sladuski around 2003, just through auditions and, you know, having new models come in.
03:18Paula was what I call one of those perfect in-betweens.
03:23She wasn't the tall, skinny, runway model, or the young, all-American sort of ingenue.
03:30She was that really pretty in-between, very curvy.
03:34Paula had amazing eyes.
03:37We thought she was very striking, had a really good look, and we decided to take her on.
03:42We did auto shows, and Paula was great for those opportunities, because we did shows in Vegas, all across the country, where they wanted the sexier model to be in front of the charger or this, you know, the big rig or whatever.
03:58But Paula's more swimsuit, kind of lingerie look.
04:03So, booking her was a little bit more of a challenge in Detroit, because we're Midwest.
04:09We're not a swimwear crowd.
04:12That was all being done pretty much on the West Coast.
04:15We're not actively into the magazines that displayed the very sexy.
04:21The prototype for that was the Playboy Mansion in L.A.
04:24And I know Paula had interest in being a Playboy, Playmate, and I felt if she wanted to really attain the Playmate facade, you've got to hang around at the parties.
04:37You've got to be seen with the people who make those decisions, and so L.A. would have been the market and a better stepping stone than trying to do it from the Midwest.
04:47Around the time Paula moved to L.A., Playboy was doing a search for their 50th anniversary Playmate, so it was the perfect time for her to try out.
05:03Paula was 19 when she tried out for Playboy.
05:06When you're a young woman looking to get into the entertainment industry or into modeling, there is so much emphasis placed on youth.
05:13I remember when I first came to L.A., I was told I was getting too old at 19.
05:17You can really start to feel like I need to do it now or never.
05:21Paula definitely changed when she went to L.A.
05:23She got a little bit Hollywood, I guess you could say.
05:30She got extensions in her hair and boob job when she was out in L.A.
05:34She looked like a totally different person, but still Paula.
05:39Gorgeous as all could be.
05:43Playboy magazine got its start in 1953.
05:48Throughout the 1960s, it continued to grow.
05:50It was a huge part of the sexual revolution.
05:53By the time you hit the 70s and 80s, it's this mainstay in American pop culture.
05:59By the time you get to the 90s, you have celebrities in the magazine coming from the magazine like Pamela Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith.
06:06But going into the new millennium, being a magazine featuring nude women is no longer the dominant form of that kind of entertainment.
06:15Soleboy had a lot of adjusting to do.
06:18They'd been getting into the home video arena and the online arena.
06:22And by the time you got to 2003, it was the magazine's 50th anniversary.
06:28Golden anniversary.
06:29And we're looking for a golden girl.
06:31And for half the 50th anniversary was a time to get more publicity.
06:35At the 50th anniversary search tryouts, there were former Playmates there with all the paperwork, making you feel comfortable, making you feel welcome.
06:45When you go to a Playboy casting call, you would be called into the room.
06:49You'd fill out a piece of paper giving all your stats and your contact information.
06:54I'm in cosmetology school.
06:55I work for the state of California.
06:58Electrical engineering and computer science.
07:03Paula was ready for stardom.
07:05She wanted Miley to get her into Playboy and Playboy to get her into movies.
07:10You would go into a room, usually privately, to take some test photos, and usually that would involve, like, getting topless or maybe nude.
07:18Beautiful.
07:19To be in Playboy, it's kind of a dream come true.
07:21The photographer asked me, do you mind if I get a couple shots of you topless?
07:29And I kind of looked at him like he was weird and said, well, why do you think I'm here?
07:33I'm here to try out for Playboy.
07:35It's beautiful right now.
07:38A search like this could be a really big deal for a woman trying out because it's a huge prize.
07:43You're trying to make it in the entertainment industry to be able to say you have this Playboy title, sets you apart from the crowd.
07:51You drop your robe and then quickly you kind of have to get over the fact that there's a lot of people there.
08:05But you know they're going to make you look good.
08:07And everyone's very professional.
08:09The Playboy shoots are designed to make the woman feel very comfortable and confident and good about herself.
