After Johnson’s disappearance
Santa Monica police are searching for a purported photographer who may know the whereabouts of Kristine Louise Johnson, who has been missing for more than 11 days.
Police on Tuesday released the sketch of a man Johnson was reportedly meeting on Saturday, Feb. 15 — the day of her disappearance, said SMPD police chief James T. Butts, Jr.
Santa Monica police also recovered Johnson’s white 1996 Mazda Miata on Monday, which had been valet parked at the St. Regis Hotel in Century City since Sunday, Feb. 16, the day after she disappeared.
Police said they have no reason to suspect foul play in Johnson’s disappearance, but chances of her safe return are fading each day she isn’t found, Butts said.
“It’s our hope we’ll be able to return her safely to her family,” he said. “But that is tempered by the fact that the longer it takes to find her, the less likely the chances for that are.”
Johnson’s roommate told investigators the 21-year-old Santa Monica College student left her 29th Street apartment on Saturday, Feb. 15, saying she was going to the Century City Mall to meet a man who claimed to be a photographer. The man wanted to audition Johnson for a part in a movie, according to police.
When Johnson didn’t return home by Monday, Feb. 17, her roommate and her mother filed missing person reports with the SMPD, according to police. received media attention, a concerned woman called the SMPD hotline on Feb. 20 and said she had been approached in late January in the same mall by a man claiming to be a photographer who was auditioning women for the same film, Butts said.
But the woman said when she and her boyfriend, an ex-law enforcement officer, went to meet the man at a pre-arranged location in West Hollywood, he tried to forcibly move her to another location, Butts said.
The woman’s boyfriend tackled the man and tried to find his identification, but the supposed photographer was able to free himself and run away, Butts said.
Neither the woman nor her boyfriend said the man ever carried a camera, and he didn’t bring a camera to the West Hollywood meeting, SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said.
Police don’t have a name for the photographer, but he is described as a white male in his early-to mid-30s with a slender to medium build and a clean-shaven face. He was last seen wearing a dark blue suit, according to police.
Officers aren’t releasing the names of the woman or her boyfriend, or the name of the film project the photographer is using to audition women.
Police won’t say what they found in Johnson’s car because the investigation is on-going. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Crime Lab is investigating the evidence recovered from the vehicle, according to police.
Bloodhounds from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the Torrance Police Department and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department were used by the SMPD to search the Century City Mall for evidence after Johnson’s vehicle was recovered.
The valet person on duty the day Johnson’s car was left at the St. Regis Hotel told police officers the car was parked in the valet area by a man “strongly resembling” the purported photographer’s description, according to police.
When the valet approached the man to admonish him for parking in the valet zone, the man reportedly told the valet, “Here’s the key,” and threw him the keys. SMPD detectives have obtained surveillance video from various locations in West L.A. and Century City visited by Johnson prior to her disappearance, police said.
Terry Wark, Johnson’s mother, said she is concerned for her daughter’s safety even more so now that police have additional details into her daughter’s disappearance.
“I was elated that they found the car and that this would be a clue to Kristy’s whereabouts,” she said. “But Kristy was not found and I was of course disappointed. We are making progress and I know the Santa Monica Police Department is working around the clock on this effort and they have continued to reassure me that they have all the resources to find Kristy. I have absolute faith in them.”
Wark is making a public plea to anyone who knows where her daughter is to bring her back safely.
“It is very disturbing and so horrific to know that there is man that has captured my daughter and for me to think about what type of situation she may be in is absolutely overpowering, I can’t think about it,” she said. “We will find her. No matter what is happening to her, we will find her. Who has ever taken Kristy, please release her gently.”
“It is very disturbing and so horrific to know that there is man that has captured my daughter and for me to think about what type of situation she may be in is absolutely overpowering, I can’t think about it.” — — TERRY WARK Kristine Louise Johnson’s mother
Johnson’s friends and family members have been actively assisting police in the missing woman’s search. Johnson’s co-workers have been meeting after work and on weekends to post “missing persons” fliers throughout Santa Monica.
Wark continues to work with the local community in the search for Johnson. She asks everyone to log onto www.lrcf.org, go to the missing person’s flyer link and click on Kristy’s image. She asks that everyone send her daughter’s information in mass e-mails and blast faxes in an effort to find her.
“We need to get that out to any many as people,” she said. “Kristy has been gone for 11 days and we need to extend our effort outside of the Los Angeles area.”
Wark, who lives in Los Gatos, Calif., is expected to arrive in Santa Monica today and has scheduled a candle light vigil on her daughter’s 22nd birthday, which will be on Thursday. The vigil will be held at 7:30 p.m. at St. Augustin by the Sea, an Episcopal church located at 1227 Fourth St.
Johnson is 5’9”, 140 lbs., has blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information about Johnson’s disappearance is encouraged to call the SMPD’s tip line at (310) 458- 8449. Or anyone interested in helping Johnson’s co-workers post fliers can call James LaPointe at (310) 822-4321.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 26, 2003. Read the original PDF.