What Did He Do to His Stepsister? | True Crime Documentary – YouTube
Transcripts:
subject approached her and insisted in a very aggressive manner that she come with him immediately. >> She’s the one that reminds me of a strength. And I go back to the last Father’s Day card that Christy sent me. It’s a beautiful card. I cherish it. >> You took responsibility for Christiey’s death. >> I had to.
I had to in order to get the plea and that’s what you did. It was a solemn oath. That’s what you want to withdraw. Absolutely. Absolutely. That is what I wanted to withdraw because I’m not responsible for her death. >> She’s 21 years old. She’s heading to a casting call that according to her was supposed to change her life.
Just a few hours later, her phone drops off the grid completely. Uh, a few days go by and in the Hollywood Hills they find the body of a young woman. Her hands are tied, her ankles are tied. There are clear signs of brutal violence. She was pushed down while she was still alive. Investigators understand almost immediately this wasn’t random.
Not even close. Years earlier, several women had described the exact same pattern. meeting a man at a shopping mall, an offer of a role in a James Bond movie, very specific wardrobe instructions, a black minikrt, a white men’s shirt, high heels, and a tie. Then it would move to a closed room, a request to check the sound, a cord wrapped around the legs, hands forcing them down onto the floor.
Back in 1991, one of the victims stood in court and said it straight out, “He’s going to kill someone.” and um he was released. A few years pass and there’s another attack. Again, tied ankles. Again, an attempt at strangulation and again a minimal sentence. By the beginning of 2003, he’s free.
Walking around like nothing happened. That same year, a 21-year-old girl buys new heels for her casting. She tells her friend the opportunity is basically guaranteed, like this is her big break. She leaves for the meeting and disappears. Her car is later found neatly parked near a hotel. The vehicle is spotless, no signs of a struggle, no foreign fingerprints inside. It’s almost sterile.
Later, a version of events will surface talk of consensual sex and an accident. A version that doesn’t match the injuries, doesn’t match the way her body was found, a version that only shows up when it becomes convenient. This isn’t a story about one meeting. It’s it’s a story about a repeated pattern about a man who wasn’t stopped in time about an escalation that had been documented for years and still didn’t trigger real control and about a trip to a casting call after which she never came home.
I’m telling you right now, this story will bring you to tears. It really will. But let’s go back to the very beginning so you can experience every step of it with me. Dear viewers, before we keep going with this story, I just want to take about 15 seconds of your time and ask you to support the growth of our channel with your activity.
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She was born in Northern California but raised in Michigan. And like so many others, she had dreams that just outgrew her hometown. Um, her mom used to say there was this sense of calm about her. She was always peaceful, easy to talk to, just naturally warm. After high school and one year of college, she landed a job as a production assistant on the Sandra Bulock film Murder by Numbers.
And that’s when she really caught the entertainment bug. Like, it got under her skin in the best way. Just like thousands of other young people, she moved to California chasing something bigger. Castings, modeling gigs, the hope that someone would notice her. She was a college student, a makeup artist, and she worked for a phone company to support herself.
At first, she actually wanted to work behind the camera. Her dream was to do makeup. But now, she was in Hollywood, and the idea of acting, of of seeing herself on the big screen really started to pull her in. In the little free time she had, she handed out resumeumés, sent in head shot, and tried to build those connections that matter so much in that industry.
After she booked a job in a music video, she wrote to her dad, Kirk, “I was so nervous when I first got here,” she wrote. But I knew this is what I wanted, so I didn’t give up, and now I’m on the right path. In a place that’s honestly oversaturated, where so many people are chasing the exact same dream she was, it’s kind of incredible that she was already moving forward, already making connections that take other people years to build.
It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day and Christy called her mom to say she was heading to the mall. Her mom, Terry, told her, “Don’t buy anything. Just pick something out and that’ll be your Valentine’s Day gift.” Then on February 15th, Christy shared some exciting news with her roommate Carrie. She had met a casting agent at the Century City Shopping Center, and he’d offered her what sounded like a life-changing opportunity, a role in a new James Bond film, maybe even one of the Bond girls.
