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12th December 2023
09:01am GMT
During his childhood the star appeared in shows such as The OC, Bones, Criminal Minds and most famously Sons of Anarchy in which he played Kip ‘Half Sack’ Epps.
He also appeared in a number of commercials and made cameos in shows such as Malcolm in the Middle.
During his adult life, he was in known relationships with Katy Perry (2005-2006), and actress Diane Gaeta (2008-2010), who is the mother of his daughter Culla May.
But on September 26, 2012, Lewis was found dead in the driveway of a property in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was later established that he had beaten and killed his 81-year-old landlady Catherine Davis, who had died from apparently blunt force trauma.
Davis had been found dead inside the property and an investigation determined that Lewis had died from a fall.
“It’s a terrible tragedy as far as we’re concerned and were digging into the bottom of it,” LAPD spokesman Andrew Smith told PEOPLE at the time.
An autopsy found that there were no drugs or alcohol in his system, removing the possibility that he was under the influence at the time of his death.
But following his death, sources from Sons of Anarchy told E! News that it “wasn’t a secret that Johnny had issues he was dealing with.”
Only a few days before his death, he had been released from jail after serving time for for pleading no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and burglary charges.
He had been released from San Fernando Valley Jail on September 21, but five days later officers responded to a 911 call from a woman screaming. According to police, Lewis had fought two men and then died after a fall from a wall or balcony.
Detectives concluded that Lewis had killed Davis, and there was no immediate motive for the killing.
The actor had left Sons of Anarchy in 2009, but in October 2011 he suffered a major head injury in a high speed motorbike accident. His father had tried to get him to have MRI scans but Lewis refused to have them.
It is not clear whether his erratic behaviour in later life was a result of the head injury.
After the news of his death broke, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter wrote on his website: “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 last night, but I was not.
“I am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown into his destructive path.”
This story was original published on Joe.co.uk
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