08:15Playboy's always been about celebrating the female form.
08:18And you can tell in Paula's video she's probably getting a lot of positive reinforcement from the crew.
08:24She seems very confident, very lively, very secure in her beauty and who she is.
08:29I felt empowered.
08:31This is everything that I had wanted.
08:34I felt good and I felt strong and I felt confident.
08:38They've got people doing your nails and sending you to salons in Beverly Hills doing your hair.
08:43All of a sudden you're swept up in a dream world of Playboy.
08:47The magazine would have been a stepping stone for Paula to get into other modeling jobs, maybe movies, TV, anything like that.
08:56You know the sky was the limit for her.
08:58She was a beautiful woman.
08:59But when you're young and you've just shot with Playboy and you're the center of attention and you're doing the late nights and the partying, you never know who you're surrounded by, what this person's background is.
09:12I think that girls can really get in some very bad situations.
09:18After the tryouts, all the photos were looked over and the top candidates from all over the country were chosen to take part in test shoots.
09:33So from the test shoot, they could choose the 50th anniversary Playmate, which was presented as being like a very special Playmate.
09:39You got paid a little bit more.
09:41You're given prizes.
09:42As the 50th anniversary Playmate search was winding down, there were probably thousands of women waiting to find out if they made it.
09:49This could have been a career-making opportunity for Paula.
09:55But unfortunately, she wasn't chosen as the 50th anniversary Playmate.
09:58I'm Colleen Shannon and I'm the 50th anniversary Playmate.
10:04I was chosen as the 50th anniversary Playmate.
10:08It was a lifelong dream for me.
10:10I ended up appearing in the issue as a finalist for the 50th anniversary.
10:17I don't think not getting into the 50th anniversary magazine would have been viewed as a setback for Paula.
10:22I think she would took it as, okay, I've got to get into the next thing for it.
10:28Paula was in the DVD extras for the 50th anniversary search.
10:31As Playboy Home Video went to the 90s and early 2000s, of course, they sold a lot of things on DVD.
10:39In the early 2000s, the home video portion of Playboy Enterprises was huge for the company.
10:45A lot of the pearls that appeared on Playboy Video went on to become Playmates.
10:50And I think anyone that had any kind of connection to Playboy, whether you did a tryout or appeared in a clip of a video or a background of a party at Heff's, there's always that dream that they've still got eyes on you and you could make it to the top eventually.
11:06Doing a shoot with Playboy, you know, you are taking a risk.
11:12Like, you don't know if it's going to help your career or hinder your career.
11:15Covergirls and Playmates have made a career out of it.
11:18And then there's girls where it's like, okay, well, once it's done, like, it's done.
11:23Paula was still in her early 20s.
11:25She wanted to move back to Detroit, but she still was interested in pursuing jobs in the modeling industry.
11:36After Paula was in Playboy, I didn't get to book her a ton.
11:41Back in the day, Detroit had a very conservative client base.
11:45And if they find out that you're a Playmate model, then they would cancel you.
11:49And I would always tell models, be careful as how much skin you showed and where you showed it.
11:54Because as you move through life, this will always be out there.
11:59And sometimes will come back to bite you.
12:01Becoming a Playmate can be the high point of your life.
12:07But the new girls are coming in on the daily, you know, and it's like, once it's up, it's like, what are you going to do next?
12:15Playboy didn't work out for Paula as far as furthering her modeling career, but she did find another way to capitalize on her good looks.
12:24After the search, Paula went into exotic dancing.
12:28She would build herself as a Playboy model and have, like, the Playboy bunny projected behind her on stage and things like that.
12:34It can really help you stand out in a crowd.
12:37You're still pretty and you're a Playboy.
12:39You can dance now.
12:41You can come to the club and make $1,000 a night.
12:43When that kind of money is offered to you, people definitely are drawn to that.
12:48I think Heaven Playboy did not like it when their brand was associated with strip clubs.
12:55They wanted to keep it a little more elevated.
