The Playboy Murders Season 2 Episode 5
#PrimeUSTV
#PrimeUSTV
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00really by all accounts she was sheltered and naive she never really thought she was gonna
00:07get out of that small town he saw what all of us saw this sweet little magical being
00:13with a big heart she was a Marilyn Monroe type and needed someone to protect her
00:21he got her professionally shot sent it to the mansion they said to Hefner this girl
00:29is gorgeous we have to fly her down for a photo shoot he had a master plan for her and when Hugh
00:35Hefner has a master plan for you you do what he tells you to do the mansion is very mysterious
00:41if you get the wrong set of eyes on you there's a chance they could track you down and it could
00:47lead to something really awful Hefner considers himself the top dog and he doesn't want to share
00:53anything I called it the playboy curse because once you were associated with that world things
00:58went horribly wrong she called me at home and was just crying all the time it was tough to be her
01:07friend she didn't see it coming didn't see it coming
01:13I just returned from work and was received a call which is not uncommon as soon as you get home you're called in the way you go back
01:37I had arrived in an early evening and it was still light
01:52the crime scene was contained within the ground floor bedroom there was no indication at all of any
02:01type of force entry into it I avoid making assumptions of the crime scene until I have an
02:08understanding as to actually what has occurred here when I did open the bedroom door there was the playboy
02:21bunny of the year Dorothy stratton laying there
02:29the 70s was kind of like the high point for playboy in a lot of ways the playboy mansion was a huge party
02:45house there were movie stars and celebrities coming over all the time my name is Stella Tuttenbaum and I worked at
02:52Playboy Mansion West for Hugh Hefner in the late 70s in a playboy world everything was huge the circulation
03:03was huge the clubs were big and the money was just insane a lot of famous writers like Kurt Vonnegut Hunter S Thompson
03:13they wrote for the magazine so it was respected playboy magazine was been known for its nudity
03:18everybody knew the playmate of the month the playmate of the year so it was a really big deal
03:23I am Gina Keogh I was a centerfold November 1980 I was in my early 20s when I came to California and
03:35being introduced to the playboy mansion it was just so much fun there was actors and actresses playmates
03:41that I got to know really well because we'd do Friday night parties up there half would always
03:46have the top-run movies and you'd have dinner in a movie and some people would go in the hot tub
03:51playboy was the top-shelf magazine at the time and it was a lifestyle classy beautiful food music playboy at
04:04that time the audience was about a median age of 35 and up but Bob Guccione made penthouse it was a
04:14little more exposure than playboy the young man's version of playboy penthouse magazine also featured
04:22nude pictorials of women but they were much more explicit playboy wasn't at the full nudity period
04:28they were still just soft focus boudoir type shots not full frontal playboy at first didn't show any
04:36full frontal nudity they would just show like the breast area or the butt area but because of what
04:42penthouse was doing and how successful that was playboy felt like they needed to start showing more
04:47in order to keep up hefner was obsessed and he was always trying to figure out how to compete without
04:54compromising his look as playboy's 25th anniversary was approaching he decided to as a publicity stunt
05:03do a nationwide search for a special playmate for the 25th anniversary issue how many girls you can
05:08interview 3500 on the hunt the criteria for this 25th anniversary playmate was the same criteria they
05:15were looking for in any other centerfold a beautiful fresh-faced all-american girl but they
05:21just wanted something extra like somebody who was really amazing looking or had a really special
05:26story they were looking for a Dorothy Stratton they just didn't know her name yet Dorothy Stratton was
05:36born in Vancouver British Columbia in 1960 to a Scandinavian family first generation in Canada
05:44she was a smart kid she was a good student and really by all accounts she was sheltered and naive
05:52she lived in a very small community her mother and father were just very normal people she had a
05:59younger sister I did meet Dorothy several times and she was just the salt of the earth kind of personality
06:06very sweet and lovely her parents split up when she was young and I think she was dealing with what
06:14most kids from broken homes deal with which is not understanding what's going on and looking for someone
06:19to who can really be her support system she never really thought she was going to get out of that small
06:26town until she met Paul Snyder in the summer of 1977 she had been working in a Dairy Queen in Vancouver
06:38Paul Snyder walked in kind of dressed to the nines and they started talking Paul Snyder represented the
