Death of a Golden Girl

Summary

Dateline NBC: Death of a Golden Girl – Episode Summary

Title: Death of a Golden Girl
Host/Author: NBC News
Release Date: December 31, 2024
Description: A gripping true-crime investigation into the mysterious and brutal murder of Paula Sladowski, an aspiring model, unraveling the complexities of her personal life and the ensuing police investigation.

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Introduction to the Case

The podcast episode "Death of a Golden Girl" delves into the tragic and perplexing murder of Paula Sladowski, a 26-year-old aspiring model from Detroit, Michigan. On New Year's Eve 2010, Paula traveled to Miami Beach with her boyfriend, Kevin Klimt, seeking excitement and opportunities to advance her modeling career. Their seemingly idyllic night took a dark turn, leading to Paula's disappearance and eventual discovery as a charred body in a dumpster.

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Background of Paula Sladowski and Kevin Klimt

Paula Sladowski was an ambitious individual with dreams of breaking into the modeling industry. Despite her aspirations, Paula's journey was marred by a tumultuous personal life. Her sister, Kelly Farris, recounts Paula's difficult upbringing in Michigan, highlighting issues such as an absent father and troubled relationships. At 14, Paula was involved in a relationship with a significantly older man, which her sister had to intervene in by contacting Child Protective Services (Farris, 10:46).

Kevin Klimt, Paula's boyfriend, shared a history of domestic violence with her. Court records reveal multiple arrests for assault between the two, with incidents including Paula being assaulted with a bottle and her nose being broken (Detective Michael Gaudio, 22:01). Despite their rocky relationship, Kevin and Paula managed to stay together, even relocating to Los Angeles and back to Michigan, primarily supported by Paula's income from dancing at gentlemen's clubs (Narrator, 12:03).

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The Fateful Night: New Year's Eve 2010

On December 31, 2009, Paula and Kevin traveled to Miami Beach to celebrate the New Year. Their primary motivation was Paula's desire to attend a Lady Gaga concert at the Fontainebleau hotel. Kevin purchased expensive scalper tickets for the show, costing $700 each, demonstrating his commitment to making the night special for Paula (Klimt, 03:45).

After the concert, the couple headed to Club Space, Miami's premier after-hours venue. Reports describe Paula as a captivating presence on the dance floor, attracting significant attention from male patrons (Narrator, 04:15). However, tension arose when another man aggressively pursued Paula, leading to an altercation. Kevin attempted to intervene, resulting in both him and Paula being ejected from the club by security (Klimt, 07:38; Narrator, 07:55).

As dawn broke on January 1, 2010, Kevin found himself alone in their hotel room, with Paula missing. Despite their history of separations ending with Paula's return, this time, Kevin's attempts to contact her proved futile (Klimt, 09:15; Narrator, 09:16).

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Investigation Begins: Kevin as a Person of Interest

Three days after Paula's disappearance, Kevin became increasingly worried. He sought assistance from the hotel manager and eventually contacted the Miami police to file a missing persons report. However, due to jurisdictional protocols, the police could not take immediate action until 24 hours had passed (Narrator, 13:22; Klimt, 13:28).

Feeling desperate, Kevin hired a private detective, Dave Wasser, to aid in the search (Narrator, 14:26). Meanwhile, North Miami Detective Michael Gaudio took charge of the investigation, focusing initially on identifying Paula through dental records, which later confirmed her identity (Gaudio, 19:37).

Given their history of domestic violence, Kevin became a person of interest. Detectives scrutinized his past, uncovering multiple assault charges and conflicting accounts of his relationship with Paula (Gaudio, 22:08). Despite having no visible injuries from the night of the murder, Kevin's behavior and history raised suspicions (Klimt, 24:56).

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Emerging Evidence: Surveillance Footage and New Suspects

A breakthrough occurred when private detective Dave Wasser accessed Club Space's extensive security footage. Grainy video revealed Paula leaving the club alone around 7:21 AM, but another unsettling detail emerged: Paula was seen walking hand-in-hand with a light-skinned African American man with a groomed beard, described as approximately six feet tall (Wasser, 26:38; Samuels, 31:51).

This man did not match any known club staff, as confirmed by Club Space's security chief, Mike Samuels. Further investigation led to the creation of a composite sketch based on witness descriptions, which included this mysterious individual (Narrator, 42:23; Klimt, 38:44).

Despite these developments, the primary suspect, Kevin Klimt, maintained his innocence. His private investigator, Dave Wasser, expressed confidence in Kevin's honesty, noting his straightforwardness during interviews (Wasser, 26:31). Paula's sister, Kelly Farris, also supported Kevin, asserting that he was devastated by Paula's disappearance and believed him to be innocent (Farris, 27:16).

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Complications and Stalled Investigation

As the investigation progressed, conflicting testimonies and the arrival of the new suspect complicated matters. Club Space implemented a hand reader system with fingerprints, ensuring that no staff members could have facilitated Paula's disappearance unnoticed. Additionally, the club's strict dress code made it unlikely that the new suspect matched their established personnel, leading police to doubt the security chief's initial observations (Samuels, 37:01; Narrator, 36:37).

Despite multiple leads, including attempts by Kevin to identify the suspect and Paula's sister's relentless pursuit for answers, the case remained unsolved. Forensic analysis of abandoned cars near the dumpster yielded no significant evidence, and the composite sketch did not lead to a definitive identification of the killer (Narrator, 44:59).