There was supposed to be other actresses auditioning, sure, but he told her the audition was basically just a formality. The job was already hers. Christy admitted she felt a little uneasy about it, just a tiny voice in the back of her mind. But how do you say no to something like that? This was why she came to Los Angeles in the first place. She was glowing, smiling nonstop.
She even showed Carrie the outfit the casting agent suggested she buy, a black minikrt, a crisp white men’s shirt, and high heels. And then she drove to Beverly Hills, ready for a 5:30 p.m. meeting, fully determined to make the most of what could have been her big break. The evening passed. She didn’t come home. Maybe the meeting ran late.
Maybe she met up with friends after. The next day went by. Still nothing from Christy. She’d only been living in the apartment for a few months, and she and Carrie didn’t know each other’s routines all that well yet. They got along, sure, but Carrie didn’t know her schedule closely enough to immediately think that being gone for 2 days meant something was wrong.
But when Christy didn’t show up for work, her mom, Terry, called the Santa Monica Police Department and filed a missing person report. Sometimes we hear about certain protocols, rules that can slow things down or reasons law enforcement might hesitate at first, but in this case, detectives were concerned and they didn’t waste time.
>> The family and the police department are very concerned because this is very uncharacteristic of her behavior to not show up to work yesterday and today and uh no one has seen her since uh Saturday afternoon. >> They went straight to her apartment and Carrie told them about the casting meeting. She said, “I’m so excited.
I met this man.” She said she was um she was genuinely thrilled that they were looking for a new face, someone for a James Bond movie. She said she needed to look very seductive and sexy. That’s what they were going for. That was the image they wanted. And they were even going to give her a tie to wear as part of the look.
Investigators found a receipt in Christy’s room new high heels she had bought at the mall. CCTV footage from the shopping center showed her purchasing the skirt, too. But even after reviewing cameras throughout the entire building, they didn’t find a single frame of her with that man. At 5:32 p.m. on the day she left, her phone was still active, but not in Beverly Hills, where she said the meeting was supposed to happen.
It was pinging in Laurel Canyon up in the Hollywood Hills. After that, nothing. No phone activity, no bank activity, just silence. Around that same time, well-known celebrity photographer Douglas Kirkland had actually spoken with Christy. She was in her white Mazda at the top of Wonderland Park Avenue in the Hollywood Hills.
She’d gotten a little lost and was running late, so she asked him for directions. He later said he’d seen that look on someone’s face. is a thousand times another aspiring actress full of hope. Good luck to her, he thought, watching her drive away. And now, just days later, Douglas saw Christiey’s face all over the media, but not for the reasons anyone would have wanted.
Christiey’s mom, Terry, and her dad, Kirk, both flew in and began speaking publicly, doing everything they could to make sure her face was everywhere, that her name stayed in people’s minds. Then a small article in a local newspaper caught the attention of a woman named Susan Murphy and she realized she had gone through something chillingly similar.
Just a few weeks earlier at the Century City Mall inside Macy’s, a man approached Susan. He introduced himself as Victor Thomas, a casting agent working on a James Bond film. Susan brought her boyfriend Mark with her when she went to meet Victor, and he waited in the car. She stayed close to the building’s entrance.
When Victor saw her, he immediately became irritated that she wasn’t wearing the outfit he had instructed. The exact same outfit Christy had been told to wear. A white men’s shirt, a black minikrt, and high heels. When Susan asked to see his identification, he told her she wasn’t right for the role. Her boyfriend stepped in and chased him off.
Susan remembered him very clearly and helped police create a composite sketch. a white male, short curly brown hair about 5′ 11 in tall. >> Subject approached her and insisted in a very aggressive manner that she come with him immediately. >> The name he gave Victor Thomas didn’t return anything in the database, but considering what he was doing, it was pretty obvious that the name was fake.
Detectives went back to the mall with Susan to review the surveillance footage, and of course, they found him. You could clearly see that before approaching her, he had been watching her. Following her movements, the composite sketch was released along with a tipline number and nearly 1,000 calls came in. One of those calls was from another actress, Kathy Dabono.
