This could maybe be used to describe her bones.
September 29, 2012 8:17 AM   Subscribe

Her name is Catherine Davis. And she is a Hollywood legend. A near saint. Taylor Negron remembers Catherine Davis, the woman who was murdered by "Sons of Anarchy" actor Johnny Lewis.
posted by h00py (53 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
Poor Miss Cathy. What a loss.

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posted by emjaybee at 8:22 AM on September 29, 2012


Wow. Thank you for this.

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posted by Hypnotic Chick at 8:27 AM on September 29, 2012


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posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:28 AM on September 29, 2012


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posted by Superfrankenstein at 8:30 AM on September 29, 2012


He's getting some flack in the comments for referring to Lewis as "the monster" instead of by name, but I understand both the rage at her killing and the rage at her depersonalization in the press that happened because of the high profile of the suspect. Yes, addiction is a human tragedy--bordering on near-Greek tragedy in this case--and Lewis was a sick and suffering young man who deserves the touches of empathy scattered throughout writeups of the crime, but all the reportage I'd seen before this completely skimmed over her as an "elderly landlady with a cat." I'm glad she got the reporting she deserved with this.

Plus, she sounds absolutely amazing. I wish I could have met her.
posted by availablelight at 8:33 AM on September 29, 2012 [25 favorites]


I suspect that "the monster" = the combination of Lewis + drugs. The drugs turned Lewis into the monster.
posted by mochapickle at 8:39 AM on September 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


Me too, availablelight. That's what got to me; the fact that this woman had her own story and it had been reduced to just a mention of her age and that she had been brutally murdered. Reading this was deeply moving. Everyone has a back story.
posted by h00py at 8:40 AM on September 29, 2012 [6 favorites]


I did not read the article, as I no longer consider these people actors. Knowing full well that they came to Hollywood to be famous and party. To get DUIs and pay their anorexia-enabling stylists to mask the ravages of their marionette chains.

And today in the news:

Amanda Bynes Pleads Not Guilty, Offered Job on VH1
posted by Huck500 at 8:46 AM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Wow. I will admit I read all about this yesterday (or the day before?) and heard nothing like this. It's strange how many details the writer knows of the crime, is it normal for the police to release this level of detail to non relatives this soon or are we dealing with some writers' embellishment?

At any rate, it's a fascinating, powerful eulogy and I hope the back story gets picked up by the MSM.

Also, fuck white powder.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:47 AM on September 29, 2012


What an eulogy. She sounds like an amazing woman I would have love to have met.

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posted by dabitch at 8:54 AM on September 29, 2012


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posted by sammyo at 9:02 AM on September 29, 2012


The drugs turned Lewis into the monster.

Or, alternately, Lewis turned himself into a monster with drugs.

Can you tell I really don't like the abdication of personal responsibility when it comes to self-administered pharmaceuticals?
posted by Aquaman at 9:05 AM on September 29, 2012 [31 favorites]


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posted by flippant at 9:10 AM on September 29, 2012


It is a shame she died. It is sad that her life was reduced to her age and her occupation. Of course that fact has nothing to with the fame of her killer. The same thing happened to several dozens of other murder victims that same day. Most of whom you never even heard about.
posted by 2manyusernames at 9:11 AM on September 29, 2012


To be clear, the drug he was supposedly on is 2C-I, which is certainly not new and is described in Shulgin's phenethylamine book. It is not scary, though like all other phenethylamines, it is basically an upper with hallucinogenic characteristics. It has been my, albeit limited experience, that when people self-medicate at high doses with drugs like these it is a form of self-medication, which exacerbates any existing mental health issues. Psychosis and amphetamines do not mix well.
posted by geoff. at 9:15 AM on September 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


Does her death diminish theirs? This is her story. My point stands - everyone has a back story (published or not).
posted by h00py at 9:16 AM on September 29, 2012 [8 favorites]


Wow. I knew nothing about this murder. What a heartbreaking piece.
posted by brundlefly at 9:19 AM on September 29, 2012 [3 favorites]


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What a sad story.
posted by purpleclover at 9:42 AM on September 29, 2012


Mod note: Folks maybe don't derail this with the same old obit issues? Please?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:54 AM on September 29, 2012 [4 favorites]


How heartbreaking to manage to live to be in your 80s only to get savagely murdered by someone in your own home. As Sophia Petrillo once said "That's like getting tackled on the one yard line."
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:03 AM on September 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


the woman who was murdered by "Sons of Anarchy" actor Johnny Lewis.

allegedly.

(Not saying that he likely did NOT do it, it just sounds like a rush to judgement before official channels have played out their investigation.)