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Current Status and Cold Case

Years later, "Death of a Golden Girl" remains an unresolved case, emblematic of the challenges faced in discerning truth from suspicion amidst intense media scrutiny and personal histories. Detective Gaudio continues to pursue any viable leads, hoping that Paula's distinctive presence will eventually bring her murderer to justice (Gaudio, 44:59).

Paula Sladowski's murder serves as a poignant reminder of the often intricate and unresolved nature of true-crime investigations, where personal histories intertwine with fragmented evidence, leaving families and communities yearning for closure.

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Notable Quotes

• Kevin Klimt (01:01): "Blonde and beautiful, she was a knockout."
• Detective Michael Gaudio (16:07): "I've relived that moment too many times."
• Kelly Farris (10:48): "I was very angry and very upset. You know, she's 14, she's still a kid."
• Dave Wasser (26:38): "Believe me, everything that this guy went through, he didn't go off the line for one bit."
• Mike Samuels (31:51): "Light-skinned African American male with a groomed full beard."
• Kelly Farris (27:28): "Yeah. I had never had a doubt."
• Detective Michael Gaudio (22:08): "They have to wonder about what he is not telling us."

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Conclusion

"Death of a Golden Girl" intricately explores the life and tragic end of Paula Sladowski, painting a vivid picture of her aspirations, personal struggles, and the subsequent investigation into her murder. The episode underscores the complexities of true-crime cases, where relationships, past behaviors, and emerging evidence continuously shape the trajectory of justice.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Kevin Klimt]

Blonde and beautiful, she was a knockout.

[Narrator]

She was a stunner, a steamy playboy model wannabe looking for a golden girl. And when she arrived on the dance floor, party time. She actually kind of glowed in the dark. But this party ended a little early.

[Kevin Klimt]

He pulled out a photocopy of her earring and I knew it was her.

[Narrator]

A brutal murder that left her boyfriend Devast and first on the list of people police wanted to interview.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

There's history of domestic violence. He hit her, she hit him.

[Narrator]

Case closed. Not after investigators find a secretly recorded video. Her last appearance before the cameras.

[Dave Wasser]

When we saw it, we go, wow, it was her.

[Narrator]

Was a model's date with death caught on tape.

[Kelly Farris]

We do have a deranged, sadistic killer out there.

[Narrator]

Death of a golden girl. New Year's 2010 was arriving on a shivery night by Miami standards, but temps in the low 60s weren't enough to chill the south beach scenesters. And there in the throng, diving into the sizzle was a couple from Michigan, Paula Sladowski and Kevin Klen, down from Detroit for an impulse long holiday weekend. Kevin, how did the idea of let's go down to south beach for New Year's come together?

[Kevin Klimt]

Paula that was my baby. She didn't skip on herself and she liked to live the good life, you know. And going down to south beach, just like that was it a down and.

[Narrator]

Back, hit the clubs, do some shots. Hello, 2010.

[Kevin Klimt]

It was great. Like, we had it all figured out. We're gonna go down to south beach, celebrate the New Year's come back on.

[Narrator]

But come Monday, the live in boyfriend girlfriend pair were not on a Plane to Detroit, rather. Kevin Klimt was a very worried guy, meandering down palm tree lined boulevards in a city he didn't know, looking for his girlfriend, Paula. She was missing. Paula, the aspiring leggy model with blonde hair down to there, had absolutely vanished. Happy New Year. Looking back, maybe if Lady Gaga hadn't been booked at the Fontainebleau hotel for New Year's Eve, Paula wouldn't have insisted on that last minute trip to Miami and later gotten separated. But Paula really wanted to see Gaga's midnight show. And once down in Miami, Kevin scored scalper's tickets for $700 each. Pricey, but whatever baby wants.

[Kevin Klimt]

This is the hottest ticket in town. All the celebrities, oh, she heard the celebrities are going to be there and she didn't want anything to do with anything else. She had to go to Lady Gaga.

[Narrator]

Their attendance at the show was even documented by the guy behind them who took iPhone vids of them. Dancing. Men tended to do that when they saw Paula. All clubbed out. 2010 at that moment, and for not much longer was starting off for Paula Sladowski right in the sweet spot she loved so well. She liked celebrities and the velvet rope and all that stuff.

[Kevin Klimt]

Absolutely.

[Narrator]

The VIP tables.

[Kevin Klimt]

Absolutely. That was her style. She was a beautiful girl. I mean, you take one look at her, she didn't take a bad picture.

[Narrator]

And she had a lot of them. Pictures, headshots, glamour stuff. At 26 years old, she'd come to know cameras very well. She was a model represented by a national agency and she'd made the usual rounds, local commercials, pretty girl at the Detroit car show, kind of stints, nothing really big until Hef said maybe. Looking for a golden girl, Paula tried out for a national Playboy Playmate search. Think an American Idol style cattle call with skimpier clothing, Paula made it onto the 2000 Playboy's 50th Anniversary Ultimate Playmate search. She never got to be Miss November. She didn't make the cut. Still, her sister Kelly Faris remembers Paula being happy. She tried it.

[Kelly Farris]

There was like 500 women and only 50 got to make it on this anniversary type video. So she was proud of that.

[Narrator]

But it just never quite broke for her, did it? No. But she talked to Kevin about revving up her modeling dreams or fantasies one last time. As soon as this Miami trip was over. Saturday, January 2, 2010 was still a vacation day for Paula and her boyfriend. They splurged and moved hotels to a place on the beach. There, on the art deco strip, they befriended a waiter and asked him, what's up?

