VIGIL, from page 8 Mother, cops plead for missing woman’s safe return there since Sunday, Feb. 16 — the day after she disappeared. Police haven’t released any information about the vehicle or its contents.
The investigation has attracted national media attention, which has brought in 20 to 25 tips an hour into the Santa Monica Police Department’s hotline on Wednesday, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, a spokesman. The information police used for the search warrants is centered around one theme, but Butts wouldn’t elaborate on what it is.
Police also wouldn’t specify where the warrants were served, but said they all were in close proximity to one another, including Century City and the City of Los Angeles.
“What they are searching for has not been disclosed,” Fabrega said. “We’ve gotten tips as far away as Connecticut.”
Shortly before the vigil, Butts and Johnson’s mother, Terry Wark, sent an emotional message to the man who may be holding Johnson.
Wark spoke to her daughter through the media, hoping that either Johnson or the man who may have kidnapped her may be watching.
“We are working so hard to bring you back,” Wark said, holding back the tears. “The minute she was born she was such a special, special child. She is so strong and what is happening to you won’t last forever, remember that you are strong.”
She asked the suspect to return her daughter unharmed and for people to continue to call in with tips.
“We need to keep the momentum going,” Wark said. “I’ve always had hope that Kristi will come back safely and I am hoping that we will get that break that we need to find Kristi.”
Said Butts, “Find it in your heart and return this beautiful young woman to her family.”
At the vigil, held at St. Augustine by the Sea, an Episcopal church on Fourth Street, Johnson’s family, friends and co-workers prayed for her return and celebrated her birthday.
Butts, who sat next to the weeping mother, consoled her as the congregation sang “You Are So Beautiful To Me” and prayed for Johnson’s return.
Rev. Hartshorn Murphy reminded the congregation that her birthday is overshadowed by the pain of not knowing where Johnson is.
“This is a night she would have been with family and friends and carrying on with all of the silly things of birthdays,” he said. “Her greatest threat would have been eating or drinking too much and we suspect she is not in a place of joy right now.”
Following the service, the congregation gathered around a tree outside of the church, lit candles and sang “Amazing Grace.”
Wark, who lives in Los Gatos, Calif., had planned to come to Santa Monica to celebrate her daughter’s birthday this week. She said they had made plans to skate along the beach and shop. But Wark’s visit to Santa Monica now has a different focus. She said she is relying on her family, friends and faith to get through the ordeal.
“Today is Kristi’s birthday and I am praying that Kristi will be brought back safely and I pray for strength from God to guide me through these very difficult moments,” Wark told the congregation.
Viable tips from people around the country have been related to either a sighting of the purported photographer, who police released a composite sketch of on Tuesday, or information from women who have been approached at malls throughout L.A. County by men claiming to be photographers, Fabrega said.
A significant lead in the case came from a woman who told local police on Feb. 20 that she had been approached in late January in the Century City Mall by a man claiming to be a photographer. He was reportedly auditioning women for the same film that Johnson told her roommates she was going to audition for, according to police.
But the woman said when she and her boyfriend went to meet the man at a prearranged location in West Hollywood, he tried to forcibly move her to another location, Butts said.
The woman’s boyfriend — a former police officer — interceded and searched the man 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 carried a camera, and he did-n’t bring a camera to the West Hollywood meeting, Fabrega said.
The suspect 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.
A valet parking attendant at the St.
Regis Hotel confirmed that the man who dropped off Johnson’s car strongly resembled the purported photographer’s description, according to police.
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.
Wark and one of her daughter’s roommates filed a missing person’s report when the Santa Monica College student didn’t return to her 29th Street apartment on Monday, Feb. 17.
Johnson’s friends and family members have been actively assisting police in the missing woman’s search.
She asked that anyone concerned with the case log onto www.lrcf.org, go to the missing person’s flyer link and click on Kristine’s image. She asks that everyone send her daughter’s information in mass e-mails and blast faxes in an effort to find her.
Johnson is 5’9”, 140 lbs., has blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information about Johnson’s disappearance can call the SMPD’s tip line at (310) 458-8449.
Johnson, who is from a small town in Michigan, moved to California in 2000. She fell in love with the entertainment business after working on a film starring Sandra Bullock in San Luis Obispo. She moved to West Hollywood to study at the Make-up Designory in Burbank and then to Santa Monica to take classes at SMC.
Johnson works full time as a data entry worker at CNCG Cellular, a small company based in Marina Del Rey.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 28, 2003. Read the original PDF.