And yeah, it sounds like Davis was a wonderful person, but there's an awful lot of artistic license happening in this piece.
posted by hippybear at 10:03 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


2C-I?! Yeah, no, that stuff is not the kind of drug that drives a normal person to homicidal rage. I'd sooner believe that they were driven to murder by taking Ecstasy. When a crazy murderous person does some crazy murder on the drug, it does not mean the drug was to blame.
posted by mullingitover at 10:11 AM on September 29, 2012 [7 favorites]


So sad. She sounds like a real-life Mrs. Madrigal.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:34 AM on September 29, 2012 [10 favorites]


Well. Different people can have different reactions to things, but I agree, 2C-I is definitely not something I would think of as a crazy rage drug.
posted by elizardbits at 10:36 AM on September 29, 2012


Catherine Davis sounds a lot like the Ann Miller character in Mulholland Drive, the landlady to the Naomi Watts character. Too bad, she died in this Lynchian nightmare way.

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posted by jonp72 at 10:42 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Yeah, you'd have to already be in pretty much a psychotic state for 2C-I to push you over the edge into mayhem. And it didn't help that he was stuffed full of Scientology's insanity. In a just world they'd be held responsible for their role in his spiraling downfall.
posted by scalefree at 10:42 AM on September 29, 2012 [3 favorites]


Well. Different people can have different reactions to things, but I agree, 2C-I is definitely not something I would think of as a crazy rage drug.

There's tabloid scuttlebutt that he was on a medication for bipolar disorder...that he discontinued after he couldn't afford it anymore. I won't be surprised if it turns out this was a terrible intersection between drug addiction and untreated mental illness.
posted by availablelight at 10:52 AM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


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posted by skye.dancer at 10:59 AM on September 29, 2012


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posted by xcasex at 11:00 AM on September 29, 2012


He's an actor in a successful television show and 1) he's not on Equity insurance, and 2) he can't afford bipolar medication?

That is tabloid bullshit, indeed.
posted by hippybear at 11:00 AM on September 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


I read somewhere (don't remember where now) he'd been staying with his parents at some point, and they were Scientologists...if we find out they talked him off his meds, let me be the first to go find L. Ron Hubbard's grave and pee on it.

Catherine Davis sounded like a wonderful, wonderful woman. I am so glad this post was made because people need to know who she was. And that she most certainly did not deserve what happened to her.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 11:03 AM on September 29, 2012 [7 favorites]


I can cut Negron some slack, both because of his obvious and genuine grief, and because he's completely right: a monster killed her. Assuming that things went as he described, he destroyed her pet, her, her art, and himself. Those are monstrous acts. A monster, by definition, is something that is not only awful but outside of your frame of reference; you can have all the compassion in the world for someone who was born with profound birth defects, for example, but the name for the origin of those defects is teratogenesis: the creation of monsters.

Having been around Hollywood for a while, I'm sure that Negron is well acquainted both with genuine sociopaths and with people whose lives were ruined by drugs and/or mental illness. But he's mourning someone who went above and beyond the duties of a landlady and offered quite a few people compassion and sympathy in a dirty town.

Also, of course:

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posted by Halloween Jack at 11:10 AM on September 29, 2012 [7 favorites]


I loathe it when people of a certain age are reduced fo being simply "elderly" wo/man in a news story. So I applaud him for telling us a little of her life from his POV. Even if the telling was a bit flowery. (And even if reading of the killing of a beautiful, artistic soul and her beloved pet was a sad story to hear on a sunny Saturday.)

btw I know nothng of the author or the person who committed the crime. But I've now seen pics of them. both but not her.
posted by NorthernLite at 11:11 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


A commenter on SFGate* mentioned her name and who she was, so I knew a little bit, but this article was still heartbreaking. You like to imagine kind and giving people being insulated by their own goodness from pain and terror. I'm so sorry this wonderful woman had to die the way she did, and I'm sorry that her friends have this ugly and hurtful coda to their warm memories of her. What a shame.



*normally one of the worst comment sections around. I never recommend it to the uninitiated.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:26 AM on September 29, 2012


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posted by Morvran Avagddu at 11:33 AM on September 29, 2012


Yeah, there's now way this dude could not afford bipolar medication. He may have chosen to go off of it, but we're not talking about a pauper and we're not talking about million dollar chemo.
posted by Justinian at 11:41 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


People are who they are, drugs are not an excuse, ever.
posted by real_paris at 12:33 PM on September 29, 2012 [2 favorites]


Well, this article mentions his bipolar disorder as well as his lifelong associating with scientology, apparently he 'went clear' at 16.

The article says his father urged him to get treatment, but we all know what scientology's position on mental illness is.

What a tragedy.

