0:00

Hello! I'm Keith Morris and with a

0:02

special preview of Murder and the Hollywood

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Hills or latest podcast takes us to

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Hollywood for a story about a smooth

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talking predator who lured young women with

0:10

the promise of fame. The.

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Most of all is about how a

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group of those women banded together to

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put him behind bars and keep him

0:19

there. It.

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Was laid on a Saturday afternoon when Douglas

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Kirkland amble down to the end of his

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driveway in the Hollywood Hills to check the

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mail. To the west,

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way out over the Pacific, you might

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have seen a line of bruise colored

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clouds puffing themselves up. Looked. At

0:38

them and business. L I was

0:40

in for some ran. It.

0:44

Was at that moment. The douglas is why

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France was who is puttering in the garage.

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Looked. Up and noticed that a young woman

0:51

in a white sports car had stopped in

0:54

front of her husband. Was. A

0:56

Miata and there was a very pretty

0:58

girl. Pretty blonde girl in there with

1:00

or is what it looked was her.

1:02

Entire wardrobe next to her.

1:05

And she got very frazzled. Runs.

1:08

Was overheard the girl in the sports

1:10

car as Douglas about a house that

1:12

resembled a Castle Douglas or even know

1:15

what she was talking about. That

1:17

France was dead. And I

1:19

kind of yelled out to dinner, the

1:22

Castle is that place on Green Valley.

1:24

It's sort of. A. Black

1:26

up at the corner of up of a little street

1:28

and it's got got a statue was all around it.

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It did old Terry to know that that's the castle.

1:33

That's what we call the castle. Relief

1:35

washed over the young woman's

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face, along with but anticipation,

1:40

anxiety, excitement all mixed up

1:42

in those big blue eyes.

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Douglas. Kirkland new the look. For.

1:50

Decades he'd been a celebrity photographer

1:52

and Hollywood. He. Made

1:54

his reputation taking iconic pictures

1:56

of stars. And those

1:58

who had stars in there. eyes. The

2:01

young woman said thank you and pulled

2:03

away and as her red taillights disappeared

2:06

around the bend, Douglas turned to Francois

2:08

and said, It's another one of

2:10

those like little hopeful

2:12

girls who is going to a photo shoot.

2:14

I hope she's going to be okay. Douglas

2:19

was right, of course. The young

2:21

woman in the white sports car was on her

2:23

way to a photo shoot or what

2:25

she thought was a photo shoot. Her

2:27

name was Kristy Johnson. She was

2:30

21 years old that day. She

2:33

would not see 22. Kristy

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Johnson disappeared February 15th after telling friends

2:38

she was going to meet a man

2:40

about a movie role. Yes,

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this is a story about what

2:48

happened to Kristy Johnson one Saturday

2:50

afternoon, but it's

2:52

about more than that. It's

2:54

about dreams. And a man

2:56

who told a lot of young women like Kristy that

2:58

he could make their dreams

3:01

of Hollywood stardom come

3:03

true. He talked about

3:05

big bucks. He named numbers of

3:07

money that I can't recall today, but it was

3:09

a lot of money. He said, Are

3:11

you kidding me? He said, you know, you're perfect. You're going

3:13

to make all this money. You're going to be famous. You're going to be

3:15

on all the talk shows. It's

3:17

a story about what can happen when

3:20

the people who administer our courts play,

3:22

let's make a deal with justice. And

3:26

it's about a group of victims and

3:28

near victims determined to turn the tables

3:30

on a predator. He

3:32

did try this ruse on all of

3:35

us. And that seems to be enough

3:37

to bond us together. We all feel

3:39

very connected like like a sisterhood. They

3:42

were everything to the case. And, um,

3:44

without them, we most

3:47

likely would not have had a case. I'm

3:49

Keith Morrison, and this is murder

3:52

in the Hollywood Hills. The podcast

3:54

on Dateline. Thanks

3:57

for listening. Search Murder in The

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Hollywood Hills. Those to hear the

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thought. Was

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