[Kevin Klimt]

He said, well you know, I'm gonna be at space. You should go to space Space to.

[Narrator]

The locals Club Space to out of towners. Miami's hottest after hours club. It's only open one marathon night a week from Saturday at 11pm till Sunday aftern. So that night Kevin says they had a romantic dinner on south beach where Paula bought this neon blue dress. They slept for a bit, then woke up and got dressed. Paula did her customary one hour makeup thing and at 5:30am Paula and Kevin capped it. To club space Lady Gaga now Club Space. Paula, in her six inch heels, sheer blue dress and waist length hair was a head turner even to an end of shift bartender like Raymond Diaz, who sees lots of Miami hotties. She actually kind of glowed in the dark. She was so blonde and really tan. She had beautiful, I think blue eyes. Her dress was like a neon blue or green. Raymond, we're talking about Miami. Girls like that are a dime a dozen, right? She stood out, you know, tan, beautiful model. I assume she was a model or on television or something. Paula and Kevin had been dating and living together for a couple of years. And he knew from painful experience what impact his girlfriend would have. In a cavernous dance space jammed with single men powered by alcohol, Paula Sladowski was boom shakalaka. She seems to be the kind of girl who would walk in a room and just take the oxygen right out of it.

[Kevin Klimt]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. She was a knockout. She was a stunner.

[Narrator]

Paula danced, flashing her new mini as the Finns began circling her. Kevin knew the drill. Run interference on the men, salivating for her as best he could. But these guys were making heavy moves on his woman, one in particular.

[Kevin Klimt]

And I turn around for a second, he's on her, you know, he's got his hand around her waist, he's crotched right up against her and he's leaning down, kissing. And she's looking over me like, kind of like laughing and like whatever and like okay, we gotta go.

[Narrator]

But Paula, lit up by the attention. And the shooter she was downing had a different idea. She was digging in her stilettos and.

[Kevin Klimt]

I just grab her around the waist and for him, come on baby, it's time to go do the boyfriend shuffle with her kind of thing. She's like, wait a minute, I want to go.

[Narrator]

Bam.

[Kevin Klimt]

Bouncers are on me. They must have been watching or something, but they were on me instantly. Bam. Two guys.

[Narrator]

Kevin was being ejected from the club by security. She was staying. She asked him for her credit card. And he gave it to her. Kevin said he wasn't going to reason with her in that haze. So seething, he says he got in a cab, still carrying her cell phone, as he always did when they went clubbing and headed back over the causeway to their hotel room on Miami Beach. As the sun came up that Sunday morning, Kevin Clem crashed without his girlfriend. But if he paced about outside that club for only a few more minutes after he was tossed out, he would have seen Paula herself leaving. Just before 7:30 in the morning. She turned right at the sidewalk and disappeared, as they say, without a trace. Coming up, Kevin wakes up alone, but not worried. At least not yet. Had you and Paula had nights that had ended like that before? Yes.

[Kevin Klimt]

And she always came home.

[Narrator]

This time it would be different. When Death of a Golden Girl continues. Three days into 2010, after a night of clubbing, Kevin Klimt woke up in his Miami beach hotel room with a throbbing head. And minus his girlfriend, Paula Sladowski, it came back to him. Club space, the bouncers throwing him out at dawn. Paula electing to stay. Had you and Paula had nights that had ended like that before? Yes.

[Kevin Klimt]

And she always came home.

[Narrator]

So it was no big deal to you at that point.

[Kevin Klimt]

I'm not happy, you know, it's not the way I want the night to end.

[Narrator]

Kevin was starting to worry. But he also knew Paula could be a tough Detroit cookie when she needed to be. She's a big girl. She knows how to handle herself.

[Kevin Klimt]

She knows what she's doing. Yeah, she's not naive.

[Narrator]

Those growing up pictures of pretty Paula masked a difficult Michigan home life with an absent father and and lots of stepdads. When she was 14, she was dating a 29 year old man. It was her older sister Kelly, not her mother, who called the authorities on him.

[Kelly Farris]

I was very angry and very upset. You know, she's 14, she's still a kid. And my mother still let her date him. And at one point I had to call Child Protective Services.

[Narrator]

Calling the watchdogs on your mother?

[Kelly Farris]

Yes.

[Narrator]

The man was arrested and convicted of having sex with a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. He's now on a list of sex offenders. Paula, meanwhile, waited till he was released from prison and started dating him again. By then she was of the age of consent, old before her time, but still a dreamy little girl in some ways. That whole little girl fantasy of being the pinup girl or the Barbie doll shampoo model or something, right? Yeah, she had a lot of Barbies.

[Kelly Farris]

Probably has over 500. Been collecting since she was a little girl.

[Narrator]

Paula liked Barbie so much, she tried to become her tall, thin, with long golden hair. The world of modeling she hoped to enter wasn't taken with her real life Barbie looks, but several strip clubs, gentlemen's clubs in the greater Detroit area were. She danced at the penthouse club there and saved her tips to pay for college tuition until she dropped out. She seemed to like being the girl on the pole, the men lusting after her.

[Kelly Farris]

I think that's why ultimately, you know, she became a dancer. She was seeking male attention, you know, love that she didn't get growing up.

[Narrator]

So along comes Kevin, new boyfriend, and he has to deal with her being an exotic dancer, a successful one.

[Kevin Klimt]

We got to that point where she was like, this is it. Take it or leave it. And I said, well, I love you that much. I'm going to take it.

