How Many Bodies Did Johnny Blake Peterson Leave in Las Vegas?
Mugshot of Johnny Blake Peterson, murderer of Kim Bryant and Diana Hanson. Little information has been uncovered about Peterson so far, but police suspect he may have been responsible for up to five murders in the Las Vegas area during the late-70’s and 80’s. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
MISSING WOMEN AND AN UNKNOWN KILLER
16-year-old Kim Bryant was waiting at the Dairy Queen across from her Las Vegas high school just after 10:00 a.m. on the morning of January 26, 1979. Bryant was abducted by an unknown man in a vehicle, and her body was later found in a desert area near Buffalo Avenue and Charleston Boulevard. Bryant had died due to several blows to the head from a large rock, and her body bore signs of sexual assault.
In 1983, 22-year-old Diana Hanson returned home from college to Las Vegas for the holidays. She went jogging on an afternoon in late-December but never returned to her parents’ house. Her body was later found in the desert near Spring Mountain Road and Buffalo Avenue - not far from where Bryant’s remains were located. Hanson’s killer had stabbed her repeatedly, and like Bryant she was sexually assaulted prior to her murder.
These two brutal murders remained unsolved for nearly four decades. Fortunately, with the advent of technological advances in DNA analysis, the murderer of Bryant and Hanson was finally identified in 2021 - Johnny Blake Peterson.
But who was Peterson? And was he responsible for the murders of other women in Las Vegas?
Kim Bryant’s body was found in the desert near the intersection of Charleston and Buffalo about a month after her disappearance. Hundreds turned out to remember the slain girl’s memory, including former Nevada Governor Mike O’Callaghan, a friend of the family. Kim was an active volunteer with the Special Olympics. Local media covered Bryant’s memorial service and remarks by former Governor O’Callaghan. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District)
TAKEN FROM SCHOOL
Two fellow classmates of Bryant told police they had been approached by two men in a 1955-57 Chevy bearing Nevada plates and sporting a coat of silver primer paint with light primer spots and raised back wheels. The men attempted to entice the girls into their car with an offer to sell them jewelry, but the students grew suspicious when they peered in the backseat and saw only a large walnut-grained speaker. When the girls rebuffed their offer, the men in the car yelled obscenities and drove away.
The two students provided independent descriptions of the events to police and both got a clear look at the passenger in the Chevy, allowing police to create the first sketch of a potential suspect in the Bryant case. The 18-to-19-year-old man in the drawing hosts shaggy blond hair and droopy stoner eyes.
Sketch of teenage suspect seen harassing girls at Western High School in the days leading up to the abduction of Kim Bryant, and mugshot of Johnny Blake Peterson - murderer of Kim Bryant and Diana Hanson (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District/LVRJ/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
One of the few consistent facts throughout the Kim Bryant investigation is that Kim and her friend were approached by an old Chevy while they waited in front of the Dairy Queen. She and her friend exchanged obscenities with the occupants of the car before it sped off down Decatur Boulevard. The two unidentified witnesses that were solicited by the occupants of the Chevy both told police that the men became enraged when the girls refused to get in their car.
Johnny Blake Peterson was 19 years old when he abducted Bryant and murdered her in the desert outside of Las Vegas. He had attended Western High School, but there is no evidence that he and Bryant had been acquainted. It is an open question as to whether Peterson had been one of the two men harassing girls at Western High School in the days before Bryant went missing.
Diana Hanson’s shocking murder garnered an initial large police response and press attention, but the case quickly went cold. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District/LVRJ)
KILLING AGAIN
22-year-old Diana Hanson had graduated from Clark High School in 1979 and was attending college in Texas. But just as she did every year, she returned home to Vegas to visit her family for the holidays.
Hanson loved jogging and had a regular route along heavily trafficked roads on the western part of Vegas. The young college student had run along these roads countless times without incident. Hanson expected nothing different when she left her parents’ house at around 5:30 p.m. on December 30, 1983.
She ran from West Desert Inn Road south along Torrey Pines Drive to either Twain Avenue or Spring Mountain Road. But somewhere along Hanson’s journey she went missing. Her nude body was discovered in the desert the following day.
The clearest similarities to Bryant’s murder is the location where the bodies were left. Both murders also appear to be targets of opportunity - Bryant happened to be alone in front of the Dairy Queen in an area with which Peterson was familiar. Hanson went missing while on a jog. Neither crime has the signs of being extensively premeditated.
While the manner of death was different in each case, this fact supports the conclusion that there was an impulsive element to Peterson’s crimes. It seems that after abducting his victims, he took them to an area of the desert he was comfortable with to commit sexual assault and then murder with whatever weapon was most convenient, be it a rock or a knife.
Classified ad run by Johnny Blake Peterson in February of 1990 advertising his contracting services. Also pictured is Peterson’s obituary from January of 1993 and a mugshot of Peterson. The plasterer and contractor never faced justice for the two murders he committed. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District/LVRJ/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
WHO WAS JOHNNY BLAKE PETERSON…
Little information is available about Johnny Blake Peterson. He was born and raised in Las Vegas. Peterson worked as a plasterer and was married with two children. He faced arrest on at least one occasion since press accounts after his identification as Bryant and Hanson’s killer included a police mugshot of Peterson, but we could not identify any criminal case involving Peterson. He died at age 32 in January of 1993 at a Las Vegas hospital, but his obituary is silent on his cause of death.
What drove Peterson to kill? And did his rage and propensity for extreme violence extend to his personal life, or was he able to conceal his worst impulses until they could be vented against an unsuspecting victim?
It will be quite some time before we know the answers to these questions - if we ever know.
Press conference announcing the identification of a suspect in the murder of Kim Bryant alongside a 1984 RJ article speculating that many of the recent unsolved murders of women in Las Vegas may have been committed by a serial killer, including the murders of Kim Bryant and Diana Hanson. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District/LVRJ/KTNV/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
…AND WAS HE A SERIAL KILLER?
Las Vegas homicide detectives are looking into five murders of women in the Las Vegas area during the late-70’s and 80’s to see if there are any links to Johnny Blake Peterson. Police stress that they do not have any clear evidence at present to link Peterson to additional crimes, but they are looking for similarities between the cold cases and the Bryant/Hanson murders.
Funding for genetic testing to clear these cold cases has been an issue. However, Las Vegas philanthropist Justin Woo and genetic testing firm Othram Labs have worked to provide funding and resources to clear these unsolved murders.
Sources:
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/murder-cold-case-solved-after-42-years-using-dna-testing-genealogical-work/
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2021/dec/07/metro-links-second-cold-case-killing-to-man-now-de/