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posted by lumpenprole at 12:52 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


The story I heard was that he had a psychotic break a year to so ago after taking "drugs" and has not been stable since. He's basically been involved in one violent altercation followed by a brief period of incarceration after another ever since. All his crimes were violent and his parole officer called him a danger to those around him. He should never have been released quite honestly. I know CA jails and mental health facilities are overcrowded but this seems like exactly the kind of person those institutions were designed to deal with.b
posted by fshgrl at 12:57 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


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So sad. She sounded like a wonderful, caring person.
posted by arcticseal at 1:38 PM on September 29, 2012


. for the kitty, too.
posted by FeralHat at 1:40 PM on September 29, 2012 [7 favorites]


The actor's likely income and insurance aside, it isn't as though mentally ill people don't simply choose to go off of their meds sometimes. This whole thing was a tragedy.

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posted by mr. digits at 2:09 PM on September 29, 2012


lumpenprole: "Well, this article mentions his bipolar disorder as well as his lifelong associating with scientology, apparently he 'went clear' at 16. The article says his father urged him to get treatment, but we all know what scientology's position on mental illness is. "

Wow, jumping onto the ZOMG Zombie Drug Apocalypse meme. Stay classy Scientology:
A rep for the Church of Scientology tells E! News, "This is a terrible tragedy. Out of respect for the privacy of the families affected, we are not commenting further other than to state it is apparent that the scourge of drug addiction has again claimed more lives.
I'm personally surprised they didn't just directly blame those damn psychiatrists for causing this.
posted by meehawl at 4:16 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


. Awful all round. She sounds like a wonderful person. There is a book here. Someone should write it. (about her life, not her death)
posted by mkim at 4:19 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]


Well, this article mentions his bipolar disorder as well as his lifelong associating with scientology, apparently he 'went clear' at 16.

The article says his father urged him to get treatment, but we all know what scientology's position on mental illness is.


Bingo.

1. You've always been told psychiatric medication is just like street drugs
2. You have a psychiatric disorder

1 + 2 = ?
posted by Sys Rq at 6:55 PM on September 29, 2012


You guys really think a guy whose biggest role was a two-season-long reoccurring minor part on a basic cable drama three years ago is rolling in dough? He could have very easily been broke. It looks like he did some bit parts in movies since then, so he probably kept his insurance going but it's by no means guaranteed.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:28 PM on September 29, 2012 [5 favorites]


This whole story made me sad. It so easily could have happened in a place I lived. We had a guy who went back on drugs. He dumped all his Christian books into the garbage. I pulled them out and cleaned them and took them to a place that gives such books to people who want them. I am not Christian myself. I was incensed at the disrespect though.
I realized this young man had entered a really negative place. Finally during the sale of this house, he moved away. I was so relieved. I was relieved he got out before there was REAL trouble.
There are young people who simply become lost souls. If you ask me, the drugs are only part of the problem. The other part is no sincere and good relationships in their life. They cant keep them going, and after drugs get added to the mix, what decent people they know back off.
It's pretty sad. Usually it's just a bad scene. Usually it's turmoil, but usually no one dies. A good woman and her innocent little cat are dead.

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posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:19 PM on September 29, 2012


Well, I had only known of Taylor Negron from his role as one of the South American millionaires from Nothing But Trouble (one of my favorite films). This was a touching tribute to someone who helped him out, and sounds like a wonderful person. (Of course, even if she had been a terrible misanthrope, this story would be awful.)

Can you tell I really don't like the abdication of personal responsibility when it comes to self-administered pharmaceuticals?

As one my friends is fond of saying, "You were sober when you started drinking."
posted by dhens at 12:00 AM on September 30, 2012


I read in one.of ghe numerous articles about this he was making $20,000/yr. It wasn't clear if that was after the show or currently, or how they came upon that number. But if true, yeah, it would be easy to see how he might no habe been able to afford his meds.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:06 AM on September 30, 2012


Jesus, this is harrowing, but beautifully written. What a senseless tragedy.

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posted by en forme de poire at 1:12 AM on September 30, 2012


(Psychopharmaceutical aside: word on the street is that "smiles" actually refers to a newer and much more potent phenethylamine, not garden variety 2C-I.)
posted by en forme de poire at 1:13 AM on September 30, 2012


Oh, 25I-NBOMe. Yeah that shit's cray-cray. Psychoactive at sub-milligram dosage so it's mostly sold as blotter. Absolutely not a substance to casually mess around with.
posted by scalefree at 5:17 AM on September 30, 2012


Yeah I had no idea he was off the show, he could certainly have been completely unemployed.
posted by Justinian at 11:53 PM on September 30, 2012


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