06:47kind of man that Dorothy had never met he was sophisticated he drove a fast car he was willing
06:56to take her out to dinner and buy her clothes Paul was a dreamer he had lots of ideas and lots of
07:02ambition and he took one look at Dorothy and said I'm gonna make you a star baby Paul Snyder is a club
07:09promoter he was the most interesting glamorous man she'd ever met up to that point he was always doing
07:16things he was always on the move and she loved that and hung on every word that he said Paul was
07:23a fairly intelligent guy he was up there looking for any sort of entrepreneurial venture that might
07:30lead to something promising down the road and he seemed to be a guy who latched on to a project who
07:38would work very hard at achieving his goal and so as much as Dorothy was into Paul he was into her too
07:47not just because she was beautiful to look at but she could carry on a conversation and he loved that
07:53about her it was like catnip to her she couldn't get enough of the attention from him it was in the
08:06summer of 78 Paul Schneider asked Dorothy to do nude photos he tried it himself but he decided I'm gonna get a
08:16professional because I really want you to be discovered Dorothy was living this small-town life
08:24and all of a sudden here comes Paul Schneider saying you know you can go far you can do all these things
08:28you could even be in Playboy so I think there was there were stars in her eyes
08:39there was a lot of pressure on her she wasn't used to posing nude she wasn't really groomed yet for that
08:45and she had a shyness about her it must have been scary for Dorothy taking those photos for the first
08:54time when it's your body you feel like you're gonna be the one to mess it up like if your photos
09:01would never get published it was just kind of terrifying Paul got her professionally shot sent it to the
09:11mansion Mary O'Connor intercepted the photos said to Hefner this girl is gorgeous we have to fly her down
09:19for a photo shoot my name is Stefan Tittenbaum I work for Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion West four and a
09:33half years as his butler Mary ran the house for Hefner Mary would go through photos and see the
09:41different girls and the ones that would ended up in the trash can and the ones that I would take down
09:47to mr. Hefner's room and show him half would pick the girls they would be offered jobs at the Playboy
09:56Club in Century City or they have photo shoots scheduled I came to Playboy in 1979 I was modeling
10:11with a big agency and we all got invited to the 25th anniversary TV special the party was held at the
10:18mansion that Sybaritic Palace which was once a Chicago landmark it was a big television special
10:25and all the models and playmates and bunnies it's a beautiful building in downtown Chicago Dorothy came
10:33to the party and she was wearing lingerie because the parties you had to be very provocative very seductive
10:41beautiful people have all been invited the sights and the sounds are real and of course we all went hoping
10:47to get it discovered in the spring of 1978 they announced the winner of the 25th anniversary
10:54playmate who have had handpicked himself so Dorothy was a finalist in this contest surprisingly Dorothy
11:01didn't win when somebody gets chosen as an anniversary playmate or playmate of the year they're expected to
11:07do a lot of press and they didn't really think she had the confidence for that yet even though she
11:13didn't win it put her on the radar of Playboy Paul was gonna become the super manager to the superstar that
11:21was in his mind what he was doing I think what he saw was I'm gonna get her to this destination and I'm gonna
11:28go with her by now Dorothy lives in the bunny hutches which were these little cabins on the property that
11:39house different girls that weren't quite in the household yet but that was their ultimate goal the
11:45thing that Dorothy didn't know is at Playboy Mansion you weren't allowed to have a boyfriend
11:50you weren't allowed to bring a man no men were ever invited so Paul got an apartment and eventually she
11:59told Hefner this is my boyfriend and I want him to come to the parties Hefner took an instant disliking to
12:08Paul Snyder Hefner considers himself the top dog and he doesn't want to share anything
12:19Dorothy wasn't living inside the mansion yet and they said now you're gonna work at the Playboy
12:31Club in Century City Los Angeles there were Playboy clubs in London Jamaica Chicago New York and LA
12:42a Playboy Club was a place you could go for like an upscale business dinner or business lunch and they
12:51would have entertainment and they had Playboy bunnies walking around serving everybody so it's a really
12:57special environment so a Playboy bunny was basically a cocktail waitress wearing the little bunny outfits
13:03and they weren't appearing in the magazine although sometimes there was crossover where they would
13:08you know you could have thought that maybe being put as a Playboy bunny was not a good step for her
13:16because she wasn't a Playboy playmate at that point Dorothy and I met kind of a somewhat unusual