[Narrator]

The money from stripping was good enough to allow Paula and Kevin to move to Los Angeles just in time for the housing bubble to knock his budding mortgage and real estate business into the ditch. Paula kept on dancing and paid the bills for a few months. They moved back and forth between places in Michigan and California. Now she was gone, and he was a guy alone in a Miami beach hotel with a desk clerk on the phone asking if he was going to roll over the room for another night. Kevin got himself together and went down to ask the manager for help.

[Kevin Klimt]

She's like, listen, get yourself together. We need to get this girl's picture out on the TV and out on the airwaves.

[Narrator]

Miami beach police told him he'd have to file his missing persons report with the city of Miami, a different jurisdiction. That's where club space was located. But the cops wouldn't take his report till 24 hours had passed. He'd now last seen Paula about 10 hours before.

[Kevin Klimt]

And I'm freaking out. We're from out of town, we're vacationing. You know, it's not like her to be gone this long.

[Narrator]

So what happens the rest of Sunday night?

[Kevin Klimt]

Hospitals and jails. I'm calling hospitals, jails, space, hospitals, jails.

[Narrator]

Kevin even went back to club space, which was closed late Sunday night, to ask the homeless in the area if they'd seen Paula earlier that morning. After spreading some money around, he went to a gas station two blocks away.

[Kevin Klimt]

I'm in the taxi, I get out, I go inside and I talk to the clerk and I show him a picture of my girlfriend.

[Narrator]

That's Kevin on security camera.

[Kevin Klimt]

I say, have you seen this girl? And he's like, no, Well, I haven't only been here for like an hour or two.

[Narrator]

Returning to his hotel room in the sleepless night that followed, he got an idea. Call a private detective. He went online and started calling some numbers the next morning, Monday. Now, one of them, a private investigator named Dave Wasser, called Kevin back.

[Dave Wasser]

He was desperate. He said, can you help me? You know, and I said, well, why don't you tell me a little bit about it? I did a little pre interview over the telephone. And then I said, we gotta meet at the city of Miami police station. I can get you some help.

[Narrator]

And you gotta say, what do I have here? What's going on, huh?

[Dave Wasser]

Yeah, I mean, in the back of my mind, I was wondering, you know, is this guy straight up with me or not?

[Narrator]

After filing a missing persons, Kevin returned to the hotel while Wasser, the private eye and a Miami police detective went to club space and talked to the manager and two of the bouncers who'd worked the door that early Sunday morning. The people at the club said Paula left the club alone shortly after Kevin. Club policy, they say, is to remove both parties after a fight. Mike Samuels is the front door manager.

[Mike Samuels]

She got to the sidewalk, she went around to the right towards the East. She's solo, 100% by herself.

[Narrator]

While his private detective followed up wafer thin leads, Kevin decided to call the medical examiner's office.

[Kevin Klimt]

I gave a very, very accurate description of her. And the medical examiner says, hold on a second. Gets back on the phone, says, we're sending a detective. Heart just sinks.

[Narrator]

The detectives asked Kevin, did Paula have any body piercings? Yes, he said, she did.

[Kevin Klimt]

He pulled out a baggie, ziplock, baggie. And there was two piercings, two posts. They were all like charcoal, like, all burnt, blackened, you know. And he said, would these be the piercings? And I lean and I look close. I'm like, no.

[Narrator]

Detectives then checked out some photos of Paula on Kevin's iPhone. They studied an earring.

[Kevin Klimt]

He pulled out a photocopy of her earring. And I knew it was her. And that's the worst day of my life.

[Narrator]

The earring. Paula's earring had been found at the scene of a burning dumpster. And inside the dumpster, they found the charred body of a person they thought was a female. And it turned out to be gruesome beyond relief.

[Kevin Klimt]

Yeah, I've relived that moment too many times.

[Narrator]

Kevin was driven to the police station in north Miami, near where Paula's remains had been found. About 10 miles north of the dance club. They had questions for him. Intense ones. How was he going to explain what police were learning about a violent domestic history with his now murdered girlfriend, the woman found in a burning dumpster? And how was he going to explain that lovers quarrel at the club the very night of the murder? They were having an argument. He grabbed her arm. That's when I called security. When DATELINE continues.

[Yara Shahidi]

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[Narrator]

9:00 Sunday night on New Year's weekend 2010, residents of a neighborhood in North Miami began calling it in A small dumpster behind a propane gas dealership was on fire. Flames were shooting out. A body, it turned out, had been set on fire. Could you tell male or female even at that point?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

No. We had nothing else to go by other than it was a human being.

[Narrator]

It was Detective Michael Gaudio's responsibility to learn who the victim was and how it was that he or she, they couldn't tell at first, had been thrown away and torched at the morgue. The M.E. confirmed everyone's suspicions. It was a woman's charred body in cop talk, A Jane Doe.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

We started contacting other agencies, see if they had anybody missing, checking missing person reports.

[Narrator]

The north Miami detective was with the medical examiner staff when the phone rang. It was Kevin Klemm asking if they'd found a young woman, his girlfriend, Paula Slidowski, missing now for three days.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

He described her to the investigator there at the medical examiner's office, and it kind of fit a general description of what we had.

[Narrator]

Dental records would later confirm that it was indeed Paula Slidowski. Why would a killer or killers dump a body, dispose of it the way that they did?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Well, you're looking at a couple of different aspects you're doing it for. Either there's hate involved, anger, or you're trying to cover something up.

[Narrator]

Some type of evidence, DNA, bodily fluids, skin under fingernails. The woman's murderer might assume all would be rendered just so much unreadable. Char, can you take us inside the head of this killer you're looking for at all?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

We have somebody that's very comfortable in their surroundings, who felt like they had a lot to lose if this woman.

