Leonora Meredith Johnson (29 August 1952 - 03 October 1975) was an American actress and model during the early 1970s. She was kidnapped, raped, brutalized, and then murdered by B-list movie director Peter Dreyfuss for "artistic purposes". Her murder was solved by former bank robber Franklin Clinton, who tracked Dreyfuss to his home and gunned him down as he ran away in fear, avenging Johnson's brutal murder.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Leonora Johnson was born on August 29, 1952, in Tomahawk, Wisconsin to a family of farmers; her father was a chicken farmer and her mother was a dairy farmer. She developed a smoking addiction during childhood, suffering from lung problems as a result. Though Johnson was an unremarkable student, she hit puberty at an early age and gained significant attention from both boys at her school and a few members of the school faculty.
She moved in with her uncle in 1966, but dropped out of high school and fled to Los Angeles a year later to become a movie star. She found work as a waitress, but was quickly scouted for her beauty and relative naivety, becoming a frequent attendee at Hollywood parties.
Johnson eventually began working as a model by 1971, showing up in magazines and minor roles in movies and television. She was cast in 1973's Rum Runner, where she played a snarky, disabled prostitute named Beryl, stealing every scene that she was involved in. Movie critics admired her beauty, but could see that she wasn't extremely intelligent. Though she was meant to appear in the lead role of The Many Faces of Alfredo Smith, she was kidnapped by B-list movie director Peter Dreyfuss before it began production.
Death[]
Dreyfuss proceeded to brutalize Johnson, which included cutting off her limbs and switching them around, slicing off her facial features, drawing a star on her back with cigar burns, raping her body, and various other heinous crimes. Dreyfuss commanded her to stop screaming, but she wouldn't, so he sliced her neck with a knife and finally killed her.
Her body was dumped at the Land Act Dam, where it was later found by LAPD officers. Unfortunately, the forensics team was extremely careless, losing any valuable evidence left on her body, and the case was closed as an unsolved murder.
Legacy[]
Franklin Clinton, a former bank robber and gangbanger, found various letter scraps across Los Angeles and Blaine County, eventually piecing together Dreyfuss' torn letter confessing his crime to David Richards. Clinton confronted Dreyfuss at his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he quickly tried to bribe Clinton before attempting to flee. Clinton quickly pulled his combat knife out, pulling Dreyfuss out of his car and stabbing him multiple times so that he suffered; Clinton's actions would avenge Johnson's untimely death.