The true story behind the murder of the hibiscus tattoo girl ahead of Dateline

Dateline revisits the Kristi Johnson case in The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo, a broadcast that tracks how a serial pretender targeted young women and how witness stories helped close a murder case. The episode looks back at a 2003 killing in the Hollywood Hills and the long trail that led to a plea in 2006.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo airs Wednesday at 8 pm ET on Oxygen. The episode first ran as a two-hour Dateline NBC report on May 31, 2024.

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The case at the center of Dateline

On February 15, 2003, Kristi Johnson left a Century City mall after a man who pitched a James Bond audition. She was told to bring a white shirt, a black skirt, nylons, and stiletto heels to a private audition in the hills. She never returned home.

Hikers found Kristi Johnson’s body in the Hollywood Hills. (Image via Unsplash)

Weeks later, Hikers found Kristi Johnson’s body in the Hollywood Hills. Her hands and ankles were bound. The cause of death was strangulation. Identification was aided by a hibiscus tattoo on her lower back, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Police soon heard from other women who described nearly the same approach. Each recounted a pitch tied to a movie job and the same outfit list. These reports helped detectives spot a pattern and narrow the field, NBC News reported (2024).

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How the suspect was identified

A composite sketch was produced after one survivor worked with a forensic artist. A state parole officer recognized the face and named Victor Paleologus, recently out of prison on an earlier assault case.

Phone activity near Laurel Canyon that night gave investigators timing and location context. Physical evidence was limited because rain and time degraded the scene, as reported by the LA Times (2004).

Witness cooperation became the backbone of the case. Several women who had escaped similar setups came forward. Their accounts matched details tied to Kristi’s last day. Prosecutors later said that testimony from these women was critical to move the case forward, per NBC News (2024).

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Court outcome and later steps

Paleologus was tried for first-degree murder. Less than two weeks into the proceeding in 2006, he accepted a plea agreement and received a sentence of 25 years to life.

Paleologus was charged with first-degree murder. (Image via Pexels)

He later tried to withdraw the plea, but the court kept the sentence in place. NBC News reported that he continued to claim innocence in interviews while serving time at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

The story continued outside the courtroom. A group of survivors organized, shared records, and tracked parole activity. Paleologus waived an early hearing in 2023. His next parole hearing is scheduled in 2025, according to NBC News (2024).

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Why this Dateline story still matters

The case shows how a consistent method, repeated over years, can help tie events together. The original broadcast presented new interviews with survivors and family members and detailed investigative steps, including the use of a composite and a parole officer’s tip.

The Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode title The Girl With the Hibiscus Tattoo, is a reference to the tattoo that helped confirm identity after recovery in the hills. That detail appears in early reporting, and the court file history is summarized in later coverage from the Los Angeles Times (2004).

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Where to watch Dateline: Secrets Uncovered

The Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, The Girl With the Hibiscus Tattoo episode airs Wednesday at 8 pm ET on Oxygen. The episode originally aired on May 31, 2024, on Dateline NBC.

ET	CT	PT	Series	Episode
8:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.	5:00 p.m.	Dateline: Secrets Uncovered	“The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo”

Kristi Johnson's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode is also available for streaming on fuboTV, Peacock, YouTube TV, and Oxygen.

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