[Narrator]

Was found pretty quickly. The detective had a victim from Michigan with a name and a boyfriend who'd reported her missing. What's more, he was still in south Florida. So what was his story, this Kevin guy? On the one hand, he appeared to be appropriately distraught. He was the one who filed the missing persons report, and he was seen putting up posters around town with her photo on it. On the other hand, he was the boyfriend, and that single fact alone made him a person of interest to the investigators.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

In these type of cases, you're always going to talk to somebody who was the last person they have the most information about what was going on, the final moments of a person's life or what they were doing or where they were with.

[Narrator]

In addition to talking to him, you want to strip off his clothes, see if he's got any scratch marks on him.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Of course.

[Narrator]

Standard procedure.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Standard procedure.

[Narrator]

Take off the clothes, take some pictures, have a seat. We're going to talk to you for a while. Yeah, a good while, in fact. And even though Kevin Klim showed no visible marks or scratches from a fight or struggle, detectives still had a lot of questions.

[Kevin Klimt]

They came to my hotel around noon, and by the time the detective dropped me off back at my hotel, it.

[Narrator]

Was 12:30 at night, detectives quickly learned the details weren't always pretty. Kevin and Paula's relationship had been rocky at times. Court records in both California and Michigan showed a history of domestic violence arrests between the Two. One included Paula's arrest in California for hitting Kevin with a bottle. The case was dropped when Kevin refused to press charges. And in the months prior to the Miami trip, Kevin was arrested twice for assaulting Paula in Michigan. The last time, Paula's nose had been broken.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

They've been together off and on, according to him. It's like two years. There's history of domestic violence. It's all come up.

[Narrator]

Well, you got to wonder, right?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Well, you have to wonder again. This goes back to he's the last person to see her that knows her. So you have to wonder about what is he not telling us.

[Narrator]

Police say the victim's boyfriend is still considered a person of interest. Sladowski's boyfriend, a man with mugshots from a history of domestic violence. Kevin's name and background quickly got into the reporting on the lurid murder. The reporters found the court records of domestic violence complaints. That didn't look good for the boyfriend. And neither did the story told by the lady gaga concertgoer who'd taken iPhone videos of Kevin and Paula. The cell phone photographer, John Williams, went on TV and said he distinctly remembered the man who would turn out to be Kevin as someone acting too aggressively in the crowd. Here's this guy who was really obnoxious and pushing through his crowd, more so than anyone else I saw there. And then there was a new lead to the coverage. According to news reports, sometime, it's not clear when, but before her Miami weekend, Paula had allegedly sent a text message to an ex boyfriend saying, he's trying to kill me. He was that Kevin. They've got a to find who did this to my baby. Paula's mother, Patsy Watkins up in Michigan, was telling anyone who'd listened that she had no use for Kevin climb.

[Kelly Farris]

She was scared. She called her ex boyfriend. She text him, I'm hiding from the beast.

[Narrator]

As she arranged for care for her murdered daughter's two dogs, she was preparing to tell detectives in Miami what she had already told the TV cameras. She claimed her daughter was terrified of Kevin Klim.

[Kelly Farris]

It's just the threats that echo in the back of my head to destroy her life and she'd never be able to work again.

[Narrator]

But badmouthing family and maybe bad behavior at a lady gaga concert didn't make for the foundation of a homicide case. So detectives came here to the club where she was last seen to get down exactly what that story was about. How the two of them had come to be ejected from club space by bouncers. Bartender Raymond Diaz told about seeing the start of the trouble between the pair. They were having an argument. They're only two or three feet in front of me. But then he grabbed her arm, took hold of her physically, took hold of her physically by the arm. And that's when I called security. The club managers explained the house policy of ejecting both parties when trouble flares. Him, then her. So in the early hours of the case, there was a lot of stuff swirling about Kevin Clint. He came across like a short fused guy who sometimes got physical. At the end of that first interview with Kevin, the boyfriend, is he on your suspect list of people of interest?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Yes, he is.

[Narrator]

He hasn't talked himself off the list?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

No.

[Narrator]

At the end of his 12 hours of grilling, Kevin said he felt more like a prime suspect with a star next to his name. Forget about person of interest.

[Kevin Klimt]

We know you did it. Why'd you do it? We don't think you're a bad guy. Maybe you made a mistake, you know, and all this stuff and I'm just like, I can't tell you I did something I didn't do.

[Narrator]

In the court of public opinion, it was looking as though the boyfriend did it. But it turned out the 26 year old dancer who so loved the lens, had one final scene before the camera. A few seconds of grainy security cam footage, and what investigators saw there made them think that maybe the boyfriend was telling the truth. Coming up, Paula's last date with a killer.

[Mike Samuels]

They literally walked off holding hands as if they were a couple.

[Narrator]

When Death of a Golden Girl continues. Paula was dead and the boyfriend Kevin realized he was falling behind the curve on where the finger of suspicion pointed. Do you volunteer the tumultuous histories that's going to be reported in the newspaper stories in the next few days?

[Kevin Klimt]

Everything signed a release, no warrant necessary. Waive my Miranda rights. Let's do it. Because I need you to rule me out immediately so that we can get on to finding who killed her.

[Narrator]

The North Miami detectives interviewed him for 12 hours before letting him leave. So you're waiting to be arrested at that point?