12:57But because she was in a Playboy video, it is fair for her to say she was in Playboy.
13:01Paula liked to be able to purchase nice things, and she was making money as an exotic dancer.
13:12She always paid her way, and she always had nice clothes, nice car.
13:17For a 21-year-old to be driving around in a convertible Mustang that she paid for, she was proud of that car.
13:23Paula is somebody who partied hard.
13:25It would entail drinking and drug use.
13:27I think working in that environment, those things go hand in hand.
13:31You'll see drugs and a lot of drinking and stuff like that in that industry.
13:36There definitely was some pitfalls.
13:38I know she would get groped and stuff like that, so it was definitely some unwanted attention there.
13:46Paula also ended up in tumultuous relationships.
13:50When I knew her, she was dating a guy, I think his name was Robbie.
13:53I don't think he treated her very well.
13:54She called me on several occasions when they had gotten in fights, and I had to come rescue her.
14:00I know he'd hit her a couple of times.
14:04It was always hard for me to see her be in that kind of situation.
14:08I always was like, you should just get rid of him.
14:11You're young.
14:12You can do a lot better than him.
14:15Our friendship would take breaks every once in a while, where I was slowing down on my party,
14:20and I wouldn't see her at some point.
14:23She ended up down in Miami with the new guy she was dating.
14:26I didn't even know who he was.
14:28I never heard anything about him.
14:32Kevin Clem was a realtor working in Detroit.
14:34Kevin and Paula seemed to have been together for a couple of years, to the best of my recollection.
14:40Paula and Kevin flew in from Michigan, down to Miami during New Year's Eve, 2009.
14:52Paula and Kevin were in Miami to celebrate the new year.
14:55This was going to be the ultimate fun-filled weekend.
14:58After a Lady Gaga concert, Paula and Kevin were hitting all of the clubs, and then the after-clubs.
15:09Paula was, I would say, Kevin's meal ticket.
15:14I don't think he was making a lot of money at that point in his life,
15:19and so he was pretty much rolling along with Paula.
15:25Paula was making a lot of money,
15:27and I'm sure that he was taking advantage of her if he was being supported by her.
15:33But, man, I couldn't imagine Paula would have allowed that for long.
15:37Paula was a pull-no-punches kind of girl.
15:39She wouldn't hold back.
15:40If she didn't like something you said or did, she would have let you know.
15:45Paula did whatever she wanted to do.
15:47When she wanted to do it,
15:48there wasn't really anybody that was going to tell her no and stop her from doing that.
15:53For a tourist, if you're coming in town and you don't know the streets of Miami,
16:01you're in for a rude awakening.
16:03There's areas of Miami that are just beautiful and gorgeous.
16:07Key Biscayne, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Carl Gables.
16:11But at night, you've got to be careful what street you're on.
16:14This nightclub neighborhood is not a nice neighborhood.
16:19There's panhandlers out on the street.
16:22There's drug sales going out on the street.
16:25Paula liked to go out to the clubs and go dancing wherever she could.
16:29She was kind of like the Energizer Bunny.
16:31She kept going and going and going.
16:33Most bars in Miami, they closed at 5 a.m.
16:36Club space was a different animal.
16:38They opened at 11 o'clock in the evening and they closed at 2 in the afternoon.
16:44So it was a late night, early morning club where people did Mollies and Xanax and different kinds of drugs.
16:53I always worried about Paula being as free of spirit as she was.
16:58I was always worried about her.
17:00But I was shocked when I got a call from my friend Nicole and said,
17:03hey, put on the news right now.
17:05Something happened with Paula.
17:08Kevin wakes up the next morning in their hotel around 11.30 a.m.
17:19And he's very surprised that Paula has not returned.
17:23Kevin reaches out to the police to file a missing persons report.
17:27But they say that it's too soon.
17:29So Kevin started calling around and was able to find a private investigator just that day to help him locate his girlfriend.
17:36Kevin Clem called me early January 3rd.
17:42The weekend was there.
