Paula Sladewski Photos: Cops Confirm Slain Playboy Model Seen on Nightclub Video

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

(Personal Photo)

NEW YORK (CBS) Miami-Dade investigators now say they can confirm that the blonde woman seen on grainy surveillance tape leaving a Miami nightclub is in fact Paula Sladewski, the slain ex-Playboy model who was found burning in a dumpster on Jan. 3.

Photo: Paula Sladewski with boyfriend Kevin Klym.

PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered

Lt. Neal Cuevas, Miami-Dade police spokesman, told Crimesider that investigators were able to look at other video from that night that provides alternate angles of the woman seen being escorted out of Club Space, but said they were not able to release that video yet.

Sladewski and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Kevin Klym, were in Miami to celebrate New Year's Eve. They had gone to Club Space early morning Jan. 3 but became separated when he was thrown out of the club around 7am.

Photo: Paula Sladewski.

PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered

A Miami police report says Klym claims he told Sladewski she was drunk, and that they got into an argument because she wanted to stay. Bouncers told Klym to leave.

Sladewski kicked out 20 minutes later at 7:21 a.m., according to club bouncers.

VIDEO COURTESY OF CBS AFFILIATE WFOR

Fourteen hours later, more than a 100 blocks from the club, a concerned business owner called in a suspicious dumpster fire, and when the fire department arrived they discovered a badly burned body lying in the dumpster.

Two days later the body was identified as Sladewski. By then a missing persons report had been filed by Klym, according to Miami police records.

Arson investigators have not been able to confirm whether an accelerant was used but Lt. Cuevas said that the body was still smoldering when he arrived at the scene and that the body had not been manipulated once placed in the dumpster.

To further complicate the investigation, the dumpster was in a "blind alley" that had no surveillance cameras and so far no witnesses have stepped forward to say they saw anyone suspicious in the area.

Police have named Sladewski's boyfriend, Kevin Klym, a person of interest, but they have also confirmed parts of his alibi. The couple had a violent relationship, according to court records and Sladewski's family.

Klym, through his lawyer, claimed that he searched frantically once he realized Sladewski was missing and filed a missing persons report.

Sladewski's sister, Kelly Farris, has said she does not believe Klym was responsible, because he had no way of transporting her body more than 9 miles from the club.

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PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover