. blonde and beautiful. >> she was a knockout. she was aid stunner. wannabe. >> looking for a golden girl will. >> and when she arrived on the dance floor, party time. >> but this party ended a little early. >> he pulled out a photo copy of her earring and i knew it was her. >> a brutal murder that left her boyfriend devastated and first on the list of people police wanted to interview. >> it was it domestic violence. she hit him, he hit her. >> case closed? not after investigators find a secretly recorded video, her last appearance before the cameras. >> when we saw it, weigh go, wow, it was her. >> was a model's date with death caught on tape?

>> we do have a deranged sadistic killer out there. >> "death of a golden girl." good evening and welcome to "datelin "dateline "dateline." i'm lester holt. she was no stranger to a cam raxt as a model, this young girl's picture had been taken hundreds of time. but the picture that interested police was a few seconds of grainy video secretly recorded during the last hours of her life. here's dennis murphy. ♪ >> reporter: new year's 2010 was arriving on a shivery night by miami standards, by temps in the low 60s were enough to chill the south beach seemsters. and there in the front diving into the sizzle was a couple from michigan, paula and kevin.

doubt from detroit for an impulse long holiday weekend. >> kevin, how did the idea of let's go down to south beach for new year's come together? >> paula. that was my baby. she didn't skimp on herself and she liked to live the good life, you know. and going down to south beach was, like, that was it. >> reporter: a down and back, hit the clubs, do some shopping and hello 2010. >> it was great. like we had is it all figured out. go down to south beach, celebrate the new year, come back on monday. >> reporter: but come monday, the live-in boyfriend/girlfriend pair were not on a plane to detroit. rather, kevin clim was a very worried guy meandering down palm-lined boulevard in a city he didn't know look for his girlfriend paula. she was missing, paula, the aspiring leggy blonde model with hair down to there had absolutely vanished. >> happy new year!

>> reporter: looking back, maybe if lady gaga hadn't been booked at the fon tan blue hotel on new year's eve maybe she hadn't insisted on the trip and later gotten separated. but paula really wanted to see gaga's midnight show. and once down in miami, kevin scored scalper's tickets for $700 each. expensive but whatever baby wants. >> you heard the celebrity would be there and she didn't want anything to do with anything else. she had to go to lady gaga. >> reporter: their attendance at the show was documented with the guy behind them who took iphone pictures of men dancing. men tended to do that for paula. in 2010 and not much longer was starting off for paula sla introduce ki the way she loved. >> she loved all of that, the vip table. >> absolutely. she was a beautiful girl. you take a look at her, she didn't take a bad picture.

>> reporter: and she had a lot of them. pictures, head shots, it glamour stuff. at 26 years old, she had come to know cameras very well. she was a model represented by a national agency. and she had made the usual rounds, local commercials, pretty girl at the detroit car show kind of stinlt. nothing really big until hef said maybe. >> looking for a golden girl. >> reporter: paula tried out for a national playboy playmate search. think an "american idol" cattle call with skimpier clothing. paula made it on to the video, the ultimate playmate search. she never got to be miss november. she didn't make the cut. still, her sister kelly ferris remembers paula being happy she tried it. >> there was like 500 women and only 50 made it on the anniversary video. so she was proud of that. >> but it just never quite broke for her, did it? >> no. >> reporter: but she talked to

kevin about reffing up her modeling dreams or fanltcys one last time as soon as the miami trip was over. saturday, january 2, 2010, was still a vacation gay for paula and her boyfriend. she splurged an moved hotels to a place on the beach. there on the art deco strip, they befriended a wairlt and asked him, what's up? he said, i'll be at space. you should go to space. >> reporter: space to the locals, club space to out of towners, miami's hottest after-hours club. it's only opened one marathon night a week from saturday at 11:00 p.m. until sunday afternoon. so that night, kevin says, they had a romantic dinner on south beach where paula bought this neon blue dress. they slept for a bit, woke up and got dressed. paula did her customary one-hour makeup thing and at 5:30 a.m. paula and kevin got to club space.

lady gaga, now club space. paula, in her six-inch heels, sheer blue dress and waist-length hair was a head-turner even to an end of shift bartender like raymond di as who sees lots of miami hotties. >> she kind of glowed in the dark. she was so blonde and really tan. she had beautiful i think blue eyes. her dress was like a neon blue or green. >> raymond, we're talking about miami. girls like that are a dime a dozen, right? >> she stood out, tan, beautiful, model or on television i assume or something. >> reporter: paula and kevin had been dating and living together for a couple of years. and he knew from painful experience what impact his girlfriend would have in a cavernous dance space jammed are men powered by alcohol. paula sladuski was boom shack ka lack ka. she seems like the girl who took the oxygen right out of a room. >> yeah for sure.

