Pod Insights Murder With My Husband 301. The Casting Call Killer - The Murder of Kristi Johnson About this episode On this episode, Payton and Garrett explore the tragic case of Kristi Johnson, a woman chasing her dreams in Hollywood when a single opportunity with a movie producer changed everything. What seemed like a breakthrough became a fatal decision that would ultimately cost her her life.
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Case sources:
NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/victor-paleologus-murder-rape-assault-allegations-rcna154604
SportsKeeda.com - https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/shows/dateline-secrets-uncovered-season-15-episode-15-a-detailed-case-overview-hibiscus-tattoo-girl-s-murder
TheCinemaholic.com - https://thecinemaholic.com/victor-paleologus/
SoapCentral.com - https://www.soapcentral.com/shows/dateline-secrets-uncovered-a-complete-timeline-victor-paleologus-murder-trial-revisited
Happyscribe.com - https://podcasts.happyscribe.com/dateline-nbc/the-girl-with-the-hibiscus-tattoo
FindAGrave.com - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7236428/kristine_louise-johnson
WoodTV.com - https://www.woodtv.com/news/national/update-to-2003-murder-of-saugatuck-woman-to-air-on-dateline/
Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/the-real-murders-of-los-angeles/crime-news/killer-victor-paleologus-lured-kristi-johnson-with-fake
TheSun.com - https://www.the-sun.com/news/11505904/victor-paleologus-where-now-kristi-johnson/
Dateline NBC
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Payton Moreland? You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.
0:08 Garrett Moreland? And I'm Garrett Moreland.
0:09 Payton Moreland? And he's the husband.
0:10 Garrett Moreland? And I'm the husband. Welcome back. Happy holidays.
0:15 Garrett Moreland? Christmas, so we are in our pajamas. And yeah, that's about it. Hope everyone had a good holiday. We just kind of hung out at home. Yeah, that's about all we did, huh? We saw some family, chilled. Daisy got some toys.
0:32 Payton Moreland? Did you get some toys?
0:34 Garrett Moreland? Can't get her too excited. Hope everyone's doing good. I guess New Year's just around the corner as well. 2026, here we come. Can't even keep track anymore, man.
0:44 Payton Moreland? What's your resolution?
0:46 Garrett Moreland? Biggest bagel shop in the world.
0:48 Payton Moreland? A good one.
0:49 Garrett Moreland? Thanks. What's yours?
0:51 Payton Moreland? I don't believe in resolutions. Too much pressure.
0:54 Garrett Moreland? Okay, yeah, who needs goals in life, right?
0:56 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
0:56 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
0:57 Payton Moreland? I just flow.
0:58 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, uh huh. Yep. For my 10 seconds, we have a mouse, but it might be the smartest mouse ever. We have at least 67 traps in our house, and the mouse somehow has avoided every single one.
1:13 Payton Moreland? I feel like we talk about it so much, everyone's gonna think our house is like infested.
1:17 Garrett Moreland? It's the same mouse that loves us. Honestly, he hasn't gotten into any food, so I don't know how he's surviving. Like, he hasn't really been a pest.
1:27 Payton Moreland? No, but we have so many traps out.
1:31 Garrett Moreland? You guys don't understand, we, it doesn't make sense at this point. What's that movie, Mousetrap?
1:35 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
1:36 Garrett Moreland? It's like that movie, but I don't care enough because, to get him, because he's done no harm yet.
1:42 Payton Moreland? I'm just like, go to the garage.
1:44 Garrett Moreland? I don't understand. I don't understand how he's alive. He might be-
1:47 Payton Moreland? Garrett saw him last night. He's low-key cute.
1:49 Garrett Moreland? I saw him last night. He's kind of cute, so I just said, hey, what's up, man? And then he ran off. He's a little scared.
1:53 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
1:54 Garrett Moreland? Anyways, we got a little mouse. I don't know how long it's gonna be here for. He's been here for probably like a year now. Is that even possible? Do mice even live that long?
2:03 Payton Moreland? I know. Everyone is listening to this right now being like, I can't believe they're just letting a mouse roam around their house.
2:09 Garrett Moreland? No, we're not.
2:09 Payton Moreland? We have had pest control out. We have set, they're the ones who set up all the traps. They went in the attic. They looked in the walls. They were trying to figure out where this little guy's living.
2:18 Garrett Moreland? You don't understand, like, when I say he's avoided the traps, he knows. I kid you not, he knows that these are all traps. So he's not, he knows.
2:27 Payton Moreland? There's at least eight and there was four in the place you saw him.
2:33 Garrett Moreland? She's not talking about mice. She's talking about traps.
2:34 Payton Moreland? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like eight outside the door and four inside the door of the place you saw him.
2:40 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, I think I've given up. I think the less I try, the better it'll get. He doesn't bother me, though. He stays out of our room. He just chills in his little spot. We'll call him Freddie for now. We'll keep you updated on Freddie. And on that note, let's hop into today's case.
2:55 Payton Moreland? Our sources for this episode are NBCNews.com, SportsKita.com, TheCinemaholic.com, SoapCentral.com, HappyScribe.com, FindAGrave.com, WoodTV.com, Oxygen, TheSun.com, and Dateline. Now, at one point or another, most of us have had a dream that we have wanted to chase. Something that excited us so much that we would have done anything to make it happen. It's that ambition, that desire that motivates us. It encourages us to step out of our comfort zone, try new things, move to new places, meet new people. But following a dream can feel a lot like being in love. It can be blinding, addictive, and it can make us vulnerable.
