Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
The recent Lethally Blonde episode, “A Model Murder,” aired on ID on Monday, April 29, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. It revolves around the murder of a model by David Rademaker. The synopsis of the episode reads, “An aspiring model, Kimberly Pandelios, accepts an offer to pose in lingerie for a mysterious photographer, then disappears; years later, a young woman contacts the police when she begins to suspect that her boyfriend may have been the killer.”
David Rademaker was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Kimberly Pandelios over a decade after her murder. She had disappeared on February 27, 1992, after she left her home in Northridge, California, for a photo shoot. She told her husband, Peter, that she had scheduled a meeting with a man called Paul to discuss the costumes for the shoot. Pandelios then left her 13-month-old son with a babysitter.
At around 10 a.m. that morning, Kimberly Pandelios went to a salon and met Steven Sanchez, with whom she discussed the hair for the shoot. After she left the salon at around noon, she contacted the babysitter. As per court documents, she told the babysitter that Paul might call, and the former was to inform him that Pandelios was on her way. Pandelios asked her to tell the man that she was on her way. A man claiming to be Paul had called that day, and the babysitter did as instructed.
Paul called again later to inform the babysitter that Kimberly Pandelios had left her book at their meeting place. He claimed she left at 4 p.m. However, Peter never heard from Pandelios.
How much prison time did David Rademaker get?
The Los Angeles Times reported that David Rademaker was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of Kimberly Pandelios’ murder. Although the case went cold and unsolved for a long time, Rademaker was caught after the parents of a 15-year-old girl reported him. They said that he raped their daughter and also coerced her into using drugs. While he was convicted for those crimes, the teenage girl told the police that Rademaker boasted about killing Kimberly Pandelios.
Initially, authorities believed that the girl might be lying as she held her heroin addiction against David Rademaker. In March 1993, hikers found a skull and remains in the same place where the car had previously been found. A pair of panties, a cut-out bra, and handcuffs were also recovered from there.
The remains were identified to be those of Kimberly Pandelios, and David Rademaker was arrested later. Investigation revealed that Rademaker pretended to be Paul to get in touch with her. He lured Pandelios into the Angeles National Forest before he made sexual advances toward her. Upon her rejection, he murdered Pandelios and drowned her in a mountain stream. She was 21 years old at the time of her death. Pandelios had moved to California only a year before that.
As per the Los Angeles Times, David Rademaker ran an escort service and a phone sex line at that time.