she was a knockout, a stunner. >> reporter: paula danced flashing her new mini as the fins started circling. kevin knew he needed to run interference against the guys but these guys were making heavy moves on his woman. zpaeshl one. >> i turn around, he's on her. crotch right up against her, arm around her waist. she's looking at me, like, laughing, whatever. i was, like, okay, we got to go. >> reporter: but paula, lit up by the attention and shooters she was downing, had a different idea. she was digging in her stilettos. >> i just grabbed her around the waist and the forearm, come on, baby, time go. did the boyfriend shuffle with her kind of thing. she was, like, wait a minute. i don't want to go. bam, bouncers are on me. they must have been watching or something. they were wion me instantly, ba two guys. >> reporter: kevin was being ejected from the club by

security. she was staying. she asked him for her credit card and he gave it to her. kevin said he wasn't going to reason with her in that haze. so, siegine in seething, he got cab, still carrying her cell phone as he did when they club, headed over the cause way to their hotel room on miami beach. as the sun came up that sunday morning, kevin clem crashed without his girlfriend. but if he paced about outside that club for only a five more minutes after he was tossed out, he would have seen paula herself leaving just before 7:30 in the morning. she turned right at the sidewalk and disappeared, as they say, without a trace. coming up -- kevin wakes up alone but not worried. at least not yet. had you and paula had nights that had ended like that before? >> yes. and she always came home. >> reporter: this time it would be different. rash on my right s.

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. >>. three days into 2010, after a night of clubbing, kevin klym woke up in his miami beach hotel room with a throbbing head and minus his girlfriend, paula sladewski. it came back to him, club space, the bouncers throwing him out at dawn, paula electing to stay. had you and paula had nights that had ended like that before? >> yes. and she always came home. >> so it was no big deal to you at that point. >> i'm not happy.

not the way i want the night to end. >> reporter: kevin was starting to worry, but he also knew paula could be a tough detroit cookie when she needed to be. >> she's a big girl, knows how to handle herself. >> she knows what she's doing. she's not naive. >> those grown-up pictures of paula. when she was 14, she was dating a twentd 29-year-old man. it was her older sister kelly, not her mother, who called the authorities on him. >> i was very angry and very upset. you know, she's 14. she's still a kid. and my mother still let her date him, and at one point i had to call child protective services. >> calling the watchdogs on your mother, huh? >> yes. >> reporter:ed man was arrested and convicted of having sex with a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. owe's now on a list of sex offenders. paula, meanwhile, waited until he was released from prison and started dating him again. by then, she was of the age of consent.

old before her time but still a dreamy little girl in some ways. >> that whole little girl fantasy of being the pinup girl or the shampoo model. >> barbie doll, yeah. >> had a lot of barbies. >> probably over 500. she was collecting since she was a little girl. >> fall la tried to become barbie. the world of modeling she hoped to enter wasn't taken with her real-life barbie looks but several strip clubs, gentlemen's clubs in the greater detroit area it did. she danced at the penthouse club and saved the money for tuition until she dropped out. she seemed to like being the girl on the pole, the men lusting after her. >> i think that's why ultimately she became a dancer. she was seek male attention. you know, love that she didn't get growing up. >> so along comes kevin, new boyfriend, and he has to deal

with her being an exotic dancer. a successful one. >> we got to that point where she was, like, this is it, take it or leave it. i said, i love you that much. i'm going to take it. >> reporter: the money from stripping was good enough allow paula and kevin to love month los angeles, just in time for the housing bubble to knock his real estate business into the ditch. paula kept on dancing and paid the bills. for a few months they moved back and forth between places in michigan and california. now she was gone, and he was a guy alone in a miami beach hotel with a desk clerk on the phone asking if he was going to roll over the room for another night. kevin got himself together and went down to ask the manager for help. >> she's like, listen, get yourself together. we need this girl's picture out on the tv and out on the airwaves.

