Paula Sladewski Pictures Exclusive: Parents Told Playboy Model to Leave Violent Relationship
Photo: Paula Sladewski and boyfriend Kevin Klym.
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
"They fought from the beginning - physical, knock down fights," Watkins told CBS News' Crimesider.
Police have said Klym is a person of interest in the Jan. 3 murder that left Sladewski's body so badly burned it took Miami police two days to identify her - eventually through her dental records. She was believed dead before her body was desecrated, but police have not yet said how she died.
Photo: Paula Sladewski
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
She was last seen alive sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. Sunday morning at a Miami night club. In a missing person report he filed hours before her burning body was found in a dumpster, Klym told police he was booted from the club after the couple had a shouting argument. He claims he never saw her alive again.
Photo: Paula Sladewski
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
According to Watkins and his wife Patsy, the couple had a turbulent, often violent relationship and they begged them to call it off. "They would say 'but we love each other' but I couldn't see how," Watkins said.
Photo: Paula Sladewski
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
At least twice in the past, their fights came to blows and it wasn't always Klym doing the punching.
In the summer of 2009, according to Watkins and court records from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Sladewski was arrested after she broke a bottle over Klym's head during an argument in the home they shared.
Photo: Paula Sladewski
PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
She was booked for assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm - a felony - and released on a $50,000 bond, according to court records. The charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor domestic battery case and then dismissed in December of 2009.
More recently though, according to Watkins, Sladewski had been on the recieving end of Klym's anger.
Watkins claimed Klym was arrested for breaking Sladewski's nose in their Lavonia, Mich., hotel room in December while they were visiting her family. Watkins believes Klym was supposed to appear in court Jan. 4, but Crimesider was unable to confirm this at press time.
Despite the volatile nature of their relationship, Watkins says he has no idea if Klym is directly responsible for his daughter's death. But Watkins is angry at Klym for leaving his stepdaughter alone, intoxicated, and without any protection in the Miami night club.
"He had no regard for her safety at all. He was irresponsible in leaving her alone in her condition," Watkins said.
Sladewski was an aspiring model who appeared in a 2003 Playboy talent search video. She lived in Michigan and California with Klym, The pair were dating for the last year and a half.
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PICTURES: Playboy Model Paula Sladewski Murdered
PICTURES: Murdered Playboy Model & Lover
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
January 8, 2010 - Paula Sladewski Pictures Exclusive: New Photos of Slain Playboy Model and Lover Kevin Klym
January 7, 2010 - Paula Sladewski Pictures Exclusive: Parents Told Playboy Model to Leave Violent Relationship
January 7, 2010 - Paula Sladewski's Boyfriend Open To Lie Detector Test in Murder of Playboy Video Model
January 7, 2010 - Paula Sladewski's Family Wants Justice for Murdered Playboy Model
January 6, 2010 - Playboy Model Paula Sladewski's Burned Body Found in Miami Trash Bin