She said she recognized the man in the sketch. Kathy was certain she had met him 2 years earlier at a mall. She knew him as Brian from Disney. She had already been working in the industry for some time and understood how things worked and what red flags looked like. And still she admitted her curiosity got the better of her.
What if this was real? What if this was the opportunity? She agreed to meet Brian but brought her stuntwoman friend Chester just in case. Whoever Brian really was, he never came out of the building. Another aspiring actress and dancer, Alice Walker, learned about Christiey’s case from her mother.
Alice worked as a waitress in the same shopping center where Christy had been approached. One day, a middle-aged man sat at her table and started talking. He introduced himself as Victor and like clockwork claimed he was working on a new James Bond film. He invited her to the same location he had given Susan an abandoned building in West Hollywood and told her to wear the exact same outfit the other women had been instructed to wear.
She went, thinking she’d also be meeting the director, but when she arrived, it was just Victor. She walked back and forth a few times in the outfit, and then he told her to put on a tie he had bought. She did, but slipped her thumb under the knot so it couldn’t be tightened around her neck.
He eventually let her go, saying maybe the director would show up in a few days. The last time she heard from him was on February 15th, the very same day Christy disappeared. He sounded agitated, out of breath. He kept repeating that he needed to reach her, but she never called him back. Then she turned on the news and saw Christiey’s face next to the composite sketch.
And for her, it was like ice water. A truly sobering moment. Not long after, detectives received another call, this time from a parole officer who had also seen the sketch. She was finally able to give them the real name behind the face of this so-called industry professional. His first name actually was Victor Victor Paleologus, a man she had been supervising after his release from prison in 1999.
He had been sentenced to nearly 9 years in prison for falsifying financial records, writing a fraudulent check, and assault with intent to commit a sexual offense. He had been released just 26 days before Christy disappeared. Police eventually located Victor in county jail because 2 days after Christy vanished, he had attempted to steal a BMW in Beverly Hills.
The 40-year-old man claimed he knew nothing about Christy. And for the moment, detectives had to set that denial aside. Kristen Johnson’s car was found parked right here at the St. Reges Hotel valet parking area. Eventually, Christiey’s white Mazda was found near the Street Reges Hotel, not far from the shopping center.
A valet told police that a man had simply walked up and handed him the keys. The car was processed for evidence, but aside from one fingerprint, which belonged to Christy, there was nothing. It was completely clean, almost unnervingly clean. The valet was asked to come in and view a lineup. Police also asked Susan Murphy to do the same.
The valet couldn’t say with total certainty which man had given him the keys, but Susan didn’t hesitate. She pointed to number three and said firmly, “That’s him. That’s the man who lured me to that so-called casting.” Then a realtor named Paul Katie contacted police with yet another story about the man he believed was in the sketch.
He had been showing houses in the Hollywood Hills to someone named Victor, and something felt off. Victor kept asking Paul to step out of the room so he could supposedly check the sound and test the noise insulation. Detectives kept digging through his long list of prior charges and convictions. Victor had presented himself as a record label executive, a film producer, a casting director, basically a powerful industry insider with major connections.
But in reality, he was a failed restaurant owner with fake credentials. Back in 1991, he had been tried on charges of attempted rape, assault, and false imprisonment involving a woman named Christine Clusion. He had lured her to a hotel suite by promising she would meet Madonna at a major industry party.
He told her his name was John and claimed he was an executive at Columbia Records. Once inside the suite, he tied her to the bed and attacked her. She bit him in the groin, managed to break free, and ran. He was acquitted of attempted rape and assault with intent to rape, but he did plead guilty to false imprisonment.
At the time, the jury uh foreman said that Victor didn’t look like a rapist. An absurd and honestly insulting thing to say to Christine. Back then, the 21-year-old Christine said, “This man has done this before.” She said, “He’s going to do it again, and he’s going to kill someone because he almost killed me.” Victor received just 3 years of probation.
