- Pay attention to the woman in the black hat in this footage. It was recorded in Los Angeles on February 15th, 2003. This is 21-year-old Kristine Johnson. It might look like a normal shopping trip at the mall, but this footage hides a disturbing secret. Just hours after it was recorded, Kristine disappeared, and the key to uncovering the truth about what happened to her lies in what she bought. - Kristi, please come home safe. I can't find peace in my life without you. - Investigators look at Kristi's phone records. Just after 5:00 PM, she called an information line from Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. One witness says a woman matching Kristi's description pulled over to ask for directions to a house up the hill, but they can't find any more clues about what happened to her afterwards. February 20th, five days after Kristi's disappearance, police get a call from a woman who saw an article about Kristi in the paper. She told investigators about a man who approached her at the same mall, just weeks before. He told her he was working on the new James Bond movie, and he wanted her to audition. - He said, "You have to have a white shirt. You have to have a miniskirt, nylons, and stiletto heels." - And that happens to be everything that Kristi purchased on February 15th. - One by one, detectives discover strikingly similar stories of other women, exposing a serial predator who's been hunting women in Hollywood for over a decade. - He was prepared for murder. He was prepared to have no one testify against him. - It was critical that we find her as soon as possible. - We're talking about a predator. And somewhere along his life, he needed to be stopped. - It's 2001. 20-year-old Kristine Johnson just moved from the small town of Saugatuck, Michigan, to Southern California. She's working on finishing school, and she's hoping for her big break in Hollywood, but it's hard for her to find work in the movie industry, and she considers moving back home. - And in fact, it had gone so far that I had already contacted U-Haul, and I was gonna fly out to Los Angeles. She decided she wanted to continue to give it a try. She was sincere in staying. - Kristine keeps trying in Los Angeles. She's able to get a job as a production assistant for a new movie, but after that, she continues to struggle finding work in the industry. She starts working at a cell phone company, but she's still looking for opportunities in Hollywood, refusing to give up on her dreams. Saturday, February 15th, 2003. Kristine is on the phone with her mom, Terry. Kristine talks about how she's planning a trip to the mall that day. Her mom tells her to pick out a Valentine's gift for herself. They say goodbye and she heads to the mall. February 17th, Terry normally talks to her daughter on the phone every day, but she hasn't heard from Kristine in over 48 hours. She can't get ahold of her on her cell phone, so she calls her work and finds that Kristine didn't show up that morning. She's always on time for work, and her parents worry that something happened to her. They call the police and file a missing persons report. No one has any idea where she is, and her family flies to Los Angeles right away. - I went to Kristi's apartment, and I put a poster on her wall, that’s at the entrance to her apartment, with a big picture of Kristi. I couldn't believe this was happening. - Police share details with the media and set up a tip line. Soon, Kristi's disappearance is all over the news, and the search grows. - There were people that were going around to empty lots, handing out fliers, nailing 'em on telephone poles. Everybody fell in love with Kristi. - Investigators call Kristi's credit card company and learn that she purchased several items at the Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles on February 15th. They look through surveillance videos and discover security footage of her at the mall around 1:00 PM that day, but they can't find anything in the footage to help figure out what happened to her. - We have nothing. We have no leads whatsoever. Kristi just dropped off the face of the earth. - Detectives turn to her roommate, hoping she might have some information on where Kristi went. Her roommate explains that on February 15th, Kristi came home after the mall and showed her a new outfit she bought. Then, Kristi left for a big movie audition. Finally, investigators have a clue about where she was headed, but her roommate couldn't remember where the audition was. They look at Kristi's phone records. Just after 5:00 PM on February 15th, she called an information line from the Laurel Canyon neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills. A witness came forward, saying a woman matching Kristi's description driving a white Miata pulled over to ask for directions to a house up the hill before she disappeared. After learning more about the day Kristi went missing, her parents wonder if someone she knew may have tried to hurt her. They want to do all they can to help find their daughter. - I knew she was having problems with a boyfriend, and she had broken up with him. It was actually one of my first suspicions that he could have been involved. Kristi had called the police. Kristi had had a domestic violence incident with her boyfriend. - Police bring Kristi's ex-boyfriend in for questioning. He admits there was a domestic violence incident, but denies having anything to do with her disappearance. - He had said that he was extremely sorry. That was the one and only time that it had happened, that they were on their way back together again, that he loved her very much, and anything that he could do to help, he would. - He also claims he was out of town the day she disappeared, and multiple people confirm his story. After verifying his alibi, police realize it's another dead end. February 20th, 2003, five days after Kristi's disappearance. Police get a call from a woman named Susan Murphy. - I saw this article and this picture of