13:23circumstance and some of my friends decided to head over to Century City to the Playboy Club and lo and
13:31behold working as a door bunny was none other than Dorothy she was one of those people that would
13:40give you the impression that you were the only person in the room having a one-on-one conversation and we
13:47just kind of became friends those of us knew her then as an absolutely magnificent looking woman who
13:54had so much more than looks
14:04what happened with the Playboy Club too they would farm girls from there they would say okay she would
14:11be good for a pictorial let's use her now I can't imagine she was a bunny for more than a month because
14:19she was way too busy to work four or five days being a waitress they had her doing so many things I mean
14:25there was magic about her they knew from their first test shots Dorothy was 18 19 years old
14:30her eyes just sparkled we were just talking about it for a long time with the other staff she was all
14:42nervous and giddy and it was cute to see somebody that unaffected when I first met Dorothy my initial
14:52impressions were how much like a Marilyn Monroe type she was just this walked into the room and she owned
14:59it every no one could take your eyes off of her there was just something magical about her
15:04Dorothy Stratton was chosen playmate of the month for August of 1979 playmate of the month is a big deal
15:13there's 12 playmates here so it is kind of prestigious a lot of girls get looked at for those 12 slots
15:21Paul convinced her of the fact that if she simply tied herself to his dreams and plans that the two of
15:32them together would have a very bright and lucrative career together half was not happy about their
15:40relationship half saw something in her he had a master plan for her and when Hugh Hefner has a master
15:47plan for you you do what he tells you to do at the mansion half would say I'd rather you not be around
15:54Dorothy appreciated Paul because he introduced her to playboy so she felt that she wanted to take care of him
16:08it's worth noting that she did it with Hugh Hefner telling her not to I think if you were to ask Paul he
16:20would have said he would have said that he and Dorothy came to LA as a team he knew that everything he
16:28wanted and needed only Dorothy could provide for him half her hated him couldn't stand him Paul
16:38Snyder represented everything that playboy wasn't he was really sleazy he was not the image they wanted in
16:47the mansion he stood out like the proverbial sore thumb at the playboy mansion he did not fit in he
17:01was a big fan of the mansion and just in awe of everything he was trying hard to meet everybody and be
17:09nice but he was just such a hustler and it's just like wow she can do so much better if half doesn't
17:19like you you're not allowed in the mansion you're not allowed in the club you're not allowed anywhere
17:23that has the playboy name on it and Hefner said you've got to get rid of this boyfriend
17:28it was common knowledge she was probably shoo-in for playmate of the year when she was centerfold
17:44they already kind of knew I mean there was magic about her playmate of the year you get a hundred
17:51thousand dollar check you get a car you get jewelry you get some probably some movie roles or she auditions
17:56for at least as her career with playboy grew and after she was named playmate of the year there was
18:02no doubt in my mind that she would be a household name someday and that's when Dorothy graduated from
18:09the bunny huts into the mansion and had her room there have lived full-time at the playboy mansion in
18:18California by the mid-70s the mansion was very mysterious I mean everybody knew that there were
18:24wild parties going on and you know this is a nude magazine so of course people are gonna think it's
18:29like edgy or whatever but people didn't know specifics with a girls come to the mansion they
18:37would be told this is what is expected of you and if you want to stay here and you want to be part of
18:42this family then this is what you have to do which entailed group sex orgies drugs the full Monty and
18:53everything was free when you come to LA and somebody says to you come up the drinks the drugs the women
19:00it's all free how do you say no it's like a dream world and it was like the jackpot until you were
19:10actually living the life and realizing that you were being totally drained of any innocence you ever
19:18had so it started to go downhill for Dorothy at this point she's by herself Paul Schneider was still up
19:33in Vancouver she became very depressed because she was living this life that she wanted but she didn't
19:39know how to handle they're giving her money they're giving her drugs they're telling them that she's
19:44going to be famous and she was distraught and abused she called me at home and was just crying all the time
19:56they had to do her makeup when she went to the photo shoots her eyes were so red it was tough you know to be her
20:06a friend it can be so intimidating at the Playboy Mansion it's so extreme either way if a woman shows
20:15up to the Playboy Mansion and doesn't want to be involved in any of the sex or drugs or anything it can