3:40 Payton Moreland? Especially in a town where everyone is sort of going after the same thing, like Los Angeles. For decades, Hollywood has been a sea of opportunity for aspiring actors, filmmakers, models. But like any big sea, Los Angeles has its sharks. There's always someone circling, watching, waiting to see who will take the bait. And when the opportunity seems right, some of those predators will strike. Not just killing a victim's dreams, but maybe even taking their entire future away too. So.
4:20 Payton Moreland? Obviously, February of 2003 in the city of Los Angeles. This is where 21-year-old Christy Johnson is living and following her dreams. Just like I said in the intro. Christy graduated from high school in Michigan in 1999, but she wasn't born there. She was actually originally from California, but moved to Sagatuck, Michigan as a kid. She was a big high school basketball star. She loved sailing on the lakes near her home. She had a very close-knit group of friends from high school. And after graduating, Christy gave college a shot.
5:02 Payton Moreland? But after a year, she felt it was best for her to just dive right into what she had always wanted to do. And that was to pursue her goal of getting into the film industry. So in a way, moving to Los Angeles in the early 2000s was like a homecoming for Christy. She was back in California and she felt like she belonged in LA. While she wasn't totally sure what she wanted to do in the industry, she was considering something behind the scenes, like maybe producing or directing. But Christy particularly had an interest in being a makeup artist. Though, Christy did have a face that was perfect for being in front of the camera, too.
5:47 Payton Moreland? Now, on Saturday, February 15th, 2003, Christy, who was in LA, called her mom, Teri, and told her that she was headed to the Century City Mall to do some shopping. Her mother told her to pick out whatever she wanted, that she was going to treat her to a Valentine's Day present. And surely, Teri was expecting to get a call on Sunday to hear exactly what Christy had bought herself. But that afternoon, the phone didn't ring at Terry's home. Same was to be said on Monday, February 17th. Two days with no word from Christie, her daughter, was a lot. She and her mom caught up almost daily.
6:31 Payton Moreland? And now Christie wasn't answering her cellphone at all. So when Terry calls around and learns that Christie, back in LA, also missed work on Monday, the 17th, she is very worried. This isn't like Christie at all, which is why Terry ends up calling the Santa Monica Police that same day.
6:53 Garrett Moreland? Leave in the comments how long it would take you to call the police.
6:57 Payton Moreland? For who?
6:58 Garrett Moreland? If you were a parent and your kid wasn't answering for-
7:01 Payton Moreland? But graduated, living on their own as an adult?
7:04 Garrett Moreland? Correct, yes. Not like a six-year-old, like an adult, living on their own, like at what-
7:07 Payton Moreland? In another state.
7:08 Garrett Moreland? Would you call the police? For me, I'd probably wait like a week, which is really bad, because I would just assume everything is probably fine. Payne, how long would you wait?
7:18 Payton Moreland? I don't know, I don't have kids.
7:19 Garrett Moreland? Okay, anyways, leave it in the comments. Curious to see you-
7:22 Payton Moreland? Let me think if it was Daisy.
7:23 Garrett Moreland? What you guys got going on?
7:24 Payton Moreland? I would call the same day.
7:25 Garrett Moreland? Okay, yeah.
7:27 Payton Moreland? Two missed calls, cops.
7:28 Garrett Moreland? Okay, okay.
7:30 Payton Moreland? So, police take Terry's report seriously, writing down Christie's description. Tall, blonde hair, a hibiscus tattoo on her lower back. And they also recommend Terry call around to hospitals in LA to see if Christie's been admitted somewhere. And when the officers hang up with Terry, they get a bad feeling about her case. They have seen women like Christie go missing before, and it doesn't always have a happy Hollywood ending. Now meanwhile, Terry calls Christie's father, back in Michigan, who she is now separated from. And she tells him, "Hey, Christie's missing. I've called the police." And at first, Christie's dad, Kirk, thinks maybe she just went down to Mexico for a few days and didn't mention it to them.
8:14 Payton Moreland? Maybe she lost her phone, just decided to skip out on work for the day to go and get it replaced. But when the police go and talk to Christie's roommate, at this same time, roommate's name is Carrie- Chances of Christie just losing her phone or being in Mexico look less and less likely. Because Carrie, the roommate, says that Christie did go to the mall on Saturday afternoon, February 15th, and when she came back from her shopping trip, she had some exciting news to share. Christie said while at the mall, she had met someone there, a producer who
8:53 Payton Moreland? was scouting women for a new James Bond movie. And before you're like, this is so made up, this happens. Like, producers literally go into public places and look for people.
9:06 Garrett Moreland? I don't believe it.
9:06 Payton Moreland? They do!
9:06 Garrett Moreland? I don't believe it.
9:07 Payton Moreland? They literally do.
9:08 Garrett Moreland? I think it's just in the movies.
9:10 Payton Moreland? No.
9:10 Garrett Moreland? I think 2025 or 2023, no way, and maybe.
9:15 Payton Moreland? Euphoria?
9:18 Payton Moreland? Multiple actors found on the streets.
9:20 Garrett Moreland? Oh, they weren't actors before?
9:22 Payton Moreland? No.
9:22 Garrett Moreland? Okay. I'll look it up after this.
