Kristine ‘Kristi’ Johnson was just 21 years old when a stranger approached her in Los Angeles’ Century City mall and told her he was a film producer looking for the next Bond girl.
It was an opportunity she was willing to take advantage of after moving from Michigan to California with dreams of breaking into Hollywood as a model and actress.
The man, whom she met at the mall on February 15, 2003, said he could get her an audition and agreed to meet her at a house in the Hollywood Hills.
A little more than two weeks later, hikers found Kristi’s body in a nearby ravine.
Now, her story will appear on a new Dateline podcast called Murder in the Hollywood Hillshosted by NBC’s Keith Morrison, which will show how a group of women helped hunt down Kristi’s killer.
Kristine ‘Kristi’ Johnson (pictured with her mother Terry Hall) was just 21 when a stranger approached her in a Los Angeles shopping mall and told her he was a film producer looking for the next Bond girl.
Before she was found dead, Kristi’s roommate told investigators that the aspiring star “was very excited when she came home because she was going to audition for a James Bond clip.”
Former prosecutor Ronald E. Bowers shed more light on the details of Kristi’s exchange with the man she met at the mall, previously recounting The Real Oxygen Murders in Los Angeles: “They told her that if she had a white blouse, a black miniskirt, nylon stockings, and stilettos, it would really impress her.”
The man also told Kristi that the job would pay him $100,000.
Kristi had worked as a makeup artist but when she went to the supposed audition she was working at a cell phone company, the Los Angeles Times reported.
On February 15, he drove to the Hollywood Hills in his white Mazda Miata and stopped to ask directions.
Kristi’s mother, Terry Hall, reported her daughter missing after she didn’t show up for work two days later.
To find out what happened to the 21-year-old, a hotline was set up for the public to call with any information about Kristi.
Hundreds of calls came in, including from three women, one of whom was Susan Murphy, who recalled a story similar to Kristi’s.
He arranged to meet her in the Hollywood Hills for the audition. A little more than two weeks later, hikers found Kristi’s body in a nearby ravine. She appears in the photo from left to right when she was a child.
Her story will appear on a new Dateline podcast called Murder In The Hollywood Hills, hosted by NBC’s Keith Morrison. Kristi is pictured with her brother Derek.
The man also told Kristi (pictured as a child) that the job would pay her $100,000.
Susan told investigators that she had been at the same shopping center where Kristi had been on January 24 when she was sought out by a man who asked her to audition for a Bond movie.
Another detail that stood out was that Susan revealed that she was also asked to wear an identical outfit that Kristi described to her roommate.
Wary of the situation, Susan took her boyfriend along when she met him for the second time the next day.
When asked to identify himself, the man, who would eventually be identified by Susan as Victor Paleologus, ran away.
Other women who came forward had experiences almost identical to Susan and Kristi’s, and their stories matched their pattern of criminal records.
For example, in 1989, Paleologus, posing as a Columbia Records executive, attacked Christine Kludjian, then 21, in a hotel room after he invited her to a music industry party.
He was able to escape and Paleologus received three years’ probation for false imprisonment for violence.
His killer was identified as Victor Paleologus.
Almost a decade later, in 1998, he was accused of attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman, luring her back with the opportunity to appear in a Bond film. He was sentenced to prison, but was released on parole in 2003 after spending three years and five months behind bars, the LA Times reported.
But, tragically for Kristi, almost three weeks after meeting Paleologus, hikers found his body in a ravine in the Hollywood Hills on March 3.
They had tied her hands and ankles and strangled her.
Paleologus avoided the possibility of the death penalty when he pleaded guilty in 2006 to Kristi’s murder.
Instead, the then 44-year-old man was sentenced to between 25 years and life in prison.
In July 2023, a group organized to honor the 21-year-old, known as Justice For Kristi, campaigned to block the possible release on parole of her killer.
Nearly 20 years after his incarceration, Paleologus was scheduled for a parole hearing.
‘Paleologus does not deserve freedom and a second chance to endanger another innocent victim. Before Kristi’s murder, he demonstrated how chronically dangerous he is when, in 1998, he was convicted of raping Heather Maher, the the group said in a statement at the time.
“He served five years in the Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo and was released on January 20, 2003.”
Ultimately, the killer waived his right to a parole hearing and will not be eligible again until 2025.
“What a weight has been lifted off my back,” said Terry, Kristi’s mother. Oxygen.com after hearing the news.
“It’s interesting, sometimes in life you don’t realize how much of a burden you carry until it’s lifted off your shoulders.”
Murder In The Hollywood Hills will debut March 26 on podcast platforms.