20:21be really really scary Paul was living in a small apartment in Westwood I guess near UCLA and paying an
20:35exorbitant rent then Dorothy approached me about the place in West LA that was becoming available that
20:42might serve as a place for the three of us to live so to get out of the mansion and still be a part of
20:50Playboy she told Hefner she wanted to marry Paul she wanted out of the mansion because she couldn't
20:56handle it the rapes the orgies it she was just losing her mind literally she was absolutely losing
21:03her mind Mr. Hefner discouraged her from marrying Paul at the time it was very uncommon for playmates to be
21:10married I think have always wanted like young women who seemed available so she was stuck in a very
21:17awkward position for such a young woman Dorothy was at that time of 18 or 19 very much interested in pleasing
21:27everybody and I think that carried over from not only everybody she met but from her wanting to please
21:35Paul I think that was a big part of her ultimately agreeing to marry him I think Dorothy married Paul
21:42because she felt she owed it to him he got her out of Canada and into this magic life and I think she
21:48attributed to him they went to Vegas which was exactly what Paul Snyder needed he needed a piece of
21:55paper that he was connected with her that they were partners on some level the majority of the women
22:06who came to Playboy wanted to be actresses they wanted to go further and Dorothy wanted the fame she
22:15wanted to be an actress and she loved them the lifestyle and wanted to be well-known screen star
22:23Hef always loved Hollywood the movies the Hollywood industry and really wanted to be a part of it and I
22:32think the idea of a playmate becoming a mainstream movie star was really exciting to him Hefner wanted
22:37to be a famous film producer so he had all the actors directors producers always were there all the
22:47guys that came up to the mansion they were directors or producers or actors they they would always try to
22:52get us parts and they'd submit us for things to do I got at least three movies out of the mansion not every
23:01centerfold had the ability to become an actress Hef saw in Dorothy that ability he wanted big things for
23:10her he had big dreams for her Peter Bogdanovich was always at the mansion he was a famous film director
23:18be prepared and half always is this summer have converted his tennis court into a skating rink
23:26Dorothy and Peter first met when we were filming the roller skating it was just a fun easy relaxed daytime
23:35stuff so it was easy to talk to people and meet people so Peter Bogdanovich was really well established
23:43everything he had touched was turning to gold Peter was rich he was famous he was successful and he carried
23:53himself in that way and so for somebody like Dorothy wow what a difference and he got bit by the magic bug
24:01he saw what all of us saw this sweet little magical being with a big heart he was a Marilyn Monroe type and
24:10needed someone to protect her Peter was absolutely head over heels for her and she said I want to be a
24:17movie star and he said I'm writing a movie long story short he wrote her part and he said I'm gonna go to
24:24New York to shoot it I want you to come with me in 1980 Dorothy went to work on they all laughed with
24:33Peter Bogdanovich in New York everybody was so excited for Dorothy when she got the part she was
24:40like a little kid in a candy store she was so excited then a couple of the girls went out with her to go
24:45shopping and get some New York big girl clothes because she had nothing and no idea what people wore in New
24:51York I always tried to reassure her sincerely so that she had what it takes she had that special
24:58something that Hollywood and movies was always looking for you know she had been in other movies
25:05little bit parts but they were lower budget this was a big deal and that's where she was and she
25:11was she was filming and she was falling in love with the director Peter and Dorothy kept their
25:18relationship a secret for a while Dorothy was married to Paul Snyder and Peter had been through
25:24a lot publicly in his personal life so I don't think he wanted to you know blast that he was dating a
25:30married woman Paul's whole life was Dorothy you know that his whole identity was wrapped into hers he
25:38stopped doing all of his projects to focus on hers and when Paul wasn't allowed to go to New York to
25:45watch her film that was kind of a kick in the teeth to him he thought he should be there my name is Patty
25:56Larman when Dorothy was filming in York Paul and I would spend a lot of time together we'd be talking
26:03and he'll be saying how sad he was about what's going on with Dorothy and he'd start crying I love her so
26:11much but I just don't want anybody to hurt her I don't want anybody to take advantage of her I
26:15called it the playboy curse because once you were associated with playboy and that world things went
26:24horribly wrong being a playmate puts you in the public eye in a way where people tend to sometimes