9:27 Payton Moreland? I don't know if you should quote me on that. It might be rumor.
9:30 Garrett Moreland? That's funny.
9:31 Payton Moreland? So she tells her roommate, yeah, like the new James Bond movie, they were looking for a fresh face, someone completely unknown, and Christie apparently had the perfect look for the part. The producer gave Christie a time and a location for later that afternoon, told her it would help her chances if she showed up in character. That she needed to wear a man's white dress shirt, a short mini skirt, and a pair of stilettos, very James Bond. The producer said they would also give her a necktie to wear when she arrived at the official audition. Now, Christie had never really imagined herself being on screen
10:11 Payton Moreland? before. Like I said, a lot of her dreams were more on off-screen roles, but she also didn't know what she really wanted to do for sure in the entertainment industry yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity, a way to get her foot in the door. And even better, if Christie landed the part, it would mean a six-figure payday. Not to mention
10:33 Garrett Moreland? Dang.
10:34 Payton Moreland? Fame. I mean, you're an actress in the new James Bond movie. So according to Christie's roommate Carrie, Christie gets into her car, a white Miata sometime before 5:30 PM that same day. She's heading for an audition in Beverly Hills. But Carrie said that after this, Christie didn't return home. Now, again, Carrie thinks that it's kind of normal for a producer to scout for talent, especially at the Century City Mall, which was close to where a lot of Hollywood offices and agencies were headquartered. People did seem to be looking for new faces.
11:13 Garrett Moreland? Maybe it's normal then.
11:15 Payton Moreland? Plus, it is 2003, a time before social media really took hold. So doing it out in the wild seems even less weird back then.
11:25 Garrett Moreland? Huh.
11:26 Payton Moreland? What?
11:26 Garrett Moreland? I feel like social media is pretty big in 2023, but
11:29 Payton Moreland? 2003.
11:32 Garrett Moreland? Okay, this changes so much.
11:34 Payton Moreland? You thought we were in 2023 this whole time?
11:37 Garrett Moreland? 2023. That's why I was like, this is, this is nah, there's no way this is happening.
11:41 Payton Moreland? 2003.
11:42 Garrett Moreland? Okay, thank you for clarifying. For anyone else, we're in 2003, if you're not paying attention.
11:47 Payton Moreland? Okay, fast forward to the investigation. They're talking to Carrie and there was one big problem. When police call around town, Hollywood, asking if anyone knows of a new James Bond movie that's in the works, there's an audition. They can't get a confirmation. So they figure the next step is to go to the mall and see if they can identify this producer that Christie spoke to. So investigators speak with security at the mall and they end up watching hours of footage, hoping to spot Christie, hopefully her with this mysterious producer. And while they do find a tape of her shopping alone, she's never seen with or speaking to anyone else on those tapes.
12:26 Payton Moreland? So the security footage lead doesn't really lead them anywhere, which is when detectives decide to look into Christie's cellphone records. All they know right now is that Christie supposedly met a male producer at the mall and that she was scheduled to have an audition later that day around 5:30 PM, somewhere in the Beverly Hills area. But what's interesting is Christie's last phone call went out from her cellphone at 5:32 PM and she wasn't in Beverly Hills when she made that call. She was in the Laurel Canyon area, about seven miles northeast of Beverly Hills. And then after this, her cell activity stopped.
13:09 Payton Moreland? And ever since then, there had been no withdrawals on her bank account either. So cellphone activity dropped, bank account dropped. All signs obviously now point to a dangerous situation. So after this, the Johnson family decides to go to the media for help. And I've said this before in cases, but I can't imagine having your child go missing in a different state or a different country and then trying to like head the search for them. Do you go to LA?
13:39 Garrett Moreland? That would be so hard.
13:40 Payton Moreland? Like you're just not, that is even more complicated. So her family wants to get the word out about Christie's case, see if anyone else had, you know, encountered this mystery producer. So five days after Christie is last seen, she's now been missing for five days. Her family finally gets a hit. A woman named Susan Murphy sees an article in the Los Angeles Times and she thinks, this sounds an awful lot like an experience she had just experienced.
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16:58 Payton Moreland? So just like Christie, Susan had been shopping at the Century City Mall a week or two before this, when a man approached her claiming to be the director of photography for a new James Bond film. According to Susan, he told her, quote, "We've been casting all day and you are the look we want. You're perfect." He asked her if she would be interested in auditioning to become the next James Bond girl and that she would be paid over $100,000 if she got the part.
17:26 Garrett Moreland? Honestly, in 2003, yeah, before social media, this probably would have intrigued a lot of people.
17:34 Garrett Moreland? Like if someone came up to you and said that?
17:36 Payton Moreland? You don't think that would be intriguing now?
17:38 Garrett Moreland? No, no, I think because of social media being so present and how much we know now, I think it would be you'd be too weary. Be like, there's no way. And then you go online, you say, what's your name? You look their name up on Google. He'd be like, they don't have a LinkedIn present, you know?
17:53 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
17:53 Garrett Moreland? It would just be so much easier to instantly within minutes, like fact check it.
17:58 Payton Moreland? So according to Susan, this mystery producer then arranged for her to come to his office in the Beverly Hills area. And the same man asked her to bring a white button down shirt, a short black mini skirt and stilettos. This is obviously the exact same costume Christie told her roommate that she had to bring to the audition. So at this point, when police hear about Susan's account, they have no question that Susan was approached probably by the same man. Or someone working with the man that Christie met. But Susan's story also doesn't end there. Susan did follow through on the audition request like Christie had, which was set for the following day.
