By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The death of a 54-year-old Lewis County man at Stafford Creek Corrections Center near Aberdeen this week appears to be a suicide, according to a spokesperson for the prison.
Daniel W. Johnson was found dead in his cell Wednesday morning with a plastic bag over his head, prison officials said.
Johnson began his prison sentence in 1993 after he was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in Lewis County.
He was arrested in December 1991 after a man and a woman were found stabbed to death in a home on Elk Creek Road near Doty. The victims were the resident, Paul Pilz, and his friend Eleanor Warden.
Johnson, then 34, had grown up in the area, and stayed the night at the home after his truck became stuck in the mud a few miles away, according to court documents.
He had just been released from psychiatric treatment days earlier, and had a five-year psychiatric history, according to court documents.
Johnson was serving a 27-year sentence and had been at Stafford Creek since May 2010 when he was transferred from McNeil Island Corrections Center, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was living in a minimum security unit.
Prison spokesperson Sheri Izatt said Johnson was scheduled for release in March 2015 and hadn’t committed a serious infraction since 1994.
Preliminarily, the death appears to be suicide, Izatt said.
The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office is investigating his death. The prison is conducting a separate investigation.
The Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office said a determination of the cause and manner of Johnson’s death is pending toxicology results.
An autopsy was conducted yesterday and nothing suspicious was found, Deputy Coroner George Patrick said.
Court records from 1993 say Johnson was a father of two children and divorced.