17:43It would have been New Year's Eve.
17:44And while I'm in the office, I got the call.
17:47He told me his girlfriend was missing.
17:49He seemed desperate.
17:50And I said, why don't I take you down to the city of Miami police station and we'll get a detective that's going to help us out and get this thing moving.
18:01I had contacts in Miami.
18:06I've been in law enforcement.
18:07I've been working in the system for a long time.
18:10And so fortunately, I got to somebody that got us in the right hands very quickly.
18:16And Kevin went down there.
18:17I didn't hear the story until the detective, me and Kevin, were sitting there in the city of Miami police station.
18:23And he was telling the two of us what had happened.
18:31Kevin tells police that he and Paula were in Miami to celebrate the New Year with some very hard partying.
18:40According to Kevin, Paula went into club space at approximately 530 in the morning.
18:46They arrived by cab.
18:47They seemed to be drinking heavily.
18:50Paula was a type of gal that people would turn their heads to look at her because she was special.
18:56She was pretty.
18:57She was sexy.
18:58And she had all eyes on her when she was in that club.
19:03Being a beautiful woman walking into a nightclub, there can be a lot of benefits.
19:07People want to buy you drinks.
19:09People want to let you into a VIP area.
19:11You know, you can get everything comped or for free.
19:14But it's really important as a woman going out to really be on your guard.
19:20You know, there's people trying to slip things into your drinks.
19:23There's people trying to grab you as you walk across the room.
19:28Kevin saw somebody he thought he knew in the upstairs part of the club.
19:33So he went up to try to find that person and say hello to him.
19:40Being an attractive woman is, it kind of makes you a magnet.
19:44And sometimes you're attracting the wrong attention, you know?
19:52Kevin told us when he came back down, the situation around Paula was out of control.
20:01Paula was dancing.
20:03Guys were grinding next to her.
20:11At that point, Kevin grabbed her and said, Paula, come on, babe, let's go.
20:17And she picked her arm up to push him away.
20:23That was Paula to a T.
20:25Nobody was going to tell her what she could or couldn't do.
20:27She was going to do what she wanted, when she wanted.
20:33Within seconds, bouncers were on Kevin.
20:38Kevin was escorted out of the club about 7.15 in the morning.
20:44He gets outside.
20:46Kevin told us he's upset because he's thrown out.
20:50If Paula pushed him away, she wouldn't come with him.
20:55Kevin decides, well, I'm just going to go back to the hotel in Miami Beach.
21:01Takes a cab back to his hotel.
21:03But as far as he knew, Paula's still there at club space.
21:13He thought she might be partying for a while.
21:16He thought she may go somewhere else to another club.
21:18But for her not to return after several hours, after he woke up, he seemed worried about her.
21:26With that information that he had given us, me and the detective went back to club space.
21:38And we had contacted a manager who was able to get access to the video room.
21:46So we started going through tapes of camera footage of them and the club.
21:52The surveillance cameras in this particular club were aimed at the door and at the bar, at the cash register.
22:00So what they're really surveilling is their employees to make sure nobody's stealing and that they're doing the right thing.
22:06But what they're not looking at is the whole area of the club with their patrons.
22:12Kevin was seen on video being escorted out of the club.
22:16And then Paula was escorted out less than 10 minutes after Kevin.
22:28It's common practice at many nightclubs where if a couple is in an altercation inside the club,
22:34they will be separated and escorted out at different times.
22:38Kevin was actually holding Paula's cell phone when he was ejected from the club.
22:42So by the time Paula's out of the club, she has no way to contact him or anyone else.
22:47The security footage, grainy footage, it was not real clear.
22:52There was a number of men that actually followed her out as soon as she passed.
23:01All of the security cameras at club space were inside the club.
23:05So after Paula's left the club, no one can account for her movements.
23:12Wassner and Kevin, they take to the streets.
23:14They're handing out flyers, showing her picture, and asking anyone if they've seen Paula.
23:21I'm there as a private investigator.
23:23I have no authority.