18:43 Payton Moreland? Only she brought her boyfriend along to this supposed casting call. And when the two arrived at the address this man gave them, Susan was worried because it looked like an abandoned building. Still, she got out, she looked around while her boyfriend sat in the car and watched. Now, eventually she spotted the man, but she's now feeling uneasy. Like she's just not sure.
19:08 Garrett Moreland? Crap.
19:09 Payton Moreland? And so before she goes with him, she's like, hey, can you give me some ID? And his response was, oh, well, I left it back on set. And that is when Susan is like, no, I don't like, I don't believe you. I don't think this is real. And she motions for her boyfriend to get out of the car. And as soon as he steps out and the producer sees him, he begins to tell Susan, you weren't the right fit for the part anyways. And literally turns around and ran away.
19:41 Garrett Moreland? Holy crap.
19:43 Payton Moreland? So thankfully, Susan and her boyfriend get a good description of the guy. He's a white male with short curly hair who told them his name was Victor Thomas, which this is like an amazing lead for police to have.
19:58 Garrett Moreland? Also, very fake name.
20:00 Payton Moreland? So after hearing about Susan's account, they decide to go back to the security tapes from Central City Mall. This time around, looking at the timeframe that Susan was there. So not Christie, who's currently missing, but Susan, who is saying she had this run in with a guy. They're hoping they can catch this on camera to validate her story. And they find something. A man fitting the description Susan gave was spotted trailing her around the mall until he finally approached her and introduced himself. Now, unfortunately, the name Victor Thomas doesn't turn up any specific results on its own, but Susan also gives a detailed description of the guy to a sketch artist,
20:43 Payton Moreland? which is then released to the public. However, Susan's story doesn't exactly offer Christie's family hope. This man was clearly a predator, someone who would have likely gone after Susan, had her boyfriend not intervene that day. But was he a murderer? This part's obviously unclear. And things are not looking up on February 24th, nine days later, when there is a new break in the case. At this point, investigators had already listed a BOLO to be on the lookout for Christie's white Miata, which she took to get to the audition. So that afternoon, the 24th, police get a hit when someone claimed Christie's car
21:28 Payton Moreland? had been valeted at the St. Regis Hotel, right next to the Century City Mall.
21:36 Payton Moreland? All the valet attendant could offer was that the car had been dropped off by a man. And unfortunately, it didn't seem like there was any security footage of that either. Now, by the time the police had discovered Christie's vehicle, it had been wiped clean of any DNA and fingerprints. All police claimed they could find was one from Christie on the outside of the car, which is interesting since it seems the valet parked it. But the valet company was able to offer a bit of a timeline around Christie's car. He said the car had been dropped off a little before dawn on the 16th. This is the morning after Christie disappeared.
22:19 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
22:20 Payton Moreland? And meanwhile, police are still trying to track down this Victor Thomas. And that sketch Susan helped make seems to help. Because a real estate agent goes to police at this point with information saying, "A man who looked just like the sketch came to him looking for a house recently." In fact, this man had looked at about 10 houses in early February. Many of them just minutes away from where Christie's cellphone last called from, around Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, not Beverly Hills. Now, the real estate agent mentioned something even more concerning. Apparently, while checking out one of the properties,
23:03 Payton Moreland? the prospective buyer went into another room, closed the door, and screamed. Then he came out and asked the real estate agent if he had heard it.
23:13 Garrett Moreland? There's no way. There is no way. That's, that's-
23:17 Payton Moreland? Like, as a real estate agent, what runs through your mind in that moment?
23:22 Garrett Moreland? Truly think that because we're 23-plus years ago or whatever, I don't think your mind goes there yet. And I know that sounds maybe.
23:32 Payton Moreland? But would your mind even go there now? I would think.
23:36 Garrett Moreland? Hundred percent.
23:37 Payton Moreland? I would not think it would be because they're gonna murder someone.
23:40 Garrett Moreland? Oh, I would think like something abuse, something. I think there's just too many true crime podcasts, too many documentaries on Netflix, Hulu, whatever. I think there's just too much out there where you're like, this is a little, this is a little weird, you know?
23:54 Payton Moreland? Yeah. I don't know.
23:56 Garrett Moreland? I don't know.
23:56 Payton Moreland? I think I would think that he, it's just a.
23:58 Garrett Moreland? He's just weird? A kink? Oh, like some sexual thing?
24:03 Payton Moreland? Yeah, I would think he, he's saying like how, how.
24:07 Garrett Moreland? Okay, I mean, yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's a good point. I guess.
24:09 Payton Moreland? At least that's where my mind would go.
24:11 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
24:12 Payton Moreland? Okay, so at this point, obviously, this case has a bunch of leads that have kind of jumped everywhere. They found her car, they have Susan who's come forward, and now they have this real estate agent. So police get a list of every property the agent showed. And around this time, they also get another bite off the sketch they released to the public. A parole officer calls the police to say, hey, that sketch you just put out actually looks a lot like one of the parolees that I'm working with. But catch is, I actually haven't heard from him since January 20th. He's broken his parole.
24:51 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
24:51 Payton Moreland? And that's when the police finally get maybe an actual name.
24:57 Garrett Moreland? Yep.