>> reporter: miami beach police told him he'd have to file his missing persons report with the stoi of mia city of miami, a different jurisdiction, where club space was located. but police wouldn't take the report until 24 hours had passed. he had now last seen paula 10 hours before. >> i'm freaking out. we're from out of town, we're vacationing. it's not like her to be gone that long. >> what happens the rest of the night? >> i'm calling hospitals, jails, space. >> reporter: kevin went back to club space to ask the homeless in the area if they'd seen paula earlier in the morning. after spreading some money around, he went to a gas station two blocks away. >> i'm in the taxi. i get out, go inside and talk to the clerk. i show him aim picture of my girlfriend. >> reporter: that's kevin on security camera. >> i say, have you seen that girl? he said, no, i've only been here an hour or two. >> reporter: returning to his hotel room and the sleepless night that followed, he got an idea, call a private detective. he went online and started

calling some nibs. the next morning, monday now, a private investigator named dave wasser called kevin back. >> he was desperate. i said, can you hell me? i said, tell me about it. i did a preinterview over the telephone and i said, we've got to meet at the city of miami police station. i can get you some help. >> and you say, what do i have here? what's going on? >> in the back of my mind i was wondering, is this guy straight up or not? >> reporter: after filing a m s missing persons, kevin returned to the hotel while the private eye webt to club space and talk to the manager and two of the bouncers who had worked the door that early sunday morning. the people at the club said paula left the club alone shortly after kevin. club policy, they say, is to remove both parties after a fight. mike samuels is the front door manager. >> she goot to the sidewalk, went around to the east. >> she's solo. >> 100% by herself.

>> reporter: while the private detective followed waiver-listen leads, kevin called the medical examiner's office. >> i gave a very, very accurate zrichgs of him. he said, hold on a minute. he said, we're sending a detective. heart just sinks. >> reporter: the detectives ask kevin, did paula have any body piercings? yes, he said, she did. >> he pulled out a baggy, a zip lock baggy, and there was two piercings, two posts. they're all, like, charcoaled, all burnt, blackened, you know? and he said, would these be the piercings? and i lean and i look close, i'm, like, no. >> reporter: of detectives then checked out some photos of paula on kevin's iphone. they studied on earring. >> he pulled out a photo copy of her earring, and i knew it was her.

that was the worst day of my life. >> reporter: the earring, paula's earring, had been found at the scene of a burning dumpster. and inside the dumpster they found the charred body of a person they thought was a female. >> it turned out to be gruesome beyond belief. >> yeah. i've relived that moment too many times. >> reporter: kevin was driven to the police station in north miami, near where paula's remains had been found, about ten miles north much tof the da club. they had questions for him, intense ones. how was he going to explain what police were learning about a violent it domestic history with his girlfriend, the woman mound a burning dumpster? and how would he explain that lover's quarrel at the club the very night of the murder? >> they were having an argument. he grabbed her arm. that's when i called xurts. ♪ only with my naked eyes ♪ doo, doo, doo-doo-doo, doo-doo, doo, doo ♪

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>> at that point, no. nothing other than it was a human being. >> reporter: it was detective michael god yoe's responsibility to learn who the victim was and how it was he or she -- they couldn't tell at first -- had been thrown away and torch of. the m.e. confirmed everybody's suspicions, it was a woman's

charred body, in coptalk, a jane doe. >> we checked other agencies, checking missing persons reports. >> reporter: the north miami detective was with the medical examin examiner's staff when the phone rang. it was kevin klym asking if they'd found a young woman, his girlfriend, paula sladewski, now missing for three days. >> he described her toed investigator and it fit a general description of what we had. >> reporter: dental records would later confirm that it was indeed paula sladewski. >> why would a killer or killers dump a body, dispose of it the way that they did? >> well, you're looking at a couple of different aspects. you're doing it either that there's hate involved or you're trying to cover something up. some type of evidence. >> reporter: dna, bodily fluids, skin under fingernails. the woman's murderer might assume all would be rendered just so much unreadable char. can you take us inside the killer you're looking for at all?

