Playboy model burned beyond recognition

Paula Sladewski, a 26-year-old who once modeled for Playboy, was identified Wednesday by Miami police as the person found dead and "burned beyond recognition" in a trash bin on Sunday.

Sladewski's body was found Sunday night after firefighters extinguished flames coming from a large trash bin near a propane business. When they put out the fire, they saw a body. But there was barely any way to identify it.

"It's so horrific. They'd have to be a monster. It's a dastardly act," North Miami police spokesman Lt. Neal Cuevas told CNN. "It's the most heinous thing that a person can do to another person. It was just total, total, disfigurement. You couldn't even tell that it was a woman or a man or even what race."

Police were able to identify the body through dental records late Tuesday night, he said.

Police are trying to figure out how a model from Michigan, who appeared in a 2003 Playboy video, ended up burned beyond recognition inside the trash bin -- and who put her there.

The only timeline police have comes from Sladewski's boyfriend, who was vacationing with her. Because he was the last one to see her, police are considering him a person of interest, but he has not been named as a suspect. The couple arrived in Miami on Thursday to ring in the new year by watching Lady Gaga perform, police said.

Cuevas told CNN that Sladewski's boyfriend said they went to Club Space on Saturday and remained until about 7 a.m. Sunday, when they got into an argument. When he was thrown out of the club after the altercation, Sladewski decided to stay, her boyfriend told police.

That was the last time her boyfriend saw her, according to police. Cuevas said when Sladewski did not return to their hotel by Monday, her boyfriend called police and filed a missing person report.

Source: CNN
A sad way to go. RIP.