24:58 Payton Moreland? Forty year old Victor Pelalogus.
25:03 Garrett Moreland? A little bit different than Thomas.
25:06 Payton Moreland? Still, he kept it with the first.
25:07 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, he did keep the first name.
25:09 Payton Moreland? Now, let me tell you a little bit about this Victor. He was a Philadelphia native who moved to Los Angeles in his twenties after getting divorced. And he had dreams of moving there and becoming a restaurant owner. So Victor opened not one, but three different spots over the years in the Hollywood area, and each one of them ended up failing. Actually, one of those failed restaurants was in the building where Victor told Susan Murphy to come meet him for her supposed audition.
25:40 Payton Moreland? Things are starting to click. But maybe because of those many upsets in the restaurant industry, Victor turned to a life of crime when he reached his late twenties. Burglary, forging documents, stalking, sexual assault. As a matter of fact, he'd been preying on ambitious women and their careers since 1989.
26:03 Garrett Moreland? Geez, man.
26:04 Payton Moreland? This all started with an aspiring actress named Christine Plagian. This Christine is obviously different than the current Christine. But back then, 1989, that year, 21-year-old Christine met Victor, who said his name was John Moreno. He was dressed in an expensive suit and Christine believed Victor. He told her she should come along with him to a big industry party. He took her out to dinner, mentioned all the famous people she would meet later that night, including Madonna. He then brought her to a hotel downtown for the supposed party. Except instead of leading her into some ballroom,
26:48 Payton Moreland? he guided her into the elevator and up to the 20th floor, and then forced her into a hotel room.
26:55 Garrett Moreland? God.
26:55 Payton Moreland? He began trying to kiss Christine, the first Christine, and then grabbed her and threw her on the bed before trying to rip her clothes off. Then he pulled out ropes from behind the headboard. This is a clear indicator that all of this was planned. This was premeditated before she even arrived. Christine said she fought him off for over an hour until finally she got in a shot. She bit him on the crotch as hard as she could and began screaming for help in the hotel. That is when Victor grabbed his coat and just darted out of the room. Now, eventually, hotel security responded to the screaming,
27:36 Payton Moreland? came in and rescued her, untying her bruised wrists from those ropes.
27:41 Garrett Moreland? Gosh, could you imagine?
27:43 Payton Moreland? No. So Victor was later arrested. They caught him for this crime. He was charged with attempted sexual assault, assault, and false imprisonment.
27:54 Garrett Moreland? I mean, I get it and I don't get it because like...
27:58 Payton Moreland? To me, it's just like premeditated, tied her up, like...
28:03 Payton Moreland? This should come with a huge penalty because it's like one step away from murder.
28:08 Garrett Moreland? It's so, it's not hard. Like, I think, yeah, put him in, yeah, honestly, put him in prison for life. Don't care. He's not doing anything useful to the country anyways, and he's trying to kill and rape people. So like, why are they, like, why should he even be out? I'm not saying it's their fault because he's out and did this, but it's just.
28:30 Payton Moreland? It's just.
28:31 Garrett Moreland? These patterns always happen.
28:33 Payton Moreland? Yeah, and to me, it's like, this is the most in-your-face pattern of gonna eventually murder.
28:40 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, I'm gonna eventually rape and murder somebody.
28:42 Payton Moreland? Like, the premeditation, the ropes, the lies, the getting her, seducing her, getting her to the hotel, then forcing her into the room. Like, this is so many steps of soon-to-be-murder. It's like flashing in my eyes.
28:55 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
28:55 Payton Moreland? So, he goes to trial, and Victor pleaded guilty to false imprisonment. He's like, okay, yes, I did kidnap her and put her in that room. But the jury found him not guilty of the sexual assault and assault charges.
29:10 Garrett Moreland? I want names. I want names right now.
29:13 Payton Moreland? Well, when asked, the jury foreman claimed Victor, quote, "just didn't look like a rapist." 1989. So, what did Victor do? He doesn't clean up his act, just like Garrett and I are saying. He keeps going. Like, this is, this is repeat offenders here, okay? He tries it again. In 1991, Victor preyed upon an aspiring actress named Elizabeth Buzini. Keep in mind, he's literally picking victims, women who are just working as hard as they can to become something in LA. This is his chosen target.
29:57 Payton Moreland? So, the two, Elizabeth and Victor, met at a bar in Hollywood where he told Elizabeth he was, this time, a producer for Disney.
30:06 Payton Moreland? And when she caught him trying to mix a white powder in her drink, she called 911.
30:11 Garrett Moreland? My gosh.
30:13 Payton Moreland? But Victor fled before the police got there. And we also know of a case in 1996. When Victor broke into the home of a woman he was dating and tried to strangle her to death.
30:26 Garrett Moreland? I don't understand how this guy's not in prison for life. I truly don't.
30:30 Payton Moreland? Luckily, this break in, she was equipped with pepper spray and blasted him in the face, causing him to run out. But just three weeks after that, when police went to arrest him for this assault, Victor barricaded himself inside a trailer. It led to a long standoff before he was finally taken out and put into a cop car. Only, he refused to walk to the cruiser, so this would be like those Body Cam footage we all love to watch.
30:59 Garrett Moreland? Where they carry them.