>> we have somebody who's very comfortable in their surroundings, who felt like they had a lot to lose if this woman was found. >> pretty quickly the detective had a victim with michigan with a name and a boyfriend who reported her missing. what's more, he was still in south florida. so what was his story, this kevin guy? on the one hand he appeared to be appropriately distraught. he was the one who fileded missing person's report and he was seen putting up posters around town with her photo on it. on the other hand, he was the boyfriend, and that single fact alone made him a person of interest to the investigators. >> in these types much cases, you're going to talk to the person who was the last person to see them, they have more information what was going on in the final person's life. >> in addition to talking to him, you want to strip off his clothes and see if he has scratch marks. standard procedure. >> absolutely. >> have a seat. we're going to talk to you for a while. >> yeah. >> reporter: a good while, in fact. even though kevin klym showed no

visible marks of a struggle, detectives still had a lot of questions. >> he came to my hotel around noon. by the time the detective dropped me off back at my motel hotel, it was 12:30 at night. >> reporter: detectives quickly learned the details weren't always pretty. kichk and paula's relationship had been rocky at times, court records in both california and michigan showed a history of domestic violence arrests between the two. one included paula's arrest in california for hitting kevin with a bottle. the case was dropped when kevin refused to press charges. and in the months prior to the miami trip, kevin was arrested twice for assaulting paula in michigan, the last time paula's nose had been broken. >> they had been together off and on, according to him, like two years. there's a history of domestic violence. >> you've got to wonder, right? >> you have to wonder. again, this goes back to he's the last person to see her that knows her. so we have to -- you have to wonder about, what is he not

telling us? >> police say the victim's boyfriend is still considered a person of interest. >> sladewski's boyfriend -- >> kevin's name and background quickly got into the reporting on the lurd murder. the reporter found the court records of it domestic violence complaints. that didn't look good for the boyfriend. neither did the story told about the lady gaga concertgoer who took iphone videos of paula and kevin. john williams went on tv and said he distinctly remembered the man who turned out to be kevin was acting aggressively in the crowd. >> here was this guy 0 who was really obnoxious, pushing through the crowd more so than anyone else i see there. >> reporter: then a new lead. according to news reports some time, it's not clear when, but before her miami weekend, paula had allegedly sent a text message to an ex-boyfriend saying, he's trying to kill me. "he." was that kevin? >> we've got to find who did this to my baby.

>> reporter: paula's mother, patsy watkins up in michigan, was telling anyone who woo listen she had no use for kevin klym. >> she was scared. she called her ex-boyfriend, texted him, i'm hiding from the beast. >> as she arranged for care for her murdered daughter's two dogs, she was preparing to tell detectives in miami what she had already told the tv cameras. she claimed her daughter was terrified of kevin klym. >> just the threats that echo in the back of my head, to destroy her life and she'd never be able to work again. >> reporter: but bad-mouthing family and maybe bad behavior at a lady gaga concert didn't make forethe foundation of a homicide case. so detectives came here no the club where she was last seen to get down exactly what the story was about how the two of them had come to be ejected from club space by bouncers. bartender raymond diaz told about seeing the start of trouble between the pair. >> they were having an argument, two or three feet in front of me. then he grabbed her arm.

>> took hold of her physically. >> right. that's when i called security. >> reporter: when trouble flares, both are ejected, him, then her. in the early hours of the case, there was a lot of stuff swirling about kevin klym. he came across as a short-fuse guy who sometimes got physical. at the end of that first interview with kevin, the boyfriend, is he on your suspect list of people of sfl. >> yes, he is. >> he hasn't talked himself off the list. >> no. >> reporter: at the end of his 12 hours of grilling, kevin said he felt more like a prime suspect with a star next to his name. forget about person of interest. >> we know you did it. why did you do it? we don't think you're a bad guy. maybe you made a mistake. all this stuff. i'm, like, i can't tell you i did something i didn't do. >> reporter: in the court of public opinion, it was looking as though the boyfriend did it. but it turned out the 26-year-old dancer who so loved the lens had one final scene before the camera.

a few seconds of grainy security cam footage. and what investigators saw there made them think that maybe the boyfriend was telling the truth. coming up -- paula's last date with a killer. >> they literally walked off holding hands as if they were a couple. what makes the sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. wow, that feels really good! once you experience it, there's no going back. at the memorial day sale, save 40% on our innovative sleep number silver edition bed- plus receive special financing on selected beds through memorial day. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.