[Kevin Klimt]

I didn't know. They didn't tell me. They didn't tell me anything. They just said, you know, I hope we don't find out you did it.

[Dave Wasser]

She's very active. 710 security up front.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, Dave Wasser, the private detective Kevin had hired the day after Paula went missing, was doing his own legwork.

[Dave Wasser]

You remember the white gentleman named Kevin?

[Narrator]

He videotaped interviews with people who hang around outside the club and handed out flyers. Kevin was just a Guy who'd called the detective in the middle of the night. But there was something about the boyfriend that felt right in his gut.

[Dave Wasser]

Believe me, everything that this guy went through, he didn't go off the line for one bit. I've been interviewing criminals a long time, and this guy was straight up.

[Narrator]

And soon the detective would meet an unlikely supporter of Kevin's, a member of Paula's family, her sister, Kelly Farris, who, unlike her mother, thought that Kevin was getting a bad rap in the media. Not that he was blameless.

[Kelly Farris]

He shouldn't have left her. And he's got to live with that the rest of his life. And he's devastated about that. He's taken that really hard. He wants to kill himself. You know, that's what he talks about all the time.

[Narrator]

Do you believe his story?

[Kelly Farris]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

That he left alone in the cab, came back to the hotel.

[Kelly Farris]

Yeah. I had never had a doubt.

[Narrator]

Kelly. The sister paid her own way down to Miami to help police in the investigation.

[Kelly Farris]

I just plead with anybody out there that has any information to please come forward.

[Narrator]

She'd last seen her sister with Kevin that Christmas at a family get together. And they seemed happy together. No sign of the behavior that got both of them arrested for domestic violence before. If they're going at it like cats and dogs, why are they staying together? Kelly?

[Kelly Farris]

I don't know. You know, I really. I asked myself that question now. But when they weren't drinking, they got along great.

[Narrator]

Kelly said Paula was also taking prescription diet pills to stay in shape for her modeling and dancing careers.

[Kelly Farris]

You know, the combination of that and she just. They kind of got crazy.

[Narrator]

Kelly shrugs off her sister's reported broken nose.

[Kelly Farris]

From what I've been told, that was an accident.

[Narrator]

And that text message from Paula to an old boyfriend saying she feared for her life, that turned out to be less than advertised. It was moldy old, and the shaky source of it was the same boyfriend who was jailed for having sex with a minor when Paula was just 14. Kelly doesn't make apologies for her sister's lifestyle choice. The strip bars, the booze, the pills. But she remembers as well a Paula who loved her Barbies and who caught the bouquet at Kelly's wedding. Now she was reduced to the 11 o'clock news tease, Playboy model in burning dumpster. Your pretty sister, your kid sister treated like so much trash.

[Kelly Farris]

Yeah, exactly.

[Narrator]

Burned in a dumpster, of all things.

[Kelly Farris]

That was. Yeah, that was. I mean, it's bad enough that she was murdered, but to be burned like that and us not even to be Able to bring a body home was just terrible. It's just terrible.

[Narrator]

When she got to Miami, she decided to do some searching herself. She turned on her rental car's GPS and punched in her sister's final waypoints, Club Space and the dumpster. I imagine you're hoping you're gonna come across somebody who's seen something. You notice that there's a camera that might have taken a picture, huh?

[Kelly Farris]

Yeah. See if there were cameras, because there was a club next door and there was a club right across the street. And it appeared that there were outside cameras.

[Narrator]

Club Space, it turned out, had almost 30 security cameras, but none outside showing the sidewalk. Most were aimed at the bar cash registers to keep the employees honest. But there was one camera that just might have captured something. There was a camera inside, high over the front door entrance. The private detective rewound the tape deck. And then you have a holy cow moment. There she is, huh?

[Dave Wasser]

Well, I. I was waiting for that to happen. It took us about three hours as we were sitting there waiting and watching. And then when we saw it, we go, wow, it was her.

[Narrator]

Seven seconds of grainy video. The last images of Paula Sliduski. That's her on the right side of the screen. The hair, the dress, the six inch heels. It's 7:21 in the morning, and Kevin, rewinding the tape about five minutes, the detective found him too. That's Kevin on the right side of the screen, begging bouncers to ask his girlfriend to leave with him.

[Kevin Klimt]

And they say, we'll go talk to her. They leave me come back and they say, listen, we talked to her and she just wants to stay. And you gotta go. You gotta get out of here, man.

[Narrator]

At 7:17 in the morning, Kevin is seen exiting the club alone.

[Kevin Klimt]

It's a decision I'm gonna regret the rest of my life. I mean, I. This is my nightmare. I wake up thinking, if only I would have stayed an extra 10, 20 minutes. If only, if only.

[Narrator]

Although police still considered Kevin a person of interest, there was persuasive evidence now that he left Paula behind at the club. It seems to bolster his story and his recollection of the time that he.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Everybody was talked to, you know, down there, said they did leave by himself and there was no problems.

[Narrator]

The head of security at Club Space, Mike Samuel, says he saw both Kevin and later, Paula leave alone. But he and others have added an important new observation, something not seen by this blinking security camera up here, a detail that has changed the focus of the murder investigation. The club security chief said he did see Paula walking away with someone once. She was on the street. And that person wasn't Kevin Klim, a.

[Mike Samuels]

Light skinned African American American male with a groomed full beard, you know, well built, average height, probably 6 foot.

[Narrator]

And you didn't see an abduction. You don't see a rag of chloroform or something. And I'm making it up.

[Mike Samuels]

They literally walked off holding hands as if they were a couple. And they were last seen by me and my staff walking away from the club towards the parking lot.

