Slain woman remembered during memorial service
Dozens of friends, family and members of the community paid their last respects on Saturday to slain Santa Monica resident Kristine Johnson, whose body was found dumped in the Hollywood Hills on March 3. Johnson’s mother, Terry Wark, returned to Santa Monica this weekend to hold the memorial. She buried her only daughter Wednesday during a private funeral ceremony in Los Gatos, Calif.
Because of the outpouring of support Wark received from the Santa Monica community and police department during the two-week search for Johnson, the grieving mother wanted to give those who helped a chance to say good-bye.
The memorial, held on Saturday in conjunction with another service in Johnson’s hometown of Saugatuck Mich., attracted some people who didn’t even know the 21-year-old. Some helped search for her, while others felt compelled by the widely publicized story of her disappearance.
But the pews at St. Augustine by the Sea church in downtown Santa Monica also were filled with her co-workers, family members and Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr.
Johnson’s stepfather, Jeff Wark, said even though he only knew Million-dollar man studied in Santa Monica Johnson for a short time, he quickly understood that she was a special, compassionate woman.
“The year and a half I knew her — what a privilege to know such a beautiful, pure, honest and unselfish woman,” he said, holding back tears. “She’s the type of person everybody loved.”
Terry Wark, who has remained composed since her nightmare began when Johnson disappeared Feb. 15, reflected on coming back to Santa Monica and how she and her daughter would have enjoyed spending the day together.
“I know Kristi’s spirit is alive when I see things that she would have seen,” she said.
Wark said that the last time she saw Johnson, they strolled the streets of San Francisco hand in hand.
“How I miss her next to me,” she said. “Kristi’s dance through life touched so many people in unique ways.”
Wark reflected on the immediate bond she felt with her daughter when she was pregnant with her and remembered the countless late night talks they had when Johnson was young.
“Every minute detail of Kristi are in my thoughts,” she said. “It is beyond the grace of God to understand how this happened.”
Johnson’s partially clothed, bound body was found covered by a sleeping bag in a ravine in Laurel Canyon two weeks after she disappeared. Johnson told her roommates on Feb. 15 that she was going to audition for a film with a man who she’d met at the Century City Mall and claimed to be a photographer.
Johnson never returned home. Her car was found a week later at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City, dropped off Jan. 16 by a man who matches the description of the suspect police now believe may have murdered Johnson.
The suspect, who is in custody on a $1.15 million at the Los Angeles County Jail for parole violation and grand theft auto, is a three-time convicted felon who was released from state prison on Jan. 20.
Charges could be filed as early as this week. Police are waiting for the results from the Los Angeles County crime lab on evidence recovered from 10 searches, including the suspect’s West Hollywood residence and several vacant homes in the Hollywood Hills that he may have toured with a real estate agent prior to Johnson’s disappearance.
Wark, who lives in Los Gatos, a suburb about 50 miles outside of San Francisco, came to Santa Monica the first week of Johnson’s disappearance. She did countless interviews with media outlets around the country pleading with the public and her abductor to find Johnson.
Wark returned home on March 2 and was on her way to New York for more media interviews when the news hit the next day that two hikers found Johnson’s body.
At the memorial service, Wark read a letter from her 24-year-old son Derek, who attended the ceremony in Michigan. Derek Johnson has been watching the events of his sister’s murder unfold from North Carolina, where he is stationed at a U.S. Air Force.
“I miss Kristi so much,” Wark read on behalf of Derek. “The sound of her voice, the magic of her laugh, the movements of her dance and the insights of her thoughts... I will miss getting old with you.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 17, 2003. Read the original PDF.