That same year, another actress, Christine Davis, met a man who introduced himself as Joe Messi and claimed he worked for Disney. It was Victor. He slipped something into her drink. She noticed a white powder just in time and called the police. No charges were filed. In 1996, he was accused of breaking into the home of a woman he had briefly dated and attacking her with a liature.
When he barricaded himself inside the house, SWAT had to be called in. But through a plea deal, the case was reduced and he ended up convicted only of burglary. 2 years later, he told Heather Ma that he was a Disney film producer and invited her to meet him at a hotel. He instructed her to wear a black minikrt and black high heels. She showed up.
He presented fake contracts. Then he suggested they go somewhere else, claiming it was his office. Once there, he asked her to pose for modeling photos. Then he wrapped a cord around her ankles. He forced her to the floor and attempted to rape her. She managed to break free and drive straight to a police station.
For that, he received 4 years in prison. And now it’s 2003. Less than a month before Christy disappeared, Victor had been released from prison after serving time for assault with intent to rape, attempted forcible rape, and violent false imprisonment. The list was long. The pattern was undeniable. The circumstantial evidence was stacking up.
But where was Christy? March 5th, 2003. Tourists were walking through a remote ravine in the Hollywood Hills when they noticed something down below, almost 100 ft down. It was the badly decomposed body of a young woman. Lead investigator Virginia Open Obentain asked to be lowered into the ravine herself.
She was going to see this case through no matter what. The first identifying clue was a hibiscus tattoo on her back. It was Christy Johnson. She was partially undressed, covered with a sleeping bag. Her hands were tied, her ankles were tied. There was a massive fracture to her skull. She had been strangled.
And while she was still showing signs of life, she was thrown down into the canyon. The medical examiner determined she was most likely killed the very same day she disappeared. Due to the advanced decomposition, they couldn’t determine whether sexual assault had occurred. By that point, detectives had already heard multiple accounts about Victor, including Susan’s identification, and he was arrested for the murder of Christy Johnson.
It was clear this was a violent behavioral pattern that had escalated over the years. And those were just the women we know about. There could have been more, many more. One thing was undeniable. What Christine Clusion had warned about from the witness stand in 1991 had come true. Victor’s attorneys argued there was no DNA, no hair samples, no fibers, no eyewitnesses.
It’s impossible for someone to be that clean, the defense claimed. David Walgrren, the deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, didn’t deny that the case lacked direct forensic evidence tying Victor to the crime. He said that because there were no direct or physical forensic links, the testimony from the other women was critical.
The evidence was circumstantial, but that didn’t make it weak. Without them, he said, we most likely wouldn’t have had a case at all. In July of 2006, after 2 weeks of testimony, Victor’s defense team approached prosecutors and said he wanted to make a deal. He agreed to take responsibility for Christiey’s death, but stated he would not provide any details about what actually happened.
As part of the agreement, he avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole in the future. On the day of sentencing, Victor wrote a letter to the judge asking to withdraw his plea, claiming his attorney had pressured him into accepting the deal against his will. >> Uh, the court this morning received a letter, it’s very lengthy, from the defendant.
I’m going to deny the motion, Mr. Kale Logus. The laws states very clearly a plea may not be withdrawn simply because the defendant has changed his mind. >> The judge denied his request. He also allowed Christiey’s parents, Kirk and Terry, to address the court. >> And Christy is my guardian angel.
She is the girl that I look up to. She’s the one that provides me with strength. And I go back to the last Father’s Day card that Christy sent me. It’s a beautiful card. I cherish it. Victor Pelogus has been allowed the freedom to let the evil in his life escalate, resulting in the heinous murder of Christy, my beloved young daughter, a beautiful young woman on the threshold of her life.
Just 3 days after beginning his sentence, he gave an interview to Keith Morrison for Dline NBC. And um it surprised absolutely no one that he kept playing the same psychological games, the same lies, the same um denials. >> You took responsibility for Christiey’s death. I had to. I had to in order to get the plea. And that’s what you did.
It was a solemn oath. That’s what you want to withdraw. Absolutely. Absolutely. That is what I wanted to withdraw because I’m not responsible for her death. >> In 2008, Victor appealed to the California Supreme Court and was denied again. Kathy Dabono, who had survived her own encounter with Victor, eventually immersed herself in the study of psychology, specifically psychopathy.