31:00 Payton Moreland? He's literally being carried out and stuffed inside, just like we watch on Body Cam. Now, Victor this time was charged with stalking, false imprisonment, and burglary. He pleaded guilty and was given probation. So he strikes again, obviously. In 1998, he targets a woman named Heather Mayer at the popular Sky Bar in Hollywood. He tells her, he's a producer who works for Disney and is helping out with the next James Bond film.
31:33 Garrett Moreland? This is ridiculous.
31:34 Payton Moreland? Sound familiar?
31:35 Garrett Moreland? This is so ridiculous.
31:36 Payton Moreland? So it's in 1998 with Heather that he uses the ruse that we then learn about in the present time of our case with Christie, who is currently missing, okay? So he tells Heather back in 1998, James Bond film, wear a black miniskirt and high heels to a closed set audition that he's holding. And he gives her the address for Ritz Carlton. Except when she arrives, he says, ah, I'm actually taking you to another location for the audition. And it is that same abandoned building where his restaurant used to be. So the stories are just kind of floating around in the same river.
32:18 Payton Moreland? If you catch what I'm saying, like details are a little different, but they are all tied together.
32:24 Garrett Moreland? Tomato, tomato, yeah.
32:25 Payton Moreland? Three girls now at this same abandoned building that he has ties to. So after they get there, him and Heather, Victor begins sexually assaulting Heather, but she manages to escape his clutches and flee the scene. This time, again, he is caught and convicted of assault with intent to commit rape. But as he's awaiting for his sentencing date in 1999, he goes after another woman. Now, keep in mind, these are all just cases that we know about. Like, these are cases that have made it out in public into the court of women who actually reported.
33:03 Garrett Moreland? I'm genuinely very, very confused.
33:05 Payton Moreland? We know the report rate is so low. So these are women who actually came forward. How many other women are victims?
33:13 Garrett Moreland? I'm just, I don't understand how, I truly don't understand how he's not in prison.
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36:14 Payton Moreland? Okay, so while he's awaiting his court date for attempting to rape Heather, he goes after 28-year-old Kathy DiBono. He gave her the same song and dance about the James Bond casting. He's now kind of really diving in with this specific storyline. But the thing is Kathy is a working actress who'd been to many auditions. She had booked roles on Chicago Hope and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She knows how the industry worked. So she told Victor, "Don't even talk to me. You gotta go through my agent to set up an audition with me, not me directly. Like, thanks, I'm flattered, but this is how I operate."
36:59 Payton Moreland? And he refused. He's like, "No, like, I'm not wasting my time. Auditions are happening currently, right now, as we're speaking. They're up in the Hollywood Hills." Exactly where Christie's cellphone last pinged before she disappeared, if you remember. Now, at the time Kathy said Victor wasn't sounding too many alarms to her. He dressed and spoke like a professional, maybe even a scouter or a producer. And she was curious. Being the next Bond girl could be a big step in her career. Plus, the amount of money he was offering for this role was hard to refuse. So she's like, "Whatever, I'll take down the address." Victor, or rather Brian, as he portrayed himself to her. So he's no longer using the same first name with a different last name.
37:43 Payton Moreland? He just completely changes his name with Kathy. He's like, "Well, don't worry, I can just drive you straight to the audition right now." Kathy's like, "No, I will just meet you there." So she grabs a friend, a stunt man named Chester, to go with her to the James Bond audition. But when they arrive together at the location, Kathy says Victor never comes out to greet her. So she thinks Victor likely saw Chester sitting in the car with her and just abandoned his plan. So this is very similar to what happened to Susan Murphy back at the abandoned restaurant building. He saw a guy with her, her boyfriend, and ran away.
38:23 Payton Moreland? So shortly after this, Victor was sentenced to eight years and eight months for burglary, sexual assault, and writing fake checks for previous offenses. So it's not just like his assault charges. He's doing other things as well that's giving him a record. So he went to prison around 1999 and gets out on parole in 2003. And then just weeks later, Susan Murphy has her encounter with Victor, the one where she shows up with her boyfriend. And then just two weeks after that, Kristy Johnson goes missing after talking to Victor and getting the same results.
38:59 Garrett Moreland? Got it, yep.
39:00 Payton Moreland? So we now have Susan, who has heard about Kristy's story and has come forward. And then as soon as Kathy sees Kristy Johnson's story on the news, she also decides to come forward. She sees the sketch, she knows it's the same guy, it's the same experience she had. So she calls the police right away. She's like, hey, here's my details of my experience with Victor. As do some of the other women who had encounters with Victor, including a woman named Alice Walker, who met Victor at the Century City Mall where she worked. This was just five days after he had been released. Alice was also getting started in the industry. It's all just copy and paste.
39:42 Payton Moreland? He too went to the same abandoned building, being promised a James Bond role. And when she showed up, it was just Victor. She actually goes inside. So Alice, of the girls who've come forward, has a little bit longer experience. Alice goes in, practices a few moves, but according to Alice, he doesn't touch her while she's there. Because when he told her to come back for a second audition, a few days later, she did. This time, when more people don't show up and it's just Victor alone again, she gets uncomfortable and leaves.
40:17 Payton Moreland? And before he can schedule a third audition follow up with Alice, Christie Johnson disappears. Then Alice Walker hears the news. So now, police have a name and many witnesses verifying Victor's identity and his choice of crime. So they began searching for him, and he's actually pretty easy to find. He's already landed himself back in jail for trying to steal a BMW off a dealership lot in Beverly Hills two days after Christie went missing. So it's around February 25th, when police go down and speak to Victor, who is sitting in jail. Christie has now been missing for about 10 days. They show up, they're like, hey, what'd you do with Christie? And he's like, I never met Christie.
