Tragic story of child star who went on to commit grim murder
Here is the tragic story of the child star who went on to commit a grim murder.
The actor had credits in The OC, Bones, Cold Case, Criminal Minds and was best known for playing Kip 'Half Sack' Epps in Sons of Anarchy.
Johnny Lewis was just six-years-old when his career took off.
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His mum kept him busy, from appearing in a number of TV commercials to cameo roles on shows like Malcolm in the Middle.
Despite living a more private life in his later years, Lewis went on to have relationships with the likes of Katy Perry and Diane Gaeta.
In 2009, the actor quit Sons of Anarchy and took on more low-budget film roles.
On 30 October 2011, Lewis suffered a major head injury from a high-speed motorbike accident.
After getting out of hospital, he continued to preach Scientology with his parents, who were already members of society.
His father, Michael, claims he tried to book his son in for two MRI scans, but it was Lewis who didn't want to have them.
Aged 28, Lewis shocked the world when he committed an unforgivable crime on 26 September 2012.
After his release from prison for a number of violent assaults, he moved into a rented property in Los Feliz Hills, LA.
Not long after greeting his neighbour, Dan Blackburn, he witnessed Lewis commit the bloody attack of his painter.
Blackburn, who was in his 70s at the time, managed to pull Lewis off the painter.
But the actor retaliated by hitting Blackburn in the eye.
The neighbour, his wife and the painter managed to escape back into the house after slamming the front door four times on Lewis' arm.
By the time police arrived, Cathy Davis, an 81-year-old owner of the villa where Lewis was staying, was found beaten and strangled to death.
Lewis was lying in the middle of the drive with his skull cracked in half.
At the time, his father Michael said: “He told us he left because the show was getting into gratuitous violence. He didn’t want to communicate that as an artist.”
Post-mortem results showed that there were no drugs or alcohol in his system, and his death was thought to be an accident.
It was believed that Lewis jumped or fell from the rooftop of his house.
Screenwriter and director Kurt Sutter, tweeted: “I wish I could say that I was shocked by the events last night, but I was not.”
Actor Shannon Woodward added: “Johnny Lewis was one of my best friends. He was very, very ill. His actions were a despicable result of that. It was not who he was.”
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film
Anish Vij