After a decade of investigation that yielded only a few tiny clues and countless dead ends, the case of Paula Sladewski’s brutal 2010 murder remains a mystery to everyone. Sladewski was an ambitious young model whose body was discovered horribly burned in a trash bin near the Miami nightclub where she was last seen.
Kevin Klym, the victim’s 26-year-old boyfriend, was first named as a suspect in the case when facts about his abusive relationship with Paula came to light. Additionally, suspicions were raised that the nightclub employees were involved in the murder, which was eventually ruled out, leaving the case unsolved and unsolved for over a decade. On Tuesday, November 15, Oxygen’s Dateline: Unforgettable will examine the Paula Sladewski murder case in an upcoming episode titled “Death of a Golden Girl.” The summary of the episode is as follows:
“An ambitious Playboy model is killed in Miami, Florida. Seven-second footage of his last moments of life was captured by a surveillance camera and could provide important information. Due to the disturbing images, this is one of Dennis Murphy’s most memorable cases.
Here are five key aspects of Paula Sladewski’s case, from a long night of partying to the hope of finding a killer.
1) The night of the murder, Paula Sladewski and her boyfriend were kicked out of the Space club.
Sladewski and his partner Kevin Klym allegedly went to a well-known nightclub called Club Space in Miami, Florida in the early hours of January 3 after two nights of drinking and partying. Kevin, meanwhile, was kicked out of the club after causing a ruckus when Paula refused to leave.
Klym said he immediately took a taxi back to the hotel where they were staying. Sladewski was also dragged out of the club shortly after she left and she apparently disappeared. That evening, security footage showed two bouncers chasing them out of the venue. The Space boss reported that a suspicious man followed her as she left.
2) Paula Sladewski’s body was discovered in the trash later that day.
The same day, approximately 13 to 14 hours after the club incident, a North Miami owner called police and firefighters after witnessing a dumpster on fire near NW 14 Avenue and 130 Street, in an industrial area about 12 miles from the nightclub. When police arrived, they found the burned body of a lady at the scene of the gruesome crime. Based on dental records, the badly burned body was later identified as that of Paula Sladewski. The victim’s face was practically unrecognizable, with only piercings and earrings remaining.
3) The police suspected the attacker of having murdered Paula somewhere and then burning her body.
Investigators suspected she had been murdered somewhere and then taken to the dump where her body was set on fire. As the location of the bins is not known to everyone, they suspected that someone who knew about them was behind the murder. An autopsy determined strangulation to be the possible cause of death, suggesting that Paula Sladewski was killed before her body was set on fire.
4) His partner claimed that Club Space staff were responsible for the crime.
Paula’s lover, Kevin Klym, alleged that one of the bouncers at Club Space, where the two had been partying the night of the murder, January 3, was responsible for the heinous act. According to sources, Klym was kicked out of the club that night and sent back to the hotel. Sladewski was taken away shortly after and disappeared.
According to Kevin, the staff may have been considering following Sladewski, so they decided to separate the duo so they could approach her while she was alone. In shaky black and white surveillance film, two bouncers can be seen chasing a woman as she leaves. Club management, however, indicated that another person followed the victim out of the club and that everyone left together.
5) Paula Sladewski’s boyfriend has been identified as a person of interest in the investigation.
When the police began investigating Paula’s death, they discovered that her lover Kevin was the only person to have seen her alive before she was killed and burned. Further investigation revealed that he had abused the victim, leading her to label him as a person of interest in the case. He was later ruled out as a suspect and the case remains unsolved.