Crime & Safety

Coroner: 'Sons of Anarchy' Actor Was Not High on Drugs, Did Not Intend Suicide After Allegedly Killing Landlady

Johnny Lewis is believed to be responsible for the homicide of Catherine Davis on Sept. 26.

Sons of Anarchy actor Johnny Lewis was not high on any drugs and his death was accidental when he jumped from a second-floor balcony of a Los Feliz home after allegedly killing his landlady, according to a report by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Catherine Davis, 81, was strangled and beaten to death on Sept. 26 inside her Los Feliz home at 3605 Lowry Road and Lewis was found dead on the driveway.

According to the coroner's report, Lewis "jumped over a wrought iron railing at the top of the terrace to drop to the driveway below during his attempt to flee the location. During this jump [Lewis] lost his balance and landed on the concrete driveway head first."

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The coroner's report states that Lewis attacked Davis and then, after struggling with several people at a residence next door, re-entered Davis' property and ran up to the balcony before accidentally jumping to his death. Lewis also dismembered Davis' cat, according to TMZ.

Lewis, 28, was previously believed to have been high on some sort of narcotic at the time of his death, as one witness told Patch he had been "experimenting with a concoction of bath salts." Detectives told the Los Angeles Times that a new recreational drug C2-I—or "smiles"—may have played a role in the attack.

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The autopsy results, however, found that he had neither alcohol nor drugs in his system at the time of his death.

Davis ran a "residential inn, the Writer's Villa" out of her large Spanish Colonial home, which was described to Patch by a close friend of Davis as "high class and expensive."

Lewis had been released from Los Angeles County Jail a few days before Davis' homicide.

 

-- Anthea Raymond contributed to this report.


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