It's Deadly Being Beautiful

Dorothy Stratten

The year was 1978. Centennial High School student Dorothy Stratten (nee Hoogstraten) worked part-time as an ice cream scooper at her local Dairy Queen in Vancouver, Canada. There, a young Dorothy grabbed the attention of 26-year-old Paul Snider, a small-time promoter and local pimp with Hollywood aspirations.

Snider was able to woo Dorothy over with lavish presents and romantic dinners. He even brought her an exquisite prom dress and accompanied her to the school dance. The two soon started dating.

Snider knew that with her sweet face and mature body, Dorothy was someone with colossal star potential. He began to groom her to become a model.

When Dorothy reached 18 years, Snider urged her to participate in a nude photoshoot and send the images to Playmate magazine for their Great Playmate Hunt contest. The competition's winner would be featured on the cover of the magazine's 25th-anniversary issue in 1979.

While Dorothy would not end up taking home the grand prize, her images were so well received by Hugh Hefner and the rest of the Playboy power players that they featured her on the cover of the August 1979 issue.

In early 1979, the pair relocated to Los Angeles so she could continue to pose for the magazine and further her burgeoning profession as a Bunny at the Playboy Club. In June 1979, the pair tied the knot several months after moving to L.A.

Dorothy's career continued to blossom. After appearing in Playboy's Roller Disco and Pajama Party, which aired on ABC in 1979, Dorothy began receiving offers to feature in movies. She started her acting career with supporting roles on television shows like Fantasy Island and starred as the title character in the 1980 comedy Galaxina. During the same year, Playboy magazine honored her as their Playmate of the Year.

As her popularity increased, Paul Snider's diminished. With his ostentatious necklaces, unbuttoned shirts, and unkempt demeanor, he did not fit in with the L.A. crowds and alienated nearly everyone he met.

A few months into the marriage, Dorothy met filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. Peter had just ended a relationship and began occupying his time at the Playboy Mansion.

Peter soon fell for the charismatic Dorothy and even wrote a role specifically for her in his upcoming movie, "They All Laughed," which starred Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, and John Ritter. It was supposed to be the big break for Dorothy.

Dorothy and Peter began a romance while filming the movie in New York City, and it soon became apparent that she needed to get out of her marriage as quickly as possible.

Upon their return from shooting in New York, Dorothy and Peter decided to move in together. In June of 1980, Dorothy sent Snider a letter claiming that they were no longer together physically and financially.

At this time, Snider realized his influence over Stratten and her career was rapidly crumbling, and this caused him to become increasingly frantic. As she moved farther and farther away, he gradually became aware that he did not possess anything. He wasn't accomplishing anything, and no one looked up to him.

On 14 August 1980, Dorothy went to the house she had once shared with Snider to attempt to negotiate a settlement with her husband as part of the divorce proceedings. Those closest to her voiced their concerns about her visiting him alone and urged her to let her lawyer handle things.

However, Dorothy believed she owed him an explanation and intended to offer him $75,000, half of what she made during their marriage.

Once inside the house, Snider raped Dorothy, shot her in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun he had just purchased the day before, and finally turned the gun on himself.

Dorothy was 20 years old.

Linda Sobek

Linda Sobek, 27, was a former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader who had transitioned into a career as a model. She had some success modeling for magazines like Grapevine, Swimsuit Posters, and Playboy and was scheduled to appear in an upcoming episode of the sitcom Married… With Children on FOX. But just as her career as an actress was beginning to take off, she disappeared.

Charles E. Rathbun, 38, was an accomplished freelanced photographer who specialized in automobiles and was on his way to becoming one of the most prominent figures in his highly specialized field. He had a talent for capturing new cars in their lustrous essence, and his photos were featured in publications such as Autoweek, Car and Driver, and Motor Trend.

Charles Edgar Rathbun was working for Autoweek on 16 November 1995. He used a pay phone to get in touch with Linda Sobek and asked if she would be willing to pose for an upcoming issue.

The two had met one month earlier at an auto show in Las Vegas. Linda had handed Charles her business card and phone number and told him to keep her in mind for modeling jobs. Shortly after their meeting, the two collaborated on a few projects together.

On the day that she was murdered, Linda left a cryptic message on her answering machine to let callers know that she would not be able to speak with them because she had just accepted a modeling assignment at the last minute. She kept the nature of the project, as well as the identity of the photographer, a secret from everyone.

After leaving her home in Hermosa Beach, California, Linda got in her car and drove to an isolated mountain region outside Los Angeles. When Linda did not make it back to her house after the photo session, her friends and family grew concerned. Especially since Linda was due to audition for a part in a T.V. show later that day.

They knew that the hardworking, reliable, and professional Linda would never intentionally blow off the audition. They knew something dire must have happened, and they alerted the authorities in the area.

Linda's disappearance would remain a mystery for eight days.

On 24 November 1996, Rathbun willingly turned himself into the police and informed them that he had killed Linda by accident. Rathburn told detectives that he wanted to capture Linda performing "doughnuts" during the photo shot by driving the vehicle in a series of tight loops.

However, after she could not accomplish the feat, he instructed her to exit the car so that she could see him perform the stunt. He said he lost control of the whirling vehicle and fatally struck her. He panicked and drove around for hours with Linda's dead body in his car, looking for a place to hide the body.

Later that same day, Rathbun directed the detectives to the spot in Angeles National Forest where he had buried the model. He had dug the grave with his bare hands.

Following the autopsy, the main spokesman for the coroner's office stated to the media that the injuries sustained by Linda were inconsistent with the account provided by Rathbun.

The autopsy would later reveal that Linda had been strangled to death before being sodomized with an unknown item.

In 1996, Rathbun was found guilty of first-degree murder and rape and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.