(NBC News) — On Friday’s “Dateline,” an incredible story that aired nearly 20 years ago is getting a new life thanks to a group of women who banded together in honor of another young woman who was brutally murdered by that same man who had stalked them.
The broadcast, entitled “The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo,” will feature an exclusive interview with Alice Walker, a key witness speaking with “Dateline” for the first time about her unnerving encounter with Victor Paleologus. Keith Morrison previously reported on Paleologus, a terrifying killer and serial predator who was brought down by a courageous group of women after he lured them with false promises of fame and fortune amid the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
The episode is also tied to the “Dateline” podcast, “Murder in the Hollywood Hills” which debuted at number one on the podcast charts and has garnered nearly 3 million downloads since its premiere on March 26, 2024.
Here is a preview of Morrison’s report:
Cathy DeBuono sat in the prison courtyard and watched him walk toward her. The man she believed to be an unrepentant killer. An incurable psychopath.
The man who’d once tried to entrap her. But Cathy wasn’t going to be the prey — she would become the hunter. And she assembled a sisterhood of women — survivors of a smooth-talking Hollywood predator.
CATHY DEBUONO: We experienced him. We know who he is.
CHRISTINE: I said, this guy’s done this before. He’ll do it again and he will kill someone because he almost killed me.
VIRGINIA OBECHANI: She was strangled and she had a radiating fracture of the skull.
ALICE WALKER: It could have and should have been me.
SUSAN MURPHY: I just knew. My heart dropped.
CATHY DEBUONO: I certainly understood that was his plan for me.
Which was why, Cathy DuBuono was here talking to me.
CATHY DEBUONO: We come together and use our voices. It’s powerful.
DAVID WALGREN: Without them, we most likely would not have had a case.
To hear the full story of how a group of strangers grew into a sisterhood determined to ensure a dangerous predator never struck again, watch “Dateline: The Girl with the Hibiscus Tattoo,” Friday at 9 p.m. on NBC4.