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>> reporter: paula was dead. and the boyfriend kevin realized he was falling behind the curve on where the finger of suspicion pointed. do you volunteer the tumultuous history that's going to be reported in the newspapers? >> i told everything. signed a release, no warrant necessary. waved my miranda rights. let's do it. i need you to rule me out immediately so we can get on to find out who killed her. >> reporter: the north miami detectives interviewed him for 12 hours before letting him leave. so you're waiting to be arrested at that point. >> i didn't know.

they didn't tell me anything, just said, i hope we don't find out you did it. >> very active 710, security in front. >> reporter: meanwhile, dave wasser, the private detective kevin had hired the day after paula went missing was doing his own legwork. >> do you remember a white gentleman named kevin klym? >> reporter: he videotaped people who hang out outside the club and handed out flyers. kevin was just a guy in the middle of the night but there's something that felt right about the boyfriend in his gut. >> believe me, everything this guy went through, he didn't go off the line one bit. i've been interviewing criminals a long time. this guy was straight-up. >> reporter: soon the detective would meet a likely supporter of kevin's, the victim's sister kelly. >> he shouldn't have left her. he's going to live with that the rest of his life.

and he's devastated about that. he's taken it really hard. he wants to quill himself. that's what he talks about all the time. >> do uf believe his story? >> yes. >> that he left alone in the cab, came back to the hotel? >> yes. i never had a doubt. >> reporter: kelly the sister paid her way down to miami to help police in the investigation. >> i just plead with anybody out there that has any information to please come forward. >> reporter: she had last seen her sister with kevin that christmas at a family get-together. and they seemed happy together. no sign of the behavior that got both of them arrested for it domestic violence before. if they're going at it like cats and dogs, why are they staying together, kelly? >> i don't know. i really -- i ask myself that question now. but, when they weren't drinking, they got along great. >> reporter: kelly said paula was also taking prescription diet pills to stay in shape for her modeling and dancing careers. >> you know, the combination of that and she just -- they kind of got crazy. >> reporter: kelly shrugs off her sister's reported broken

nose. >> from what i've been told, that was an accident. >> and that text message from paula to an old boyfriend saying she feared for her life, that turned out to be less than advertised. it was moldy old and the shaky source of it was the same boyfriend who was jailed for having sex with a minor when paula was just 14. >> reporter: kelly doesn't make apologies for her sister's lifestyle choice. the strip bars. the booze. the pills. but she remembers as well a paula who loved her barbies ajd who caught the bouquet at kelly's wedding. now she was reduced to the 11:00 news team, playboy model in burning dempster. >> your pretty kid sister treated like so much trash. >> exactly. >> burned in a dumpster of all things. >> yeah. it's bad enough she was murdered, but to be burned like that and us not even being able to bring a body home was just terrible. just terrible. >> reporter: when she got to miami, she decided to do some searching herself.

she turned on her rental car's gps and punched in her sister's final way points, club space and the dumpster. imagine you're hoping you're going to come across somebody who had seen somebody. >> right. >> or noticed air camera that may had taken a picture. >> see if there was cameras. there was a club next to it and a club right across the street. it appeared there were outside cameras. >> reporter: club space it turned out had almost 30 security cameras but none outsideshowing the sidewalk. most were aimed at the bar cash registers to keep the employees honest. but there was one camera that just might have captured something. there was a camera inside, high over the front door entrance. the private it detective rewound the tape deck. then you have a "holy cow" moment. there she is, huh? >> i was waiting for that to happen. it took us about three hours as we were sitting there waiting and watching. then when we saw it, we go, wow, it was her. >> reporter: seven seconds of

grainy video, the last images of paula sladewski. that's her on the right side of the screen, the hair, the dress, the six-inch heels. it's 7:21 in the morning, and kevin? rewinding the tape about five minutes, the detective found him, too. that's kevin on the right side of the screen begging bouncers to ask him girlfriend to leave with him. >> thi said, go talk to her. they ta they said, we talked to her. she wants to stay. you have to get out of there. >> reporter: 7:17 kevin leaves the club alone. >> a decision i'll regret the rest of my life. i mean, this is my nightmare. i wake up thinking, if only i would have stayed an extra 10, 20 minutes. if only, if only. >> reporter: although police still considered kevin a person of interest, there was persuasive evidence now that he left paula behind at the club. this seems to bolster his story

and his recollection. >> yes. everybody we talked to down there said he did leave by himself and there was no problems. >> the head of security at club space, mike samuels, said he saw both kevin and later paula leave alone. but he and others have added an important new observation, something not seen by this blinking security camera up here. the detail that has changed the focus of the murder investigation. the club security chief said he did see paula walking away with someone once she was on the street and that person wasn't kevin klym. >> light-skinned african-american male with a groomed full beard, well built, average height, probably 6 foot. >> and you didn't see an abduction? >> they literally walking off holding hands as if they were a couple. they were last seen 50 me and my staff walking away from the club towards the parking lot. >> reporter: paula was gone, but who was the man who accompanied her? coming up -- was paula's killer one of the