[Narrator]

Paula was gone. But who was the man who accompanied her? Coming up was Paula's killer, one of the men who'd been hitting on her at the club?

[Kevin Klimt]

It wasn't some random guy off the street walks up to her and she just walks off with her.

[Narrator]

When DATELINE continues.

[Yara Shahidi]

Hey, I'm Yara Shahidi and I'm the host of the Optimist Project. This is the podcast that asks what gives you hope. Each week I sit down with change makers you may or may not know from comedy, music, acting, academia and more to uncover what inspires them to create a better tomorrow. Join us as we find out ways that we can cultivate optimism in our own lives. You can find the Optimist Project wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode.

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[Narrator]

Police now had two big clues in the gruesome murder of Paula sladowski. A grainy 7 second surveillance video showing the aspiring model leaving the club alone and an eyewitness, a bouncer at the club who said he saw Paula walk away hand in hand with a man she met on the street. But Paula's boyfriend, Kevin Clem, said the sometime exotic dancer was too savvy to go off with a stranger.

[Kevin Klimt]

She knew how to read guys and listen. I mean, she's been working in clubs in Detroit for eight years. Detroit's not a nice area, and she never had any problems.

[Narrator]

The boyfriend is convinced it had to be someone who'd been hitting on her in the wee hours at club space.

[Kevin Klimt]

But it wasn't. Some random guy off the street walks up to her, and she just walks off with them.

[Narrator]

Kevin had told police that guys were swarming all over Paula at the dance club, and that was a reason he wanted to get her out of there. Was her killer one of the guys hitting on her? But when Kevin and his private investigator, Dave Wasser, went back to the seconds of surveillance cam showing Paula leaving, they came up with another theory. They studied the images and thought the two club employees seen following her out are maybe overly interested in the striking blonde. Kevin, break it down frame by frame. This little snippet of video of her leaving. What do you see in it?

[Kevin Klimt]

I see her walking out, and, you know, the bouncers eye her, her go out. I see three or four people fall right behind her. This one guy that's kind of right behind her could be with her. I don't know. She walks out of frame. And then immediately after, the two bouncers, just like immediately, they go out after her. That's what I see.

[Narrator]

Police also studied the tape and talked to every club employee seen in it. Lead homicide detective Michael Gaudio. You talked to the door guys, security. Were they also persons of interest to you?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

Yes.

[Narrator]

Yes. Have they talked themselves off your list at this point?

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

It's such an ongoing, massive investigation with many people. We have to wait till we get all their information back to be able to actually eliminate them from any type of suspicion.

[Narrator]

Kevin, getting all conspiracy theory, even wondered if maybe there was a plot among club workers to make a play for the hottie left behind by her boyfriend. Police say that's doubtful.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

We haven't uncovered anything that would lead to any type of conspiracy against her that night. So I have to say, you know, that it's viable, but it's not the strongest lead we have.

[Narrator]

Here's one of the club employees in that video. He's Mike Samuels, the club's chief of security. He says, look at the tape and you see exactly what really happened. Employees doing their job, showing an ejected patron to the street. No one makes a move for her. Now this is the little bit of chamber before you go to the street. And the security camera is up here where we see that video of Paula then leaving the court.

[Mike Samuels]

Correct. After I, after Kevin had left.

[Narrator]

And you're in that picture.

[Mike Samuels]

Correct. I walk back over. I, I got Paula and I walked her back out this way. Just like we're walking.

[Narrator]

That's front door manager Samuels directly behind Paula, escorting her to the door. The two bouncers at the left of the screen were not following Paula. He says they were following him, their boss, to the front door to make sure there were no further problems on the street. Mike, when armchair detectives say look, she's a hot woman. Security guys had their eye on on her. It's easy to get rid of the boyfriend for a minor violation. And then we've got the girl to ourselves.

[Mike Samuels]

That's insane. That's completely ludicrous. Especially since the fact that we saw her leave with another gentleman.

[Narrator]

What's more, the security chief says every employee was accounted for that night and no one left with Paula.

[Mike Samuels]

The fact that our staff has to clock in and out with a hand reader system with their fingerprints. The fact that nobody leaves staff wise until two or three or four in the afternoon when we close it just makes no sense at all.

[Narrator]

Samuels emphasizes that the bearded black man Paula was seen walking away with had not been in the club that night. Why not? Because of the club's strict dress code.

[Mike Samuels]

He was wearing shorts. Our number one rule, no matter how much money you have, we do not allow you in in shorts.

[Narrator]

But two weeks after Paula's murder, Club space employees couldn't not believe their eyes. They thought they saw the very man Paula walked off with that morning. Out on the street. He was back. Brazen. Could this be the man everyone was looking for? Mr. Walked away with her hand in hand. Coming up, a first look at the man who may have killed Paula.

[Kevin Klimt]

It does look like someone that I saw that night at the club.

[Narrator]

When the Death of a Golden Girl continues. A Sunday morning just before 7:30 outside a Miami club where the party night's only halfway through. Taxis patrons, Paula Sladowski ejected and leaving under the watchful eye of the head security man.

[Mike Samuels]

She got to the sidewalk and then I noticed her and the suspect that I guess they're looking for walking across the street hand in hand towards the house.

[Narrator]

And you go over there because there's a big parking lot.

[Mike Samuels]

Correct, There's a big parking lot.