26:33get unhealthy attachments to these centerfolds if you get the wrong set of eyes on you there's a
26:44chance they could track you down that could lead to something really awful Dorothy was very naive and
26:51she just didn't see she didn't see the bad didn't see it coming didn't see it coming
27:03Paul stood to lose everything two years after they moved to LA Dorothy was moving on so it was tough
27:14for him once Paul had realized that this was the end of his opportunity with Dorothy financially he had
27:21developed other ideas and so forth and was grooming another young lady to become a playmate also I was
27:29modeling at the Long Beach complex arena and Paul came by and started talking to me and asked if I'd
27:36done any other modeling if I ever considered playboy and then he told me about his wife being playmate of
27:44the year their name was Dorothy and we just had a conversation Paul had mentioned to me that they had an
27:51extra room downstairs that I could pay rent and I could live in that room and so so that's what I did
27:56Dorothy was already shooting our film in New York so she was gone most of the time
28:03when a playmate settles down with somebody they can either think her being in the magazine is really
28:09cool and they're really proud of it or they can be really jealous and possessive
28:13Paul was starting to just be more emotional
28:24he had written a song for Dorothy he would sit there and play that song a lot because he played guitar
28:29I'd tell him that you know that hey I know that you love her so much but you can't force somebody to be
28:37with you at this point Paul suspects that Bogdanovich is in love with her in his mind he thought I brought
28:45her here she owes me I she's here because of me and now she's in New York now she's traveling with Peter
28:53Bogdanovich the frustration had to be overwhelming without Dorothy Paul Snyder was nothing and he knew it
29:02in summer of 1980 Dorothy was pretty much the it girl she was everywhere she was on Johnny Carson she
29:12was on a couple other talk shows promoting her movie it was great we were all so happy for her I
29:20have waiting on him at the Dairy Queen two little pigtails and a little red smock on can I help you thanks
29:26what's your name it was really encouraging for all the other centerfolds you know because it gave
29:33meaning to what they were doing you really are a lovely young lady thank you Paul didn't know what
29:44was going on he tried to call he couldn't get through to her he'd get really frustrated how could
29:51she do this to me she's there she's trying to tell me she's staying at one hotel but I know he's at
29:57the Pierre and she's staying with him Paul had a private investigator working for him and I didn't
30:05know what that was about and then Paul explained that he was concerned about what was going on with
30:11Dorothy and so that's why he hired this person to find out what was happening with her to make sure
30:18that she was okay and I'm sure probably finding out if she's having a relationship with somebody else
30:28Dorothy was in town at one time and Paul didn't know she was in town and she was staying at but
30:37Donovich's house and I think the investigator saw her car there and that's when I think she found out
30:43about her relationship with Bojanovic in early summer in 1980 Dorothy came back from New York all excited
30:54full of life and her adventures there she was really starting to be her own woman Peter was crazy for her
31:06and wanted to marry her and Dorothy realizes she can't go back to Paul even though she cares about
31:15him she feels that she has some type of loyalty because he got her to where she was
31:20so Paul would always pick me up after my acting classes and so one day he told me he wanted to go
31:32check out an ad that he had seen and at first he told me it was for a shotgun I was like what do
31:39you need a shotgun for it was like oh I just want to go check it out I want to just see when Paul was
31:45saying that I didn't think that was too unusual especially living in LA I thought that was a good
31:50idea to have a firearm for protection so we drove to look for it and that's when we really had one of
31:58those talks it was so frustrating you're married to somebody you can't talk to her you can't you
32:03don't know what's going on you just know that you're just getting pushed you know doors closed on
32:08you wherever you go that's when he was saying if I can't be with her because I was like you don't
32:12want to be with her if you have to force her to be with you you know you want her to be with you
32:16because she wants to be Dorothy and Paul had agreed to meet at the house they once shared
32:33so I said okay I'm gonna go with my friend to Venice Beach and go roller skating
32:47Patty got home sometime prior to my arriving there but exactly what time I have no idea
32:57then we're just watching TV and talking and then we got a call from Paul's friend
33:07the department investigator and he was saying you know I've been trying to call Paul he's not
33:12answering this isn't right
33:13I remember going downstairs Patty was right on my tail turned the corner there's the door to their