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. >> reporter: police now had two big clues in the gruesome murder of paula sladewski, a grainy seven-second surveillance video

showing the aspiring model leaving the club alone and an eyewitness, a bouncer at the club, who said he saw paula walk away hand in hand with a man she met on the street. but paula's boyfriend, kevin klym, said the sometime-exotic dancer was to savvy to go off with a stranger. >> she knew how to read guys. listen, i mean, she's been working in clubs in detroit for eight years. detroit's not a nice area, and she never had any problems. >> reporter: the boyfriend is convinced it had to be someone who had been hitting on her in the wee hours at club space. >> but it wasn't some random guy walks up to her off the street and she walks off with him. >> reporter: kevin told police guys were swarming all over paula at the dance club and that's why he wanted to get her out of there. was her killer one of the guys hitting on her? but when kevin and his private investigator dave wasser went back to the seconds of surveillance cam showing paula

leaving, they came up with another theory. they studied the images and thought that two club employees seen following her out are maybe overly interested in the striking blonde. >> break it down frame by frame, this snippet of her leaving. what do you see in it? >> i see her walking out. you know, the bouncers eye her. i see her go out, three or four people follow behind her. this one guy could be with her, right behind her. she walks out of frame and then immediately after it, the two bouncers immediately go out after her. that's what i see. >> reporter: police also study the tape and talked to every club employee seen in it. lead homicide detective michael god yoe. >> you talked to the door guys, security. were they also persons of interest to you? >> yes. yes. >> had they talked themselves off their list at this point? >> it's such an ongoing massive investigation with many people, we have to wait until we get all of their information to eliminate them from any type of suspicion. >> reporter: kevin, getting all

conspiracy theory, even wondered if maybe there was a plot among club workers to make a play for the hottie left behind by her boy friend. police say that's doubtful. >> we haven't uncovered anything that would lead to a conspiracy against her that night. i would have to say, it's viable but it's not the strongest lead we have. >> reporter: here's one of the club employees in that video. he's mike samuels, the club's chief of security. he says, look at the tape and you see exactly what really happened. employees doing their job. showing an ejected patron to the street. no one makes a move for her. now this is the little bit of chamber before you go to the street and the security camera is up here where we see the video of paula then leaving the club. >> correct. after kevin had left -- >> and you're in that picture. >> correct. i walk back over. i got paula and i walked her back out this way, just tlilike we're watching.

that's front door manager samuels escorting her behind her. the two bouncers on the left of the screen were not following paula, he says, they were following him, their boss, to the front door to make sure there were no further problems on the street. >> when armchair detective say, look, she's a hot woman, security guys had their eye on her, it's easy to get rid of the boyfriend for a minor violation and then they've got the girl to ourselves. >> that's insane. that's completely ludicrous, especially since the fact we saw her leave with another gentleman. >> reporter: what's more, the security chief says every employee was accounted for that night, and no one left with paula. >> the fact that our staff has to clock in and out with a hand reader system with their fingerprints, the fact nobody leaves staffwise until 2:00, 3:00 in the afternoon when we close, it makes no sense at all. >> reporter: samuels emphasizes that the bearded black man paula was with seen walking away with had not been in the club that night. why not? because of the club-strict dress code. >> he was wearing shorts.

our number one rule, we do not allow you in, in shortz, no matter the money you have. >> reporter: two weeks after paula's murder, club space employees could not believe their eyes. they thought they saw the very man paula walked off with that morning out on the street. he was back, brazen. could this be the man everyone was looking for? mr. walked away with her hand in hand. coming up -- a first look at the man who may have killed paula. >> it does look like someone that i saw that night at the club. our accessibility. oh, yeah? [ chris ] you can call us 24-7, get quotes online, start a claim with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it.