[Narrator]

Paula and somebody heading towards the lot. Behind the strip club across the street. And guess what? Two weeks after the murder, Bouncers at club space are certain they've seen the same man again Right outside the front door. This guy that your door People saw that night, the one approaching her. They believe they saw that same individual again a few weeks later. Is that correct? I believe two weeks later, on Saturday, they saw an individual fitting that description Walking in front of the club. Club space owner Louis puig says they called the miami cops who came and questioned the man. The police came, they apprehended him, they talked to him, and from my understanding, they let him go because it wasn't the guy. So he's not on the list. You know, the guy that she left with Might not have been the guy that did the crime. What happened during those 14 hours, the time between when paula was last seen outside the club to the hour when her body was found afire in a dumpster. A gap in time police all over miami Were trying to fill. Paula's boyfriend left Miami within 10 days of the murder Under a shadow. Back in michigan, he pleaded guilty To a misdemeanor assault charge in one of those domestic violence cases and was given probation. Charges against him in the other case were dropped. Police in miami say they still consider him a person of interest, but now they were focusing on the man. Paula was seen walking away from the club with Paula's sister. Kelly also left for home in detroit, but returned to miami four weeks later. She wanted to keep the case alive. Talk to me about your parents, your family.

[Kelly Farris]

It's hard.

[Narrator]

She gave TV interviews that's gonna stick on a tree. Posted flyers with the private investigator, Dave wasser, and talked to anyone who might have seen something. A big sister Nancy drew.

[Kevin Klimt]

We appreciate it.

[Kelly Farris]

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

[Dave Wasser]

She's very hurt. She's struggling. She's trying to keep this case alive by putting up a reward with her own money.

[Narrator]

Kelly put up $15,000 of her own money for a reward. Club space owners doubled that amount to $30,000. A lubricant, hopefully, for reluctant tipsters. And then, almost one month to the day after the murder, Just when the case seemed to be stalled out, Came a dramatic development. Police announced they had a composite sketch of that man the people had seen outside the club with paula. The club employees had only glimpsed the man from the back inside. Now there was a new witness. Police won't say who. Who got a better look at the man from head on. This is the sketch of that man Produced by a police Artist.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

The person in the sketch is seen walking towards Paula as she's standing on the corner. They have a conversation, and then they turn and they walk off together.

[Narrator]

That's not to say that he hasn't been inside the club. Right.

[Detective Michael Gaudio]

We have no information to say he was in the club. He may have been, but we don't know for sure.

[Narrator]

The sketch was released the same day Kelly was putting up reward posters near the dumpster where her sister's body was found. This was the moment when Kelly got her first look at the man who may have killed her sister.

[Kelly Farris]

I'm looking at a murderer.

[Narrator]

Kevin Klim thought he actually recognized that face in the sketch and dropped a bombshell.

[Kevin Klimt]

It does look like someone that I saw that night at the club, inside the club. It appears to me it looks very closely like a bouncer at the club.

[Narrator]

Like a bouncer.

[Kevin Klimt]

It looks like one of the bouncers at the club. The club, yes.

[Narrator]

Kevin thought it was someone who had checked Paula's ID when they entered the club on another trip down to Miami. He went back to club space on a Sunday morning at the very hour when Paula had disappeared weeks earlier.

[Kevin Klimt]

This place is a zoo. I mean, there's. There's absolutely no way. There's not witnesses out there that saw her leave.

[Narrator]

Hoping he wouldn't be recognized, Kevin went undercover at the club. He was looking for the bouncer he thought matched the sketch. Two hours later, he emerged to the daylight, disappointed.

[Kevin Klimt]

The entire security crew's gone. Different security altogether. From the door guys to. Everybody is different in there. They changed out the entire staff pretty much, especially the security crew.

[Narrator]

Baloney. Responded the club owners. They say Kevin is mistaken. The staff is the same, and they have the payroll stubs to prove it. Security guys are all new, according to Kevin. Yeah, and it's really sad that he's taking this opportunity, you know, instead of trying to help, you know, to. To, you know, just throw leads out there that are not helping anybody. He's got to sit back and let the police do their work. Police say none of the bouncers matches the suspect in the sketch. Now, many years later, it is an increasingly cold case in a hot city. Forensic experts have processed some abandoned cars found near the dumpster. If there was a hit there, the authorities haven't disclosed it. So mainly, there is this sketch. The detectives hope that Paula's look at me looks will trigger a memory from a witness somewhere that morning in January. So that signature of her whole life of turning heads might ultimately be the signature of what who finds the killer.

[Kevin Klimt]

Absolutely.

[Narrator]

Because you couldn't take your eyes off her.

[Kevin Klimt]

Absolutely.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, the Miami party goes on. Business at the clubs hasn't dipped a bit. If club patrons don't seem to be worried about maybe a hunter in their midst, the police have done their worrying for them. We do have a deranged, sadistic killer.

[Kelly Farris]

Out there that's preying on vulnerable women, and we need to locate this person.

[Narrator]

As soon as possible. Back in Michigan, Paula's sister Kelly and boyfriend Kevin have waited so many years for a call that so far, hasn't come. We have him. 2010 was a very short year for Paula Sladowski, murdered at the age of 26. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holmes Holt. Thanks for joining us.

[Yara Shahidi]

Hey, I'm Yara Shahidi, and I'm the host of the Optimist Project. This is the podcast that asks what gives you hope. Each week, I sit down with change makers you may or may not know from comedy, music, academia, and more to uncover what inspires them to create a better tomorrow. Join us as we find out ways that we can cultivate optimism in our own lives. You can find the Optimist Project wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode.