Kristine “Kristi” Johnson was just 21 years old when a stranger approached her at the Century City mall in Los Angeles and told her he was a film producer looking for the next Bond girl.
It was an opportunity she wanted to take after moving from Michigan to California with the intention of returning to college after a stint as a freshman at Western Michigan University.
The man, whom she met at the mall on February 15, 2003, said he could get her an audition and arranged to meet her at a house in Hollywood Hills.
Just over two weeks later, Kristi’s body would be found by hikers in a nearby ravine.
Now her story will be featured on a new Dateline podcast called Murder in the Hollywood Hillshosted by NBC’s Keith Morrison, it charts how a group of women helped track down Kristi’s killer.
Kristine ‘Kristi’ Johnson (pictured with mother Terry Hall) was just 21 when a stranger approached her in an LA 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 got home because she was going to audition for a James Bond clip.”
Former prosecutor Ronald E. Bowers sheds further light on the details of Kristi’s conversation with the man she met at the mall, previously recounting Oxygen’s Real Murders of Los Angeles: ‘She was told that if she had a white blouse, a black mini skirt, nylons and stiletto heels it would really make an impression.’
The man also told Kristi that the job would pay $100,000.
Kristi had worked as a makeup artist, but when she went to the so-called audition, she had worked at a cell phone company, the Los Angeles Times reported.
On February 15, she drove her white Mazda Miata to the Hollywood Hills and stopped to ask for directions.
Kristi’s mother Terry Hall reported her daughter missing after she failed to show up for work two days later.
To find out what happened to the 21-year-old, a tip line has been set up where the public can request information about Kristi.
Hundreds of calls poured in, including from three women – one of whom was Susan Murphy – who recalled a similar story to Kristi’s.
He arranged to meet her in the Hollywood Hills for the audition. Just over two weeks later, Kristi’s body would be found by hikers in a nearby ravine. She is depicted as a child on the left and right
Her story will be featured on a new Dateline podcast called Murder In The Hollywood Hills, hosted by NBC’s Keith Morrison. Kristi is pictured with brother Derek
The man also told Kristi (pictured as a child) that the job would pay $100,000
Susan told investigators that she had been in the same shopping center as Kristi on January 24 when she was wanted by a man who asked her to audition for a Bond film.
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.
Susan was wary of the situation and took her boyfriend with her when she met the man for the second time the next day.
When they asked him for identification, the man, who Susan would eventually identify as Victor Paleologus, ran away.
Other women who came forward had nearly identical experiences to Susan and Kristi, and their stories matched his pattern of criminal history.
For example, in 1989, Paleologus, posing as a Columbia Records executive, attacked then-21-year-old Christine Kludjian in a hotel room after inviting her to a music industry party.
She was able to escape and Paleologus was given three years’ probation for false imprisonment with violence.
Her killer was identified as Victor Paleologus
Nearly a decade later, in 1998, he was charged with the attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman, giving him another chance to appear in a Bond film. He was sentenced to prison but was released on parole in 2003 after serving three years and five months behind bars, the LA Times reported.
But tragically for Kristi, nearly three weeks after she first met Paleologus, hikers found her body in a Hollywood Hills ravine on March 3.
Her hands and ankles were tied and she had been strangled.
Paleologus avoided the possibility of the death penalty when he pleaded guilty to Kristi’s murder in 2006.
Instead, the then 44-year-old was sentenced to 25 years to life.
In July 2023, a group organized in honor of the 21-year-old, known as Justice For Kristi, campaigned to block the possible parole of her killer.
Nearly twenty years after being in prison, Paleologus would face a parole hearing.
“Paleologus does not deserve freedom or a second chance to endanger another innocent victim. Before Kristi’s murder, he showed how chronically dangerous he is when he was convicted of the 1998 rape of Heather Maher. the group said in a statement at the time.
“He served five years at the San Luis Obispo Men’s Colony 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 burden this is off my back,” Kristi’s mother Terry said Oxygen.com after hearing the news.
“It’s interesting, sometimes in life you don’t realize what a big burden you’re carrying until it’s lifted.”
Murder In The Hollywood Hills debuts on podcast platforms on March 26.