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. ♪ >> reporter: a sunday morning just before 7:30, outside a miami club where the party night

is only halfway through, taxis, patrons. paula sladewski ejected and leaving under the watchful eye of the head security man. >> she got to the sidewalk and then i noticed her and the suspect that i guess they're looking for walking across the street hand in hand. >> and you go over there because there's a big parking lot. >> correct. there's a big parking lot. >> reporter: paula and somebody heading towards the lot behind the strip club across the street. and guess what? two weeks after the murder, bouncers at club space are certain they've seen the same man again, right outside the front door. >> this guy that your door people saw that night, the one approaching her, they believe they saw that same individual again a few weeks later, is that correct? >> i believe two weeks later on saturday they saw an individual fitting that description walking in front of the club. >> reporter: club space owner lewis said they called miami cops who came and questioned the man. >> the police came, they apprehended him, they talked to

him and from my understanding they let him go because it wasn't the guy. >> so he's not on the list. >> the guy she left with might not have been the guy that did the crime. >> reporter: what happened during those 14 hours, the time between when paula was last seen outside the club to the hour when her body was found a fire in a dumpster? a gap in time police all over of miami were trying to fill. paula's boyfriend left miami within ten days of the murder under a shadow. in michigan he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in one of those it domestic charges cases and was given probation. charges against him in the other case were dropped. police in miami say they still consider him a person of interest. but now they were focusing on the man paula was seen walking away from the club with. paula's sister kelly also left for home in detroit but returned to miami four weeks later. she wanted to keep the case alive. >> talk to me about your parents, your family.

>> it's hard. >> reporter: she gave tv interviews. posted flyers with the private investigator dave wassor and talked to anyone who might have seen anything. a big sister nancy drew. >> appreciate it so much. appreciate it. >> she's very hurt. she's struggling. she's trying to keep this case alive by putting up a reward with her own money. >> reporter: kelly put up $15,000 of her own money for a reward. club space owners doubled that amount to $30,000. a lubricant hopefully for reluctant tipsters. and then, almost one month to the day after the murder, just when the case seemed to be stalled out, came a dramatic development. police announced they had a composite sketch of that man the people had seen outside the club with paula. the club employees had only glimpsed the man from the back and side.

now there was a new witness. police won't say who, who got a better look at the man from head-on. this is the sketch of that man produced by a police artist. >> the person in the sketch is seen walking towards paula as she's standsing on the corner. they have a conversation and then they turn and they walk off together. >> that's not to say that he hasn't been inside the club, right? >> we have no information to say he was in the club. he may have been, but we don't know for sure. >> reporter: the sketch was released the same day kelly was putting up reward posters near the dumpster where her sister's body was found. this was the moment when kelly got her first look at the man who may have killed her sister. >> i'm looking at a murderer. >> reporter: kevin klym thought he actually recognized that face in the sketch and dropped a bombshell. >> he does look like someone that -- >> someone where? >> that i saw that night at the club. >> inside the club. >> it appears to me -- it looks very closely like a bouncer at the club. >> like a bouncer. >> it looks like one of the

bouncers at the club, yes. >> reporter: kevin thought it was someone who had checked paula's i.d. when they entered the club. on another trip down to miami, he went back to club space on a sunday morning at the very hour when paula had disappeared weeks earlier. >> this place is a zoo. i mean, there's absolutely no way dlsh's not witnesses out there that saw her leave. >> reporter: hoping he wouldn't be recognized, kevin went undercover at the club. he was looking for the bouncer he thought matched the sketch. two hours later, he emerged to the daylight, disappointed. >> the entire security crew is gone, different security altogether, from the door guys to everybody is different. much, especially the security crew. >> reporter: baloney, responded the owners. they say the staff is the same and they have the payroll stubs to prove it.

the guys are all different, he says. >> it's sad he's taking the opportunity to instead of help just throw leads out there not helping anybody. he's got to sit back and let the police do their work. >> reporter: police say none of the bouncers matches the suspect in the sketch. now, more than two years later, it is an increasingly cold case in a hot city. forensic experts have processed some abandoned cars found near the dumpster. in was a hit there, the authorities haven't disclosed it. so, mainly, there is this sketch. the detectives hope that paula's look at-at me looks will trigger a memory of a witness somewhere that morning. that signature of her whole life of turning hedzs may be the signature of who finds the killer. >> absolutely. >> because you couldn't take your eyes off her. >> absolutely. >> reporter: meanwhile, the miami party goes on, business at the clubs hasn't dipped a bit. if club patrons don't seem to be

worried about maybe a hunter in their midst, the police have done their worrying for them. >> we do have a deranged, sadistic killer out there that's preying on vulnerable women and we need to locate this person as soon as possible. >> reporter: back in michigan, paula's sister kelly and boyfriend kevin have waited for more than two years for a call that so far hasn't come. 2010 was a very short year for paula sladewski, murdered at the age of 26. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news tonight. this is wbal-tv 11 news tonight. >> baltimore city sa