23:25My job is to help try to find her.
23:28And you want to check out as many places as you can to find Paula.
23:32Well, I'm giving Kevin advice of, hey, let's start calling hospitals.
23:36Let's start calling a medical examiner.
23:38Let's call local jails, you know.
23:41Let's eliminate all the places we can so we can keep our focus to where she is.
23:48He got hold of the medical examiner's office
23:51and learned that there was a body that had been located in North Miami.
23:57And they wanted to talk to Kevin.
24:02When Kevin gets to the medical examiner's office,
24:06they show him some earrings that belonged to a female,
24:09but the earrings were badly burned.
24:12And Kevin didn't really recognize the first two earrings they showed him.
24:15But then they showed him a third earring.
24:18And Kevin immediately recognized that item as an earring that belonged to Paula.
24:23Sladuski's burned body was found in a North Miami trash can.
24:30You know, we can't even, we can't even give her an open casket.
24:33We can't even see her again.
24:35The 26-year-old woman's family has said she was strangled before she was set on fire.
24:41She had to be identified using dental records.
24:43What happened to Paula, that's just devastating.
24:48It's horrifying.
24:50It's just a tragedy.
24:53When the police discover a body, what becomes very critical is getting the medical examiner
25:02to identify the body and work with whatever remains they have, note the injuries.
25:08Was this a case of a strangulation or was there a potential shooting?
25:12In this case, all the police discovered of Paula in that dumpster were charred human remains.
25:19There wasn't much left, unfortunately, so it was not possible for the medical examiner
25:24to identify how Paula was murdered before her body was burned.
25:30It is no longer a missing persons case.
25:33It becomes a homicide.
25:35And there should be a lot more investigation now being conducted.
25:39The North Miami police got hold of Kevin and started interrogating him for an awfully long
25:46time, and I could tell he was very concerned.
25:50When they initially bring Kevin in to interview him, Kevin speaks without a lawyer, and it winds
25:55up being a 12-hour interrogation.
25:59Police find out Kevin and Paula had a tumultuous relationship.
26:04Kevin had broken Paula's nose once.
26:07Kevin is a documented criminal history of domestic violence.
26:13Kevin now looks like a prime suspect in this case.
26:22With Kevin Klim, police now have a boyfriend who has used violence in the past against his
26:27girlfriend.
26:28They've been drinking all weekend long.
26:30They have a fight.
26:33Paula is found dead.
26:37Things aren't looking that good for him.
26:42Domestic violence, unfortunately, is a huge concern amongst playmates or women who are in
26:46the modeling industry.
26:48You meet men who are really attracted to that, but then they become possessive and jealous,
26:53and that can play into the arguing.
26:55It can play into things escalating, unfortunately.
26:59Kevin denied any involvement in Paula's murder, and the police didn't have any reason to hold
27:03him, so they released him, but advised him to stay in Miami.
27:07I felt that the police were trying to close his case and arrest Kevin.
27:11I didn't know him from Adam, and I wanted to feel more comfortable that he was my client
27:17and who he was.
27:18So I wanted to go back to the hotel where he was just to see the room, to see what I could
27:24see, if there was anything that stood out to me that was unusual.
27:27To burn a victim's body, it's a way to make sure that this victim can't be identified quickly,
27:35and that no biological material, including DNA, can be traced back to the offender.
27:42So in this mindset, it's all about the cover-up.
27:45I was looking around.
27:49There was nothing outstanding at the room other than what he described, you know, stuff from
27:54her getting dressed to go to see Lady Gaga, her clothing in there, no blood, nothing that
28:00looked like there had been a struggle in his room, anything like that.
28:04So while I was looking, I also started providing information to North Miami police.
28:16Paula was missing from Club Space, which is downtown Miami.
28:20She was found about 12 minutes to the north in an industrial area in North Miami.
28:28North Miami police get the jurisdiction that they take the case.
28:34Kevin didn't know Miami.
