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On behalf of this City, this Police
Department and especially all the detectives here that have worked so
hard on this case, I give our heartfelt condolences and sympathy to
Kristi Johnson’s family - Her grandparents, her brother Derrick, and
her mother and father, Terry Wark and Kirk Johnson.
They have been so strong during our search for Kristi and have
endured indescribable pain and loss.
I want to thank LAPD Chief Bill Bratton,
LAPD Hollywood Division Officers, LAPD Robbery Homicide Division and
the Los Angeles Fire Department for containing the crime scene
discovered in their City and providing us with the resources to begin
our investigation until officers of the Santa Monica Police Department
could respond. Chief Bratton personally responded to the crime scene.
Without the resources provided by LA Fire, we could not have
processed the crime scene in a timely manner.
We also acknowledge and appreciate the assistance provided by
the Los Angeles County Crime Lab personnel, Bloodhound K9 Handlers
from the Torrance PD and the Ventura and Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Departments during the course of this investigation.
Finally, we want to thank all of Kristi’s co-workers who
voluntarily passed out missing flyers in the Century City Mall and in
Santa Monica while we all searched for Kristi.
As of yesterday, this investigation has
turned from a search to locate and bring home this vibrant young woman
to a potential kidnapping/murder investigation.
We believe that we can and we will bring the person responsible
to justice. The purpose of this conference today is to provide the public
information into our progress in this case without compromising any
future prosecution and without naming or identifying any
individuals not yet charged with a crime related to this
disappearance.
We have received over 500 tips on our Tip
Line that was established February 20th, 2003.
Of those 200 were deemed viable and followed up upon by
individual investigators. Two
tips received weeks apart from independent sources were classified and
strong and viable. Follow-up
on those two tips has provided corroborative information that has led
us to focus on a subject of interest. This subject of interest has
been identified as the individual who lured a female to a corner in
West Hollywood in late January under the offer of an audition for a
photo shoot related to a specific movie production.
This female witness and her boyfriend have positively
identified him as the person they described in the composite.
This subject lives within
two blocks of the intersection where he met this witness, on foot, in
January.
Additionally, this subject has been convicted of crimes in
which the victims were female and were lured to the location of the
crime under the pretense of photographing them for publicity type
photos related to the entertainment industry.
In one of the crimes, he stated that he was shooting photos for
the same specific movie production that he mentioned to both the
witness from January and Kristi Johnson.
This subject was arrested
shortly after Kristi Johnson’s car was dropped off at the St. Regis
Hotel and has been in custody ever since.
Kristi Johnson, when found, was wearing an article of specific
apparel that the subject asked both her and the female from January to
wear to their purported photo shoots.
We believe we have evidence that establishes his presence in
the Century City Mall on the 15h of February, the day that Kristi met
the individual purporting to be a photographer and subsequently
disappeared.
There are other pieces of
information that we believe tie this subject of interest to Kristi’s
disappearance.
We await the forensic processing of evidence secured from
Kristi’s Miata and locations searched pursuant to search warrants
before making a final arrest decision.
This press conference will be the last conducted by the Santa
Monica Police until an arrest decision has been made.
I will take questions at this time, but will not discuss any
subject matter that may jeopardize the reputation of uncharged persons
or any future prosecution and justice for Kristi and her family.
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