Body found in spot that was not accessible to public
Charges have yet to be filed against the man suspected of killing a Santa Monica woman in February.
Santa Monica Police are awaiting the results of forensic and DNA evidence that the Los Angeles County Crime Lab has been analyzing for more than a month.
Authorities believe the evidence recovered from several locations searched by police shortly after Kristine Johnson disappeared Feb. 15 will make the case against her suspected killer.
Johnson, a 21-year-old Santa Monica College student, was found dead on March 3, her body partially clothed, wrists bound and covered in a sleeping bag on a steep hillside in the Hollywood Hills. The body had been there for about two weeks, authorities said.
Police have identified a suspect, who is currently in custody in the Los Angeles County Jail on an unrelated felony charge. He was arrested Feb. 17 — two days after Johnson disappeared — in Beverly Hills for grand theft auto and violating parole.
SMPD detectives and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office aren’t rushing the case so they can gather enough evidence to ensure a conviction. And because he’s already in custody on $1.5 million bail, there is no risk of the suspect fleeing, police said.
57E,“We are not going to rush the crime lab,” said SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega, adding that local detectives meet regularly with the DA’s office regarding the case.
Police won’t release the name of the suspect because he hasn’t been charged with a crime. However, it’s known that he has a long criminal history of luring and victimizing young, attractive women by claming to be a photographer in the entertainment industry.
The Daily Press’ policy is not to name suspects until they have been formally charged.
He was reportedly released from state prison on Jan. 20, just days before he allegedly tried to lure a woman into his clutches in West Hollywood by posing as a publicity photographer for a specific film title that he’s used as a ruse multiple times. The woman in the West Hollywood incident, suspicious of his behavior and aggressiveness, was able to escape with the help of her boyfriend.
Johnson didn’t return to her 29th Street apartment in Santa Monica after she told her roommates she was going to Beverly Hills to audition for a photographer she met while shopping at the Century City Mall earlier.
Police learned more than a week later that Johnson’s white 1996 Mazda Miata had been valet-parked Feb. 16 — the day after she disappeared — at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City. The suspect was identified as the person who dropped off the vehicle, based on a composite sketch released by police.
At about the same time, police served 10 search warrants at various locations throughout Los Angeles. Authorities have only confirmed searches of the suspect’s West Hollywood residence and a home on Skyline Drive, which is two properties away from where Johnson’s body was found.
Police reportedly searched several vacant homes in the Hollywood Hills that the suspect may have toured with a realtor shortly before Johnson disappeared, said a source familiar with the properties.
The crime lab is analyzing evidence recovered from those properties, as well as evidence recovered from Johnson’s car.
The two-story Spanish style home on Skyline Drive, most recently occupied by actor Laurence Fishburne, could be of interest because it is so close to where Johnson’s body was found.
The neighborhood is remote and the location of her body can’t be accessed without entering private property. An access road at the top of the canyon is blocked by a 10-foot-tall fence and private homes are at the bottom of the ravine. Her body was found in the brush abutting people’s backyards.
How Johnson died has yet to be determined by the Los Angeles County Coroner, which has deferred Johnson’s autopsy for toxicology testing. Results are expected in the next month.
Police remain in contact with Johnson’s parents, Terry Wark, who lives in northern California, and Kirk Johnson, who lives in Michigan, where Johnson grew up.
Police are confident that the case will be solved, it just might take longer than expected for charges to be filed.
“We will use every lawful means available to assemble the strongest case possible and bring justice to Kristi Johnson and her family,” said SMPD Chief James T. Butts Jr.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.