this girl missing. I called the Santa Monica Police Department. When I started to explain my situation, they put me on hold and said, “We want you to speak to the lead detective on the case." - The newspaper article Susan saw said Kristi disappeared after leaving for a movie audition. Susan tells investigators about a man she encountered less than a month before, hoping it might help them find Kristi. He invited Susan to an audition, too, and as she continues explaining her story, detective Virginia Obenchain realizes it's their first big break in the case. - He said it's very, very important that I wear black stilettos as high as possible, black miniskirt, a white man's shirt. - And that happens to be everything that Kristi purchased on February 15th. - The items Kristi bought at the mall weren't published in the news, but as soon as Susan read the article about her disappearance, she had a feeling the man she met weeks before could have something to do with it. - My heart sank. I thought, "Could it possibly be the same person?" - After Susan tells police she thinks she met the same man, they ask her to give them every detail she could remember about him. She helps create a composite sketch of what he looks like, and they broadcast the sketch on TV across the country. - February 24th, nine days after Kristi's disappearance. Her car is found in the valet lot of a hotel. Detectives let Kristi's parents know right away, and they fear the worst. - The thoughts went through my mind. "They're gonna find Kristi in the trunk." "They're gonna find blood." "They're gonna find..." I had no idea what they would find. - But all they find in the car is Kristi's cell phone. The valet tells police that a man brought the car in the lot on February 16th, the day after she went missing. - Every bit of evidence that we were being told kept pointing towards something had gone wrong, something was drastically wrong. - It was critical that we find her as soon as possible. - February 27th, 12 days after Kristi's disappearance. No one's reported seeing her since, but her family won't give up. Two vigils are held in Kristi's honor; one in Los Angeles and one back in Michigan. - Today is Kristi's 22nd birthday. Happy birthday, Kristi. Please come home safe. I can't find peace in my life without you. - As news spreads, along with the sketch Susan Murphy helped make, other women come forward with similar stories, hoping they can help with the search for Kristi. 12 years before her disappearance, back in 1991, Elizabeth Buzzini met a man at a restaurant, who told her about an opportunity in a new James Bond movie. They sat at the bar together, but Elizabeth noticed red flags right away. As she looked at her drink, she saw white powder on top. She quickly went to the bathroom and called the restaurant manager. - I said, "This man is trying to drug me. Please call the police immediately. Please watch him. Make sure he doesn't leave." - Elizabeth made a plan and went back to the bar, trying to stall him until the police got there. They kept talking, and she asked him what the white powder was. He claimed it was sugar. Elizabeth tried to switch drinks with him, saying he could have hers instead. - He looked at me kind of oddly, and I said, "What's wrong? You can drink the drink." I said, "I don't like sugar." And that's when he excused himself, and he ran out of there, and he never came back. - The man got away before police arrived, but over a decade later, when Elizabeth hears what happened to Kristi, she thinks the same man is responsible. More women report eerily similar stories to the police, and one of them is Christine Kludjian. She says that, back in 1989, she met a man who introduced himself as “John Moroni.” They started talking for a few weeks, and he asked her out on a date. - And he said, "I'll pick you up in a limousine. We will have dinner, and there's a big industry party," because he said that he was a music executive. - The man told her he worked for Columbia Records and that the party was going to be in a suite at a hotel. They went out to dinner first, and they took a limo to the hotel afterwards. But when they took the elevator up and got out, Christine Kludjian noticed the hallway was quiet. She didn't hear anything that sounded like a party nearby, and she got nervous. Suddenly, the man took her to an empty hotel room, and she saw what he was planning the whole time. - He was trying to kiss me, and I pushed him away, and then he attacked me. He threw me on the bed. He tried to rip my clothes off. - The man pulled ropes from behind the bed to tie her up, but she was able to escape from him and run out of the hotel room to get help. A man named Victor Paleologus was arrested for her attempted rape. He accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to three years of probation. 14 years later, police are now desperately searching for Kristi Johnson. A parole officer calls in after seeing the sketch they broadcast of the man they're looking for. She says it looks like one of her parolees, Victor Paleologus. Police issue a search warrant for his address. On his computer, they find pictures of women wearing the same type of outfit that Kristi bought the day she disappeared. It's also the same outfit the suspect had told Susan Murphy to wear for an audition. And now the pattern is becoming clearer. Investigators need answers from Paleologus, and they find out that he's already in custody on unrelated charges, after he tried to steal a car. - Detectives continue to interrogate Paleologus, but he won't give any information about Kristi's disappearance. He also has an alibi for the day she went missing. - Victor had shown up on a Saturday night at the IHOP restaurant, and he met a friend. - The friend he claimed he met confirmed that they ate together. But despite his alibi, Paleologus remains a prime suspect in the case. Kristi was last seen around 5:30 PM on February 15th, and it wasn't until hours later that Paleologus went