Dorothy Stratten

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For Dorothy Stratton, USCG, refer to the article Dorothy C. Stratton

Dorothy Stratten (born Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten) (February 28, 1960 - August 14, 1980) was born in a Salvation Army hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. She grew up and attended high school in Coquitlam. In 1976 while working part-time in a local Dairy Queen, she met a local promoter named Paul Snider (then 26) who coaxed her into sending photos to Playboy. Stratten forged her mother's signature on the model release form. In 1979, after changing her surname to Stratten, she became Playboy's Miss August. In 1980, she became Playboy's Playmate of the Year.

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Life

In June, 1979, she married Snider in Las Vegas, Nevada. The couple's life quickly deteriorated, as Snider became prone to fits of jealousy and bizarre, controlling behavior; he constantly took credit for Stratten's fame, stating that he was the reason for her success, and repeatedly attempted to usurp her fame when in the presence of celebrities. Reportedly, Hugh Hefner encouraged Stratten to sever ties with Snider, calling him a "hustler and a pimp." By August of 1980, Snider's personality had turned obsessive, having hired a private detective to follow Stratten around town and report back to him everything she did. Stratten meanwhile developed a relationship with Peter Bogdanovich, with whom she began having an affair. Snider and Stratten separated and Stratten moved in with Bogdonavich.

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Murder

On August 14, 1980, Snider and Stratten met at Snider's duplex, which the couple had once lived in along with their friend, Dr. Stephen Cushner, a general practitioner. Cushner still lived in the home with his girlfriend and his girlfriend's best friend, but Cushner and the women were all out for the day when Stratten showed up at the home. What exactly transpired is unknown; at 12:00 pm, the private investigator hired by Snider to track Stratten called Snider at the apartment, aware that the two were meeting, to make sure that everything was going smoothly. Snider told the detective "Everything is going fine" and hung up.

At 5:00 pm, Cushner's girlfriend and her friend arrive home to find Stratten's car in the driveway. The door to Snider's room was closed and Stratten was nowhere to be seen; the women assumed that the two were in the bedroom and wanted privacy. They stayed until 6:00 to watch the news, then left at 6:30.

At 7:00pm, Cushner arrived home, also found Stratten's car in the driveway, and also assumed that Snider and Stratten wanted privacy. One hour later, at 8:00pm, the Cushner's girlfriend and her friend arrived back home from dinner. At 11:00pm, the private investigator called Cushner. According to the investigator, Snider had given him instructions to periodically check in over the course of the day, but Snider hadn't answered his private line for some time. The investigator told Cushner that he believed something was wrong and that someone needed to check on Snider and Stratten.

Shortly after 11:00, Cushner broke into Snider's room. There he discovered Snider and Stratten both dead. Stratten was laying face down on the end of Snider's waterbed, the side of her face and one of her fingers blown off by a 12 gauge shotgun blast. Nearby was Snider, lying on top of the Mossberg shotgun he had used to kill Stratten before turning it on himself; his face between his eyes was gone and his left eyeball was dangling out of its socket. Both of them were nude and covered in ants; Stratten's body was determined to have been moved post-mortem, and further examination of the body turned up several bloody fingerprints, determined to be Snider's. On her posterior were two perfectly formed bloody handprints, also determined to be Snider's. Next to Stratten's corpse was a home-made sex apparatus that Snider had designed to support a woman in a frog-like position for the purpose of anal sex. Police determined that after Snider killed Stratten, he fastened her corpse to the apparatus with medical tape and sodomized her for the next half-hour before un-strapping her and then killing himself.

Stratten's tragic story was portrayed in the film Star 80 (1983).

Peter Bogdanovich wrote a book about her titled The Killing of the Unicorn. He later married her sister, Louise. They divorced in 2001.

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Filmography

Following her appearance in Playboy, Stratten launched a modest acting career, appearing in five movies before her death:

She also appeared on television in Fantasy Island, the Cruise Ship to the Stars episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

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External links


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