41:02 Payton Moreland? I don't know anything about her case. So by February 27th, Christie's 22nd birthday, she is still missing and Victor's not talking, so police have no hope of finding her anytime soon. Now, this day, her father Kirk goes on the Today Show to try to bring more awareness to her case, put pressure on people. And the family is also hanging on to hope here because Victor has never been convicted of murder before.
41:29 Garrett Moreland? I was gonna say, it surprises me that he not waited, but I guess kind of waited, like it took so long.
41:36 Payton Moreland? To escalate?
41:37 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, to escalate that fast.
41:38 Payton Moreland? I don't think he was given much opportunity. I think women
41:40 Garrett Moreland? Maybe not, yeah.
41:41 Payton Moreland? Either got away or kind of picked up on the red flags before. So they are hoping at this point, they're like, maybe Christie's alive because look at all these other women who who lived through this. They're like, maybe she's just being held somewhere and he got arrested and she's just alive, like tied up somewhere. However, things take a turn on March 3rd. That day, a few hikers are on a path in the Hollywood Hills. This is where her phone last pinged. And they're walking around this area surrounding a ravine when they spot something. It's a sleeping bag with what appears to be a body inside. So police are called to the area and they find the body belongs to a woman.
42:25 Payton Moreland? Her hands and ankles are bound. She has been strangled. She also has an identifying tattoo on her lower back, a hibiscus flower, which confirms this is most likely the body of 21-year-old Christie Johnson.
42:41 Payton Moreland? Now, due to the level of decomposition, the medical examiner believes she was out there in this sleeping bag for about sixteen days.
42:48 Garrett Moreland? Oh.
42:49 Payton Moreland? Meaning she was most likely killed the day she disappeared.
42:52 Garrett Moreland? Uh huh.
42:53 Payton Moreland? But because of that decomposition, they aren't able to tell for certain whether or not she was sexually assaulted. There is one devastating fact, though. The medical examiner doesn't think she died of that strangulation. She was strangled. They think she was likely still alive when she was tied up and pushed down into the ravine in the sleeping bag and died after the fact still tied up in there.
43:19 Garrett Moreland? Oh, okay.
43:21 Payton Moreland? Unfortunately, it was also a rainy period in Los Angeles and with Christie out in the elements for so long, it had washed her body. There was no DNA left. Still, with all of these witness accounts, police have enough to arrest Victor for the crime.
43:38 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, and like at this point, considering his history, open and shut, I don't even care.
43:43 Payton Moreland? The question is now, do they have enough to convict him of murder? So Victor pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree murder in Christie's case. And the prosecution's a bit worried about whether or not they're going to be able to maintain this. Remember, they have no surveillance footage of him following her around.
44:02 Garrett Moreland? There's, there's too many, um, other accounts from other witnesses and victims that.
44:08 Payton Moreland? Right.
44:08 Garrett Moreland? I do not.
44:09 Payton Moreland? There's no murder weapon, no DNA, no fingerprints. All the prosecution really had are a plethora, like Garrett said, of other accounts from other women who had been targeted by Victor in the past with the exact same ruse that Christie told her roommate. Would this be enough to get him charged? And even more so, would it be enough to get him the death penalty, which the prosecution is hoping for? So the trial doesn't actually start until July of two thousand and six. This is three years after the murder. But when it did, five women, including Susan Murphy and Christine Klugian, testified against Victor about the experiences they had with him and how similar it was to Christie's case.
44:54 Payton Moreland? And then, two weeks into that testimony, Victor and his counsel make a shocking announcement. They have decided to change his plea to guilty to avoid the death penalty.
45:06 Garrett Moreland? Coward, coward, coward.
45:08 Payton Moreland? Now, if only he knew that the death penalty would eventually be taken off the table. So shortly after this, he actually tries to back out of his plea. He's like, never, never mind, never mind. I want to plead not guilty. He writes the judge an 11-page letter about how he was sleep deprived and coerced into it by his lawyer, but the judge is like, yeah, no, I don't care. Still, Victor continued to say he was innocent despite pleading guilty. He's like, I had nothing to do with Christie's death. He also said he never forced himself on anyone. He's like, all these women who have come forward are also lying.
45:39 Garrett Moreland? Every single one of them is lying.
45:40 Payton Moreland? Yeah, he's like, I have never committed sexual assault or even posed as an entertainment industry professional. He's like, not only did I not like do this, I never lied and said that I was working on the Bond movie.
45:52 Garrett Moreland? Delusional, man.
45:53 Payton Moreland? So after refusing to allow him to change his plea back, the judge sentenced Victor to 25 years to life in prison for Christie's murder. He was also given the possibility for parole.
46:05 Garrett Moreland? There's no way.
46:05 Payton Moreland? Again.
46:06 Garrett Moreland? There is no way.
46:08 Payton Moreland? Yeah, he didn't get life in prison without parole. Yeah.
46:11 Garrett Moreland? What is wrong? Like what? Okay. And is he out? Like what's happening?
46:18 Payton Moreland? Yeah, there's people sitting in life in prison for first offenses, mind you, that aren't even sexual assault.
46:23 Garrett Moreland? It's almost been 25 years, right?
