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MISSING PERSONS - KRISTINE JOHNSON

Kristine Johnson

MURDERER

SENTENCED

TO

25 YEARS TO LIFE

Missing

Jessie Davis

Lisa Stebic

Tara Grinstead

Pamela Kinney

LaToyia Figueroa

Natalee Holloway

Lori Hacking

Brooke Wilberger

Dru Kathrina Sjodin

Kristine Johnson

Laci Peterson

Elizabeth Smart

Chandra Levy

"This is devastating. I don't know what I'm feeling.
I don't even know if this is happening right now, it's surreal."

- Jeff Wark of Los Gatos, Johnson's stepfather

On February 15, 2003 - aspiring actress and model Kristine Louis Johnson disappeared. She told her roommate she was going to Beverly Hills to audition for a photographer she had met while shopping at the Century City Mall.

After Johnson was reported missing, her mother, Terry Wark, appealed for volunteers to search the Hollywood Hills and Topanga Canyon during the weekend.

When another woman reported she had been approached to audition for the same movie production, she helped police create a composite sketch of the suspect. That woman told detectives she had her boyfriend, a former law enforcement officer, drive her to the meeting with the man. She said the man demanded that she come with him immediately, then fled when her boyfriend confronted him.

On February 24th, police learned that Johnson's white 1996 Mazda Miata had been parked on February 16th at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City by a person strongly resembling the man in the composite sketch.

On Thursday, February 27th, family and friends gathered on Johnson's 22nd birthday for a candlelight vigil to pray for her safe return.

Two weeks after her disappearance, on Monday, March 3rd, Santa Monica Police Chief James Butts Jr. reported that two hikers had found the body of a white female on one of the steep hillsides off Skyline Drive in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. The body was wrapped in a sleeping bag and her arms were tied behind her. A tattoo on the back of the corpse helped identify Johnson's body.

Chief Butts said a suspect was in custody, but did not release a name. The man had been arrested on an unrelated felony parole violation shortly after Johnson disappeared.

On Tuesday, March 4th, the media released the name of the individual in custody.

Victor Paleologus, 40, of West Hollywood, was arrested on February 17, two days after Johnson's disappearance, by Beverly Hills Police. Paleologus had been released from prison on January 20th after being sentenced in August 1999 to eight years and eight months in prison on multiple charges, including assault with intent to commit a sex offense, burglary, falsifying financial statements and writing a fictitious check. Additionally, Paleologus had been accused of attempted rape, assault and false imprisonment in 1991. He had allegedly lured a young woman to a hotel under the guise she would meet celebrities. According to the victim, Paleologus had tried to tie the victim to the hotel bed, which left her with bruises on her face and rope burns on her legs and wrists. The jury deadlocked and he was not convicted on those charges, but he pleaded to a reduced charge leading to three years probation and community service.

Paleologus is being held at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles on $1.15 million bail.

UPDATE 2007

On June 26, 2006, Victor Paleologus plead guilty to 1st degree murder.

On September 15, 2006, he was sentenced to 25 years to Life.

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