28:37He did not have a vehicle, which becomes very paramount, because it was clear that whoever
28:43had murdered Paula would have had to transport her body probably to a location that was known
28:49to the assailant.
28:50And Kevin just didn't have the means.
28:52He didn't have knowledge about the area.
28:55And so given that, the police are starting to think that he might not be the perpetrator.
29:00I also went back to a gas station where I recovered a video, which showed Kevin coming in and presenting
29:08a picture of Paula to the clerk and asking if he'd seen her around.
29:14There was a window of approximately 14 hours between the time that Paula left the club and
29:21the time that she was discovered burned in a dumpster.
29:24Kevin's activities were known during that period of time.
29:28After that, the police cleared Kevin of any wrongdoing or any suspicion.
29:34He was no longer a person of interest for North Miami.
29:37And so he was no longer involved in the case.
29:40After police cleared Kevin, he returns to Detroit.
29:47It's part of the tragedy of this case.
29:50Had Kevin just waited around for 20 minutes, he could have possibly been there to stop whatever
29:56vicious attack happened on his girlfriend.
30:00I'm sure that that's something he has to live with every day.
30:03As part of their investigation, the police are naturally going to go back to the club.
30:10They want to interview potential witnesses.
30:12Did anyone see Paula leaving with anyone?
30:15Do you remember the white gentleman named Kevin?
30:19I started to canvas that whole club space neighborhood.
30:23There were some street artists and vendors close by.
30:25As it would turn out, they got lucky in that regard, in that they found a witness who said
30:31that he saw a woman, matching Paula's description, walking away from the club with an African-American
30:38male.
30:41North Miami police came up with a sketch that was based upon that witness that had said that
30:47this man was walking out of club space hand-in-hand with Paula.
30:55When Paula's case was covered in the news, she was often referred to as a Playboy model.
31:00I'm not sure how much news of Paula's murder affected the Playboy community.
31:04Usually, if Playboy can, they try not to comment or distance themselves from bad publicity.
31:13There was initially an accusation that the man in the sketch was one of the bouncers at the club.
31:19But the police had interviewed all the bouncers, and there were surveillance.
31:23There were cameras that showed their whereabouts, and so the police were able to determine that
31:28it was not one of the bouncers at the club that was in this sketch.
31:34There was nothing that I know of that came of that sketch.
31:38There's never been any mention of who this guy was or anything like that.
31:43So, as time moved along, there were no new leads in this investigation.
31:51I was a major crimes investigator and worked on a lot of murder cases.
31:58I kind of knew a little bit about investigation and what was going on, and this was striking
32:03me as just inadequate work.
32:08I felt very strongly that we needed to find the perpetrator that did this.
32:14It's one of the most heinous cases that I've ever worked and ever seen.
32:22This is an animal out there that did this.
32:27And that guy should not be walking the streets.
32:30Paula's family hired David to keep investigating and keep trying to find clues that might lead
32:45to an arrest in Paula's case.
32:46I spoke to Kelly, Paula's sister, on the telephone, and we had had several conversations.
32:53She wanted to fly in, do what she could to help out.
32:56I can't see myself living a normal life until I know whoever did this has paid for it.
33:03I can only pray that somebody will come forward.
33:05Somebody had to have seen something.
33:11I met her, and we designed a poster.
33:15We were posting these posters all over the area where Paula was found, hoping that we could
33:22get some information.
33:23We were talking to neighbors down the street and to try to find out if anybody even saw
33:29the fire or remembered anything.
33:32A lot of homicide cases go those first 48 hours, and then if they don't start getting
33:37some concrete information, they just sit there.
33:40I felt that during that time, the police spent way too much time on Kevin, and they missed
33:45opportunities.
33:46There were so many witnesses in this club, so many people that needed to be talked to,
34:01and to this day, I don't know what the police did or didn't do.
34:04One of the weird questions that struck me as being so important in this case is none of
34:14the people that we were talking to had been visited by the police.
34:17And that's just police work 101 in homicide, canvassed a neighborhood where Paula was found ASAP.
