Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
“Dance to Death” is an episode of the ID true-crime series The Playboy Murders and will be aired on ID on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. It will revolve around the disappearance of Paula Sladewski whose death remains unsolved even over two decades after her burning body was found in a bin in North Miami.
Paula Sladewski was reported missing by her then-boyfriend Kevin Klym on January 3, 2010. The couple fought at Club Space in Miami before her disappearance. They visited Miami from their California home where they had been living together to attend the Lady Gaga concert at Fontainebleau. After the fight, Klym was reportedly asked to leave the club by the bouncers and Sandweski stayed inside. However, she disappeared after that and an investigation followed.
Sladewski’s charred body was found later on the same day in a bin in North Miami. The Miami Dade firefighters were called to a dumpster where a resident noticed a fire. The burns were heavy and the remains weren’t identified until Wednesday, January 6, when the body was declared as Paula Sladewski’s after her dental records were matched, according to CBS News.
Kevin Klym was seen as a person of interest in the case. Paula Sladewski’s stepfather claimed to have known that she was in danger. He claimed that one of Paula’s ex-boyfriends said that she would send him cryptic messages. The messages allegedly claimed she was in danger and that he was trying to kill her, NBC Miami reported. Authorities then released the sketch of a possible suspect who a man said left the Club Space parking lot with Paula.
When was Paula Sladewski last seen?
ABC News reported that Paula Sladewski was last seen alive at 7 a.m. on Sunday, January 3, 2010, at Club Space in Miami. Paula and Kevin were in Miami for the weekend and had been partying until Sunday morning when she disappeared. Surveillance videos showed her leaving the club with a man behind her before her charred body was found in a bin on NE 130th off Archer Road. She was found in North Miami, nearly 12 miles away from Club Space.
Klym also reportedly hired a private investigator to find out who killed Sladewski. He informed her family in Michigan of her disappearance. The couple had been living together in California at the time of her disappearance. He claimed that he got out of the club and requested the bouncers to let her know he was outside. The bouncers, he said, told him that she didn’t want to leave yet. She was 26 years old at the time of the death and her boyfriend Klym was 34.
The sketch was of a black or Hispanic male with a goatee, CBS News reported. No known surveillance footage captured her after she left the club. A lead detective who worked on Paula Sladewski’s case told CBS that it was likely the killer lived in the vicinity of where he dumped Paula. He also probably knew the place well. Investigators also suspected that he killed her elsewhere and then brought her to the dumpster. The dumpster was behind a propane shop before he burned her.
“Dance to Death” will be aired on ID on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
