Murdered Playboy Model & Lover

SLIDESHOW - Playboy Model Dead - Paula Sladewski - Kevin Klym - Batch 2 — CBS/Personal Photo

Paula Sladewski, 26, seen here with boyfriend Kevin Klym, grew up in a suburb near Detroit, Mich. Recently, the couple lived between California and Michigan. On Jan. 3, Sladewski's body was found burned beyond recognition in a dumpster in Miami.

Paula Sladewski dreamed of being a model, according to her parents. In 2003, she appeared in a Playboy video titled "Playboy: The Ultimate Playmate Search," according to IMDB. But she struggled to make it the modeling world and became an exotic dancer to earn a living.

Kevin Klym, 34, says he has been dating Paula Sladewski for a year and a half. The couple had a tumultuous relationship, according to Sladewski's parents. On separate occasions, each was arrested for violently attacking the other. Police have called Klym a person of interest in Sladewski's murder.

Paula Sladewski's stepfather, Richard Watkins, said her relationship with Kevin Klym was violent and volatile and he begged the couple to break up.

Kevin Klym says on the day of her murder, he left Paula Sladewski in a Miami night club after an argument and was in his hotel sleeping when she went missing. He believes hotel video will vindicate his story.

In the summer of 2009, according to court records from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Paula Sladewski attacked Kevin Klym with a deadly weapon. Her stepfather says she smashed a bottle over Klym's head. She was arrested but charges were later dropped.

In Dec. 2009, Kevin Klym was arrested for breaking Paula Sladewski's nose in their Lavonia, Mich., hotel room while they were visiting her family. Sladewski's Stepfather Richard Watkins believes Klym was supposed to appear in court Jan. 4, the day after she was killed, but Crimesider was unable to confirm this at press time.

Despite the volatile nature of their relationship, Paula Sladewski's Stepfather, Richard Watkins, says he has no idea if Kevin 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 the day she died.

Paula Sladewski's stepfather, Richard Watkins, told Crimesider that Sladewski sent texts to a former boyfriend claiming she feared for her life after fights with Kevin Klym, her current boyfriend. Klym says he understands police might suspect him, but says he did all he could to find Sladewski the morning she went missing including handing out fliers, hiring a private investigator, and filing a missing person report.

According to Kevin Klym's attorney, Klym was frantic when Paula Sladewski did not show the morning he left her at a Miami night club. Klym says he handed out missing person fliers and called the model's family, the morgue and a private investigator, before finally filing a missing person report. North Miami police confirmed that Klym is cooperating with investigators on the case.