Johnny Lewis - Son of Anarchy

Johnny Lewis: A Rising Star’s Tragic Fall

On the 26th of September 2012, Los Angeles police responded to a 911 call in Los Feliz from a concerned member of the public who had heard a woman screaming from inside a house. In the driveway of the property, they found a man… dead, lying on the ground. Inside the home, an elderly woman had been beaten to death in one of the bedrooms. Her pet cat was found in the bathroom, also beaten to death. 

Both deceased people were quickly identified. The elderly woman was 81-year-old Cathy Davis, the owner of the house - and the man in the driveway was 28-year-old actor Johnny Lewis, who had been staying with Cathy for a few days.

Born in 1983 in LA, Johnny’s acting career started when he was only six years old. He was a blond haired, blue-eyed kid, and his mother recognized that he had the potential to become a star in Hollywood. Several casting agents agreed, resulting in Johnny being offered small acting roles, first in commercials and then in popular TV shows like Malcolm in the Middle and the Nickelodeon’s series Drake and Josh. Later on, he featured on episodes of Criminal Minds and The O.C. 

From Hollywood Success to Personal Struggles

Even while Johnny was becoming more well-known in the acting community, he didn’t get sucked into the LA lifestyle in the way that many up-and-coming stars did. He was true to the stereotypes in several ways, starting up a relationship with singer Katy Perry and living in an area of Hollywood that was nicknamed “frat row.” However, he kept to himself, and wasn’t especially into partying. In an interview with Los Angeles Magazine, one of Johnny’s close friends said, “That’s what made Johnny special…no drugs, no alcohol. Just poetry and philosophy.”

By 2009, Johnny had been starring in the drama series Sons of Anarchy for two seasons, and he was now in a long-term relationship with actress Diane Marshall-Green. But he decided that it was time for a change. He had just discovered that he and Diane were expecting a child, and he wasn’t a fan of the recent, violent storylines his character in Sons of Anarchy, who was named “half-sack” had been given. He wanted to step away from acting, spend time with Diane while they built a family together, and even begin to write a novel.

A Life Unraveling: Mental Health, Legal Troubles, and Warning Signs

Unfortunately for Johnny, things didn’t go to plan. Diane gave birth to a baby girl, who the couple named Culla May, in 2010 - but during this time, their relationship began to fall apart. Instead of enjoying becoming a family, Johnny and Diane entered a legal battle for custody of Culla, which Diane ended up winning. Late the following year, Johnny got into a motorcycle crash. He received a medical examination afterward, which didn’t find any symptoms of a head injury - but Johnny also refused to get any more MRIs of his head, and sometimes when he was speaking, he would suddenly begin to talk in a British accent. According to Johnny’s family, he was never the same after the incident.

In early 2012, Johnny had his first brush with the law. He was staying in an apartment owned by his parents, and suddenly decided to break into the neighboring condo. Two men inside the condo told him to get out, but instead of leaving, Johnny picked up a glass bottle and started hitting them, resulting in his arrest. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing and burglary. During his time in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, Johnny tried to take his own life, and was sent to spend 72 hours in a psychiatric ward.

When he was discharged from the ward, things didn’t get better. Johnny started to show a strange hypersensitivity to light, and went as far as disabling the fuse box in his parents’ condo so that he could spend all day in the dark. He had a second suicide attempt, tried to break into somebody else’s apartment a second time, physically assaulted a random man on the street, and at one point, he was seen walking straight into the ocean while still fully dressed.

That summer, Johnny received treatment at the Ridgeview Ranch, a drug and alcohol treatment facility that also catered to people experiencing psychological distress. He started a course of medication to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. During July, Johnny wrote in his journal about the improvements he was noticing, saying, “Felt more whole today…more complete, like parts of myself had been stolen in my sleep and scattered all over the world, and now they’ve begun to return.

The Night of Tragedy: What Happened at the Writer’s Villa?

In the fall, Johnny was sentenced to a year in prison for the assault charges against him - but because the facility was overcrowded, he served less than two months of his sentence. His loved ones were concerned about how he would adjust after being released from jail, so his father organized for him to spend some time living at an LA residence called ”the Writers’ Villa” which was a popular place for actors and writers in the area to spend time. In fact, Johnny had stayed there before a few years ago, and enjoyed it.