to IHOP. There was plenty of time in between when he could have done something to her. - We were continuing to hope against hope that she was alive, that she was being held against her will someplace, and we just needed to identify the location so we could get there and save her life. - 16 days after Kristi's disappearance, police ask Susan Murphy to identify the man who approached her in a lineup in person. - It's like going to a horror film, 'cause you're seeing this person again. I immediately recognized him. You know, I was like, "That's the guy. For sure." - Susan identifies Victor Paleologus. It seems like investigators are closing in, still hopeful they can find Kristi. - My first question was, "Has he ever been arrested for murder before?" And they said no. So then, of course, as a parent I'm very hopeful. I'm thinking, "Maybe this is somebody who's abducted my daughter, but he hasn't murdered her." - And everybody believed that there would be a happy ending to the story. - But as Detective Obenchain walks Susan out of the police station, she gets a call that completely changes the investigation. - I remember overhearing Virginia talking on the phone. My heart dropped. - A group of hikers found a body in a ravine just off of Hollywood Hills. Police arrive at the scene, finding the body of a young woman. - As I got down there and got closer and closer, I could see that there was a female. It was a white female. Her hands were tied behind her back. I could see that she was wearing a white blouse, and then that's when I went one step further to see if the tattoo was there, and it was. And that's when I concluded that this was, in fact, Kristi Johnson. - After weeks of searching for Kristi, everyone's worst fears are confirmed. Now, police have to tell her family the heartbreaking news. - He said that Kristi was no longer with us. And I told him, I said, told him I appreciated the fact that they found Kristi, and I said, "Treat her with dignity." - Her family is devastated. Autopsy results show Kristi's cause of death was strangulation. Investigators determine she was murdered. And now, police have to turn to bringing her killer to justice. But even after finding her body, it doesn't seem like they're any closer to proving who did this to her. - There was no forensic evidence. We found no fiber. We didn't find any hair. There were no eyewitnesses. - There was nothing. - We had found Kristi, but the case was not anywhere close to being over. - With multiple reports against Victor Paleologus, and identifications of him in a lineup, police are able to charge him with Kristi's murder. But with no DNA evidence, prosecutors will have to build a circumstantial case against him. The trial starts on July 13th, 2006. Paleologus' history as a serial predator comes to light, thanks to his past victims, whose testimonies could be the key to bringing him to justice. Cathy DeBuono takes the stand to tell her story. In 1999, 4 years before Kristi went missing, Cathy was approached by a man at the same mall. He claimed his name was “Brian” and that he worked for Disney. He told her about a new James Bond movie he was working on that she would be perfect for. Cathy knew that Disney didn't make the James Bond movies, and she asked the man for a business card before she left. - My agent called Brian at Disney's office and left him a voicemail about this. He called her back pretty quickly and said, "Tell your client not to go to this meeting. That was not me. I did not meet her at a mall. I did not give her a business card, and someone is lying to her." - Cathy called her father, who was a detective in New York. He, too, warned her against meeting with the man again. - So, I had the information. I was already confirmed that this was a load of BS. The other thing that I had inside me was I couldn't let go that he was gonna do something bad. - He hadn't committed a crime yet, and the police couldn't help Cathy. She knew the man could be dangerous, but she decided to go anyway, hoping to stop him from hurting anyone else. She brought a friend who's a stuntman to go with her for safety, but the man who invited her never showed up. - Till this day, I will never forgive myself for not having my stuntman friend lie down in the backseat of the car. That was the end of my story. But I imagine he was waiting from whatever place, from whatever home with his binoculars, or whatever it was, saw that I had a man with me in the car, and that was the end of that. - Cathy didn't have the chance to take him down herself in 1999, but when she saw Victor Paleologus' picture on TV, four years later in connection to Kristi's case, she knew it was the same man who approached her, and she could testify to fight for justice. Another survivor, Heather Maher, tells the court about when Paleologus attempted to rape her in 1998. He was caught and pleaded guilty. But after serving three years and five months, he was let out on parole on January 20th, 2003, less than a month before Kristi went missing. And just four days after he was let out on parole, he targeted Susan Murphy. She takes the stand to testify against Paleologus, facing him again to help bring closure to Kristi's family. - I truly believed I was staring into the face of evil. Anyone who was in that court will tell you, my voice, I was shaking. And then, looking at her family, that broke my heart, and I kept thinking about, "What if that was my dad sitting out there?" You never get over something like this. There's an innocence that is absolutely gone. - January 24th, 2003. Susan Murphy explains that she was at the Century City Mall, the same place Kristi was at just hours before she went missing. A man approached Susan, introducing himself as “Victor Thomas.” - He said, "I know this sounds ridiculous, but I'm a director of photography, and we're casting for the new James Bond movie." And he said, "There's a certain look we're going for, and you'd be great for this. You'd be perfect." He started