34:27They hadn't even talked to these neighbors yet.
34:31Initially, Kevin and Wasser had gone to the Miami Police Department.
34:36However, when Paula's body was discovered, it was actually located in a suburb just outside
34:41of Miami proper, an area called North Miami.
34:45So now the police were essentially directing Kevin to deal with North Miami Police Department
34:52and not Miami Police Department.
34:54I was way ahead of them, and I was dumbfounded why they hadn't done that.
35:03Now, mind you, North Miami is a very poor city located in North Miami, Florida, and North
35:10Miami's quality of homicide investigations at that time was, I'm sorry to say, but below the
35:19standards, in my opinion, of anywhere in Dade County.
35:25Some killers do their homework.
35:27They might target certain women, or in the same way, they gather intel about the jurisdiction
35:32they're in, looking for a location where the police can't pay attention to them.
35:38North Miami Police does not share, and they don't have to share, their information in an
35:43open homicide case with anybody.
35:45But I do believe that this is one of those cases that private investigators could have
35:50really helped and made a difference.
35:53I was not there to solve a homicide.
35:55I was there to, in the beginning, to try to help find Paula, and then it turned into,
36:00the police don't seem like they're really, really following this thing too strongly, and
36:05we need to keep this case alive.
36:07Maybe somebody will come forward that saw something.
36:09Eventually, I was able to find a witness who was in one of the tall condominiums, upscale
36:20building on Biscayne Boulevard, and a block away from Club Space.
36:26And that guy was a really credible witness to me.
36:32He was a professional.
36:34It bothered him, because he didn't want to be involved.
36:38But he reached out to me and told me he was walking his dogs on the same corner of the street
36:46that Club Space is on.
36:47And he saw this woman who matched Paula's description coming up the sidewalk.
36:56And he thought it was very strange that a woman dressed like Paula was dressed,
37:03with a short skirt and the long blonde hair, it caught his attention.
37:08And then he saw a truck driving down the street in the wrong direction.
37:16It was a one-way street.
37:19And Paula gets into the truck.
37:25The truck turned the corner and left.
37:28Now, that would have to be some coincidence for a person to be traveling at that time,
37:38on that road, at the exact moment that Paula was walking out.
37:44It's possible, but I still think it's more likely that her perpetrator knew her from inside
37:49the club, or at least spotted her and targeted her earlier.
37:52I think that it was somebody that she had contact with that night in the club,
38:00or connected with somebody that either worked in the club or that were in the club,
38:06that saw an opportunity to take advantage of her and her condition.
38:12I would say that the motive is likely a sexual assault,
38:17and the perpetrator did not want to leave a witness.
38:22I think the hard part for me was imagining her...
38:34I'm sorry.
38:39Imagining her having to go through that.
38:41Leaving a club on New Year's Eve is supposed to be a celebratory evening.
38:57Not being in a city you know.
39:00And ending up cold and lost and separated from her boyfriend.
39:06It's got to be terrifying.
39:08Absolutely.
39:08You would hope humanity would want to help you,
39:11and somebody would do the right thing,
39:14but unfortunately, in our world, you never know.
39:18Like, I don't...
39:19It's hard to trust people these days.
39:23Paula's story, it's very scary, because I feel like I can relate.
39:26I remember, you know, so many times when I would go out with a few friends
39:30and kind of have to find my way back home,
39:33and I just feel like this is the kind of thing that could happen to anybody,
39:35and it's really terrifying.
39:37Police continue to search for clues that might lead them to Paula's murder.
39:45But as no new leads came in,
39:47Paula Sliduski's brutal murder is now considered a cold case.
39:49I believe that this case can be solved, it should be solved,
39:59and there's still avenues to go down to solve this case.
40:04But the question is, will somebody else work this case and move forward on it?
40:11It certainly deserves it.
40:12I think Paula would have been in movies.
40:17She would have been there.
40:19She wouldn't have let anything have held her back.
40:21I would have loved to have seen Paula have fully realized her dream.