The owner of the Writers’ Villa was 81-year-old Cathy Davis, who had been inviting guests to stay in the house at 3065 Lowry Road for three decades.

When Johnny left prison, he immediately began to stay with Cathy - but only a few days into his stay, his behavior took a turn for the worse, and it was clear that he was distressed. Although it was never confirmed what happened, Johnny’s loved ones guessed that he might have tried to disable the house’s fuse box because of his light sensitivity, causing Cathy to confront him.

When first responders found Cathy and Johnny’s bodies on the 26th of September 2012, Johnny had only been out of prison for five days. From the injuries both people had sustained, and the reports of eyewitnesses from earlier that day, it was clear to investigators what had happened. Johnny had attacked Cathy in her bedroom, choking her and then fatally bludgeoned her. He hit her with so much force that he destroyed half of her face and broke her skull, leaving pieces of brain visible on the carpet around her body. After killing Cathy, he had also bludgeoned her cat to death.

Then, Johnny had gone into the yard of one of Cathy’s neighbors, who he had introduced himself to earlier. He then attacked the neighbor and a man who had been hired to paint the house, and chased them around the house. The victims reported that they had tried to fight off Johnny, but they felt as if he was completely immune to pain. Once the neighbors fled inside their home, Johnny went back to the Writer’s Villa.

There were no eyewitnesses to the events that took place next, but whether Johnny jumped off the villa’s roof or fell accidentally, he plummeted 15 feet onto the concrete of the driveway, and died from his injuries at the scene. Because of the circumstance surrounding Johnny’s death, and the fact that he had brutally murdered an innocent lady shortly before dying, many media outlets assumed that Johnny had been under the influence of mind-altering drugs during the incident. In an LA Times article, it was stated that investigators believed he had been taking a type of synthetic drug that had caused hallucinations.

Blame, Scientology, and the Stigma of Mental Illness

However, the theories were quickly disproved. Johnny’s autopsy toxicology reports came back clean, with absolutely no evidence of drugs in his system. With the realization that Johnny’s actions seemed to be the result of mental health issues, the public blame shifted towards the actor’s parents. Both his mother and his father were Scientologists, members of a cult that was notorious for discouraging people with mental health issues from seeking conventional treatment from psychologists and psychiatrists. However, Johnny’s father publicly denied these accusations, emphasizing that he had actually encouraged Johnny to get treatment, which was confirmed by Johnny’s lawyer, Jonathan Mandel. In an interview with CBS news, Jonathan stated, “I give a lot of credit to [Johnny’s] parents. They were really strong in trying to help him out. They really went to bat for him, but I guess they couldn’t do enough.”

Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy, made a public statement the day after the tragedy, saying, “It was a tragic end for an extremely talented guy who, unfortunately, had lost his way. I wish I could say that I was shocked by the events [of] last night, but I was not… I am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown into his destructive path.”

Conclusion: A Tragic Collision of Talent, Mental Illness, and Circumstance

The tragic story of Johnny Lewis is one that leaves us grappling with a mixture of sorrow, confusion, and frustration. Once a rising star, beloved for his talent and celebrated for his roles, Johnny’s life spiraled into chaos as untreated mental health issues took hold, culminating in the devastating events at the Writer’s Villa.

The brutal murder of Cathy Davis, a kind-hearted woman who had opened her home to creative souls for decades, and the senseless killing of her pet cat, paint a horrifying picture of the final hours of Johnny’s life. Cathy’s death is a heartbreaking reminder of how innocent lives can be caught in the crossfire of untreated mental illness and systemic failures.

Johnny’s story also forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about mental health care in the U.S. Could better resources or earlier intervention have prevented this tragedy? How much responsibility lies with societal stigmas, and how much with the systems and institutions—whether familial, judicial, or medical—that failed to provide adequate support? While blame is often easy to assign, solutions remain elusive, leaving those affected to navigate the pain and loss without answers.

For Cathy Davis, justice is forever intertwined with the tragedy of Johnny Lewis’ untimely death—a complex and devastating tale with no clear resolution. Her life, and the peaceful haven she provided to others, deserves to be remembered beyond this tragedy.

As true crime fans, we’re drawn to stories like these not just for their shocking details, but for the profound lessons they leave behind. Cathy and Johnny’s story reminds us of the fragile intersection between human potential and vulnerability, and the devastating consequences when society fails to protect its most vulnerable members.