Murder in the Hollywood Hills: Woman, 21, lured by sexual predator who posed as a film producer promising her a role as a Bond girl - with her brutal murder set to be laid bare in new podcast

Kristine 'Kristi' Johnson was just 21 years old when a stranger approached her at Century City mall in Los Angeles and told her that he was film producer looking for the next Bond girl.

It was an opportunity that she was ready to pounce on after moving from Michigan to California with the intention of returning to college following a stint as a freshman at Western Michigan University.

The man, who she met at the mall on February 15, 2003, said he could get her an audition and arranged to meet her at a Hollywood Hills home.

Just over two weeks later, Kristi's body would be found by hikers in a nearby ravine.

Now, her story will be featured on a new Dateline podcast called Murder In The Hollywood Hills, hosted by NBC's Keith Morrison, that will chart how a group of women helped hunt down Kristi's killer. 

Kristine 'Kristi' Johnson (pictured with mom Terry Hall) was just 21 when a stranger approached her at an LA mall and told her he was film producer looking for the next Bond girl

Before she was found dead, Kristi's roommate told investigators that the aspiring star 'was very excited when she came home because she was going to audition for a James Bond clip.'

Former prosecutor Ronald E. Bowers shed further light on the details of Kristi's exchange with the man she met at the mall, previously telling Oxygen's Real Murders Of Los Angeles: 'She was told if she had a white blouse, black miniskirt, nylons and stiletto heels, that would really impress.'

The man also told Kristi the job would pay $100,000.

Kristi had worked as a makeup artist but when she went off to the supposed audition she had been working at a cell phone company, the Los Angeles Times reported.

On February 15, she headed up to the Hollywood Hills in her white Mazda Miata and stopped to ask directions.

Kristi's mother Terry Hall reported her daughter missing after she failed to show up to work two days later.

To figure out what happened to the 21-year-old, a tip line was established for the public to call in with any information about Kristi.

Hundreds of calls flooded in, including from three women - one of whom was Susan Murphy - who recalled a similar story to Kristi's.

He arranged to meet her in the Hollywood Hills for the audition. Just over two weeks later, Kristi's body would be found by hikers in a nearby ravine. She's pictured left and right as a child

Her story will be featured on a new Dateline podcast called Murder In The Hollywood Hills, hosted by NBC's Keith Morrison. Kristi is pictured with brother Derek

The man also told Kristi (pictured as a child) the job would pay $100,000

Susan told investigators that she had been at the same mall where Kristi had been on January 24 when she was sought out by a man who asked her to audition for a Bond movie.

Another detail that stuck out was Susan revealed she was also asked to wear an identical outfit described by Kristi to her roommate.

Wary of the situation, Susan took her boyfriend when she met the man for a second time the following day.

When they requested identification from him, the man, who would eventually be identified by Susan as Victor Paleologus, ran off.

Other women who came forward had near identical experiences to Susan and Kristi, and their stories matched his pattern of criminal history.

For example in 1989, Paleologus, posing as a Columbia Records executive, attacked Christine Kludjian, then 21, in a hotel room after he invited her to a music industry party.

She was able to escape and Paleologus was handed three years' probation for false imprisonment by violence. 

Her killer was identified as Victor Paleologus

Nearly a decade later, in 1998, he was accused of the attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman, again luring her in with the opportunity to appear in a Bond film. He was sentenced to prison time, but was released on parole in 2003 after spending three years and five months behind bars, the LA Times reported. 

But tragically for Kristi, almost three weeks after she first met Paleologus, hikers found her body in a Hollywood Hills ravine on March 3.

Her hands and ankles had been tied up, and she had been strangled.

Paleologus dodged the possibility of the death penalty when he pleaded guilty in 2006 to murdering Kristi.

Instead, the then 44-year-old was sentenced to 25 years to life.

In July 2023, a group organized to honor the 21-year-old, known as Justice For Kristi, campaigned to block her killer's potential release on parole.

Almost 20 years after he was imprisoned, Paleologus was scheduled for a parole hearing.

'Paleologus doesn't deserve freedom and a second chance to endanger another innocent victim. Before Kristi's murder, he demonstrated how chronically dangerous he is when in 1998, he was convicted of rape of Heather Maher,' the group said in a statement at the time.

'He served five years at Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo and was released on January 20, 2003.'

Eventually, the killer waived his right to a parole hearing and will not be eligible again until 2025.

'What a weight off of my back this is,' Kristi's mom Terry told Oxygen.com after hearing the news.

'It's interesting, sometimes in life you don't realize what a big burden you're carrying until it's lifted from you.' 

Murder In The Hollywood Hills will debut on March 26 across podcast platforms.