Naturally, Victor became a subject of intense focus for her. She began working on a documentary with other women who were brave enough to share their stories. Kathy wrote to Victor in prison requesting an interview. She explained who she was and how their paths had crossed. At first, he refused. Later, he agreed to correspond.
They exchanged letters for years while she tried to draw more information out of him. In one letter, she asked him to be completely honest to write about what he truly wanted to talk about. A week later, she received a graphically detailed, disturbingly violent sexual fantasy. That’s when she understood this man was not changing.
He was never going to change and she needed to make sure the parole board would know that in case he ever had a chance at release. Later, Kathy learned about a cold case dating back to 1988. in a suburb of Philadelphia behind a distillery. The remains of a pregnant woman had been discovered. She had likely died about 3 years earlier around 1985.
She was estimated to be between 17 and 23 years old. Her skeletal remains were found clothed, but buried with her was an additional outfit, a skirt, high heels, fishnet stockings, and a blouse. The same look Victor had instructed aspiring actresses to wear. A forensic facial reconstruction was created, but no leads came in.
The case went cold for years. When Kathy learned about it, she contacted Detective Chris McMullen. Victor had family ties in that area. It needed to be examined. Could he have been the father of the unborn child? Could he have been her killer? To establish any connection, investigators needed Victor’s DNA. But California authorities stated they could not release a sample without stronger legal grounds.
So, after years of communication, in 2017, Kathy decided to obtain his DNA herself. She went to the prison and spent 3 hours with him. In addition to buying him a drink, she allowed him to kiss her on the cheek and carefully noted exactly where she would need to swab afterward. She later said it felt strange, but in the end, it was just a kiss on the cheek, and she believed it was worth it.
“I went there to do my job,” she said. Kathy asked him about Christy. He told her not to repeat what he was about to say. He described meeting Christy at the mall and inviting her to his home. He claimed they smoked marijuana and engaged in what he called consensual sex involving erotic esphyxiation. He said that when he couldn’t revive her and realized she was dead, he panicked, wrapped her in a sleeping bag, and rolled her down the hill.
Kathy didn’t believe him at all, but at least he had finally admitted involvement after years of denial. The DNA she obtained did not match the fetal remains. Still, what Kathy did was incredibly bold. Because DNA was successfully extracted from the fetal bones. In 2020, Bode Technology obtained additional samples and conducted genomic sequencing.
A team of genetic genealogologists helped build a family tree based on the results. In March 2021, Jane Doe was finally identified as Lisa Todd, who had disappeared in October 1985. Her killer remains unknown, but at least now her name is known, and her family received some measure of closure. In August 2023, Victor waved his first parole hearing.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that he wanted additional time to complete self-help programs, relapse prevention courses, and prepare a parole plan. He remains in prison. His next hearing was scheduled for November 2025, but at the time this episode was released, there were no new updates.
Kirk Johnson said he always knew his daughter had everything she needed to succeed at whatever she chose. But maybe Los Angeles was too fast, too much. He said Christy was just a simple girl from Holland, Michigan, who went to big Los Angeles and the city swallowed her. I don’t think she was ready for the fast lane of LA.
For Christy, the danger she walked into without even realizing it came disguised as hope and dreams. Hollywood sells a simple idea. If you want something badly enough, if you work hard enough, someone will notice you. For Christy Johnson, that belief wasn’t naive. It was human. She did what so many are encouraged to do.
She showed up. She tried. She believed the right opportunity would find her. The truth is, you never really know which doors lead to an audition and which leads somewhere else entirely. Kirk said, “I call Christy my guardian angel.” He said, “There are moments when I feel like I see her again, maybe across the lake, like someone’s waving at me.
” One night, really late, I looked up and said, “Christy, where are you?” And suddenly, a bird started chirping. And I said, “Okay, I understand.” That’s a messenger. If you’d like to support our channel and help us keep creating content like this, please don’t forget to hit the like button, leave a comment, share this video, and subscribe.
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