(Reuters) – Actor Johnny Lewis, who had a supporting role in the TV show “Sons of Anarchy,” was found dead on Wednesday in a Los Angeles neighborhood where he was suspected of killing an 81-year-old woman from whom he may have been renting a room, police said on Thursday.
Police responded to a call on Wednesday morning about a screaming woman in the affluent Los Feliz section and found Catherine Davis dead in her home, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Officer Cleon Joseph said.
Joseph said that Lewis, 28, who had been released from jail five days earlier, was also dead in the home’s driveway after either falling or jumping from the roof.
The officer said the circumstances around the deaths were still being investigated. “Detectives believe that he may have committed the murder,” Joseph said of Lewis, adding that the motive was unknown.
Lewis pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles-area court last month to assault with a deadly weapon, District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said. In a different case, he also pleaded no contest to attempted burglary, Robison said.
Lewis was sentenced to jail in both cases. He was released from jail last Friday, county records showed.
It was unclear on Thursday why he was released on that date and how much of his sentence had been served.
Lewis had a supporting role in the first two seasons of “Sons of Anarchy,” a television drama featuring an outlaw motorcycle club. He played Kip “Half Sack” Epps, an Iraq War veteran who hung out with the biker club featured in the show.
The Los Angeles-born Lewis previously had recurring roles in the TV shows “Boston Public” and “The O.C.”
Kurt Sutter, creator of “Sons of Anarchy”, said in a statement that Lewis’ death 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,” Sutter said. “I am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown into his destructive path.”
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Andrew Hay)