33:23bedroom and remember knocking on the door and there was no no answer kept knocking two or three
33:30different times I said to myself with Steve go to open the door come on look in there and see what's
33:36going on but the door is open open the door and it was unlocked so we opened the door and there's
33:49a door and there's no door and the door and then it was just our theme it was just the worst the worst moment of my life
33:53once it came to the realization of what had happened after you know what seems like an eternity my mind went blank
34:06you know I just
34:10uh i don't know i don't know what i i don't know what i did then it was just um
34:19the worst worst moment of my life and uh it was then it is 43 years later
34:29and uh you know that's that's life i'm just like in shock it's like a permanent picture
34:39in my mind i'll never not see it i'll never forget just that was just so eerie and so so horrible
34:52steven told me to just go up to the phone and tell the investigator and to call the police
34:57when i did open the bedroom door dorothy was slumped down in front of the bed and then i found that
35:15paul's body was laying face down
35:18in the center of the room the murder weapon utilized was a 12-gauge shotgun
35:28both has sustained gunshot wounds dorothy to the face and paul snyder to the side of his head
35:36all of the evidence fit exactly it being a murder suicide it appears that she held up her right hand
35:48when the shotgun was pointed at her and fired because the tip of her index finger was also
35:55shot off and it is in line of her looking at the shotgun and turning away from it and as she turned
36:01it was fired as she held her hand up paul had put the shotgun to the left side of his left temple and
36:12fired around that went through his head and out the right side and when he fell forward the shotgun fell
36:20under him when we finally rolled him over you could see the absolute imprint of the shotgun in him
36:28i i can't the details are just so blurry because i'm still in just shock over what i saw i i mean
36:38i wasn't crying or anything the reality hadn't set in yet so many police and investigators there
36:46as protocol they dusted me for gunpowder and took a whole history and told him what i knew and
36:53um never spent another night in the place and that was her fate and that that was the end of her life
37:06she was 20 years old kind of shocked that such a young lady would lose her life so young
37:13everyone felt the horror of it i know all the centerfolds did and everybody i knew they were just
37:19horrified but how could this guy do that why did he have to take her life
37:29if there's one thing that captures the media it is a beautiful blonde lady who's been killed by
37:36somebody there was sex there was violence there was intrigue it just became well known that dorothy
37:44stratton playboy bunny of the year was murdered by the time i finished up with my investigation
37:53i was receiving calls from all over the world canada england everywhere that you could possibly
37:58think of this was before the days of 24-hour cable of the internet or anything like that but there
38:05were still newspapers there were still breaking news on television and this was big news
38:11after dorothy was killed heff he was just so upset heffner went into a depression because i don't
38:22think anything like that had ever really stunned him heff was just beside himself you know he wanted
38:30people around him and he had a lot to process it was heartbreaking it affected everybody everybody
38:37loved a little piece of dorothy you know everybody could relate to her everyone felt the horror of it
38:47the tragedy with dorothy was such big news it was something playboy couldn't even distance itself from
38:53they ran kind of a memorial feature for dorothy the following year and it was something that had
38:59reverberations through the company for many many years to come bogdanovich tried to blame on the so-called
39:10playboy lifestyle and he was just very very angry he was lashing out at anybody connected with playboy or or
39:17not and then they're both pointing fingers at each other it's your fault it's where you went out with
39:23the married one it's your fault and what really really turned the corner was mcdanovich decided to
39:28write a book about what really happened to dorothy the lifestyle in the mansion what went on and blamed
39:36heffner and heffner had a heart attack he literally had a heart this was five years later he told mcdanovich
39:43you you gave me a heart attack because he knew it was the truth but who wants to hear that come on
39:48it's nobody's fault he's a crazy husband never in a million years would i ever imagine that paul could
39:57do what he did i've seen everything that you could think of as far as murder suicides or double suicides
40:04for snyder this was all about money for him money and opportunity he wanted it all and couldn't have it
40:12he was an angel on earth and she was just a delight to be around and i try to honor her memory because
40:24she was just an extraordinary human being and i guess i would say
40:31we'll never see the likes of her again