naming out a bunch of legitimate directors and photographers and costume designers. It seemed plausible. - The man invited Susan to an audition the next day. Even though he seemed to know a lot about the industry, she noticed that something felt off about his invitation. After she left, Susan called the Screen Actors Guild to ask if there was a new James Bond movie in production, and they said no. She knew the man was lying to her, and she wasn't sure what he was going to do if she met him again, but she decided to go anyway, hoping she could put a stop to whatever he was planning. - "I'm onto something here. Something's going on. I'm gonna show up tomorrow. I'm fully aware that I'll probably be thrown into a van or something, but I'm gonna be there." - The next day, Susan brought mace and a camera with her, and her boyfriend Tony watched from the car as she went to meet the man again. When they started talking, he asked her if she wanted to get a drink across the street before the audition, but the building he was pointing at looked abandoned. - I said, "Well, first of all, I'm not going anywhere with you. I need some identification." And he said, "Oh, I don't, I don't have any identification." And at that point I said, "Well, maybe this will help you find it." - Susan pointed towards the car where her boyfriend was waiting. As soon as the man realized she didn't come alone, he immediately changed his act. - When Victor saw Tony, 'cause Tony's a big guy, he's a second degree black belt, Victor was like, "You know what? You are so not right for this part at all, and I'm done." - The man started to run away, but Susan wanted to stop him before he tried to hurt someone else. She got in the car with Tony, and they chased after him. They quickly found him hiding in the bushes around the corner. - Then Tony stops the car. He gets out, and he starts frisking him. I could see the guy was, like, practically in tears, but then the guy broke free, and then he ran through traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard. - Even though Susan wasn't hurt, she thought the man would try to trick another young woman, and she had no idea what he was capable of. He didn't commit a crime when he met her, so there was nothing the police could do at the time. Less than a month later, Kristi went missing. Now, Susan's story helps show the clear pattern of Victor Paleologus' actions. In total, seven women testified against him, bravely facing the man who targeted them, and has repeatedly escaped justice. Paleologus kept using similar schemes. He told the women to buy the same clothes, and he used the promise of a career-making audition to lure in his victims, preying on their dreams for their big break in Hollywood. - There was a complete lack of scientific evidence, but they did have a very strong circumstantial case, and what they had was the parade of women. One after one, we testified, one after one, we didn't know that there were the others. - When I looked at Kristi's parents sitting in the back of the courtroom, and her father gave me the thumbs up to keep going, it made me stronger, and I wanted to fight for her. That could have been me. - I was very impressed by the courage of these prior victims to come forward. Their stories were powerful, and the similarities among all the victims and Kristi were striking. - Together, the women's stories are crucial for building a strong case. But without any DNA evidence, they're still not sure if it will be enough to convict him. - I definitely think this is a very clear example of somebody who has abused our system over a long period of time. - It's not about a naive young female, it's about a repeat predator offender. - We're talking about an evil person. And somewhere along his life, he needed to be stopped. And unfortunately, Kristi was the stopping point. - With the circumstantial evidence building up against him, Victor Paleologus accepts a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. But afterwards, he makes a shocking decision. He writes an 11-page letter to the court, asking to withdraw his guilty plea. - I'm going to deny the motion, Mr. Paleologus. the law states, very clearly, a plea may not be withdrawn simply because the defendant has changed his mind. - On September 15th, 2006, Victor Paleologus is sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of Kristine Johnson. - The reason that we're here is because of Mr. Paleologus. And there is a reason why this happened, only God knows. And I can't find an answer for that. - Victor Paleologus has been allowed the freedom to let the evil in his life escalate, resulting in the heinous murder of Kristi, my beloved young daughter, a beautiful young woman on the threshold of her life. - Because the women recognized the similarities between Kristi's story and their own, and because of the strength they had to come forward, together, they’re able to stop a serial predator who's been targeting young women in Hollywood for over a decade. And even though they didn't know her personally, Kristi's impact can be seen through the women who helped put her killer in jail. - It could have been me, and there was a part of me that felt very close to Kristi because of that. Like, I never knew her, but a part of me feels like I do in some strange way. - They helped bring answers and closure for Kristi's family, who continues to honor her memory every day. And today, the women are advocates for other victims and survivors of sexual assault. They want people to know how much of an impact they can have by coming forward, that every story matters, and every story can help in the fight for justice. - I want women and victims and survivors of all genders to realize there's nothing to be ashamed of. You are not going to just be a victim for the rest of your life. What you can be is completely powerful. - Every night, I go outside. And whether it's 10 degrees below zero or snowing, I go out and say, "Goodnight, Kristi. I love you."