46:25 Payton Moreland? Yeah, I'll get there.
46:27 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, it's there.
46:29 Payton Moreland? Before I get there, though, can I just say?
46:33 Payton Moreland? It's like, I don't know why in my brain, but it's one thing when a serial or repeat offender like Victor comes forward and just pleads guilty and goes to prison. And it's another thing for a repeat offender like Victor to come forward and not only plead not guilty, but then look every single one of his victims in the eyes at trial and be like, "Everything you said is an absolute lie." Like, not just the assault, but like, all the way down to the fact that I didn't tell you that I was a producer. Like, it's just, it, I don't know. It's crazy. So, just as devastating, as part of his deal, the possibility of parole, Victor did not have to provide details of Christie's final moments.
47:18 Payton Moreland? He didn't have, in his plea deal, he didn't have to say, "This is what happened to Christie. This is what I did to Christie." So, we might never know what actually happened to her before she was murdered.
47:28 Garrett Moreland? Sick.
47:29 Payton Moreland? So, for a lot of women who were survivors of Victor's abuse, this sentencing was devastating. If Victor hadn't been released on parole for the crimes he committed against them, Christie Johnson might still be alive today. So, Kathy, the established actress who Victor tried to lure in back in 1999, actually sets out to do something about this when all of this is happening. In 2013, seven years after Victor's sentencing, a friend of hers suggests they should make a documentary about it. Maybe it will change the court's mind. So, Kathy begins interviewing other women who were survivors of Victor, which is why we have so much information today.
48:11 Payton Moreland? She also starts looking into other possible victims that had yet to come forward. And, an interesting unsolved murder case back in Philadelphia from 1988 that she believes Victor might be tied to. Her hope was basically just to provide as much evidence against him if a parole hearing ever came up. She's like, "I'm gonna just start doing..." All the work now. And as the years passed, him going up for parole was actually looking more and more likely. California state officials were planning to lower the standard for parole eligibility to inmates who had served more than 20 years of their sentence and were over the age of 50 because of overcrowding in prisons. This was something that was actually
48:53 Payton Moreland? put into action in 2022. But before that happened, Kathy had actually earned Victor's trust. She was writing letters back and forth to him. And he told her about a violent sexual fantasy that seemed eerily similar to his real life crimes. Kathy felt like she could use all of this in a parole hearing. But something else also came of those letters. Victor allowed Kathy to come and visit him in person in 2016. And during that meeting, he told her more about what happened to Christie. He said that when Christie did arrive at his house in the Hollywood Hills. So at this point, he's like, no, I didn't have anything to do with her. But now I'm telling this woman who is a previous victim who I've now created
49:35 Payton Moreland? this relationship with that he doesn't understand is one sided. He says they smoked weed and had consensual sex. And during it, he choked her, which she also consented to. And then she didn't wake up. And that was when he panicked, put her in the sleeping bag and rolled her into a
49:50 Garrett Moreland? This is such a lie. This is such a lie.
49:53 Payton Moreland? Kathy doesn't believe a word of this. She knows that Victor's obviously a pathological liar, but it was important because this was the first time Victor had admitted to even having killed Christie Johnson. I'm not really sure what came of Kathy's documentary. But I do know she went on to have a successful career in the industry, as did many of the survivors. And she brought up a lot of research on this case. So I do know this. Victor actually had a potential parole hearing scheduled in October of 2025. So just two months ago. But he waived his right.
50:34 Payton Moreland? To the parole hearing. And of the sources I looked at, I don't have like a solid concrete.
50:39 Garrett Moreland? On why?
50:40 Payton Moreland? On why? But I do know that Christie's mother has come out and said it was like just a huge weight off her back. Um, and a huge sigh of release of relief because now she and other victims don't have to attend this parole hearing and fight for justice. Because he waived his right. And that is what we have up to date. He obviously will have more.
51:01 Garrett Moreland? There's gotta be a reason like he might want an attorney and they said, wait, like there's something going on.
51:06 Payton Moreland? Right. Now, there is still a group called Justice for Christie that has been working to block Victor from receiving parole. Now, in his sixties, many of the survivors think he's still got plenty of years in him at sixty to still kill again.
51:23 Garrett Moreland? Hundred percent.
51:23 Payton Moreland? And in this time, they are not gonna let that happen without a fight. And that is the case of Christie Johnson.
51:31 Garrett Moreland? It's crazy. We've done a few cases like this where people are in and out of prison for years and years and years. And you just know what's coming and then it happens and it's like, oh shoot. Guess we should have kept him in prison. What? Like what? Like the jury that found him not guilty? Like literally give me every single name.
51:51 Payton Moreland? And to me, it's like, listen, there's a difference. There's a difference in the type of crimes he was committing versus other criminals. Like when he is premeditating, using the same ruse, tying women up. Like, those are indicators of reoffending.
52:09 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, hundred percent.
52:10 Payton Moreland? Like, that's just psychology. There are studies that has been done on this. So to me, it's crazy that he's offered parole over and over again.
52:18 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
52:19 Payton Moreland? Take some time today to think of Christie's family who are still hurting from this. All of the other victims of Victor's who had all of this come to light. Imagine how just terrifying that was for them and how hard they are working now to keep him in prison. And we will see you guys next time with another episode. I love it.
52:39 Garrett Moreland? I hate it.
52:40 Payton Moreland? Goodbye.
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