The man whose alleged role in a Davis woman’s death remains under investigation found himself back in jail recently after being found in possession of drugs and a stun gun at a local motel, according to police.
John Paul Johnson, 52, was taken into custody at about 11:30 p.m. Friday after officers conducting a probation search found methamphetamine and the stun device in his room at the Motel 6 on Chiles Road, Deputy Police Chief Ton Phan said. Johnson’s status as a convicted felon prohibits him from having the stun gun, he added.
He was booked into the Yolo County Jail, where he remained in custody Monday with bail set at $55,000.
John Paul Johnson. Davis Police Department/Courtesy photo
Johnson came under police scrutiny back on March 3 after police discovered the body of Crystal Marie Apodaca, 37, in her apartment at the Pacifico Cooperative housing community on Drew Circle. At the time, detectives said they arrested Johnson, a neighbor of Apodaca’s, based on “suspicious circumstances warranting a homicide investigation.”
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against Johnson at the time, pending further investigation into the circumstances surrounding Apodaca’s death. Instead, he was ordered to remain in Yolo County Jail custody until late May for violating his probation in an earlier case by being in possession of drugs.
Yolo County coroner’s officials said Monday they are still awaiting Apodaca’s autopsy report and have not yet ruled on her cause and manner of death. The police investigation is ongoing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven said.
Earlier, in a jailhouse interview, Johnson told The Davis Enterprise that he and Apodaca — whom he described as his girlfriend of about a month — had been using methamphetamine in his apartment during the early hours of March 3, and he awoke later that morning to discover her dead.
Panicked, he said he first reported the death to several of his neighbors, who convinced him to move Apodaca’s body back to her own apartment so that cops wouldn’t find drugs at his place. A maintenance worker at the cooperative discovered her body later that day while conducting a welfare check.
According to Johnson, the neighbors — one of whom had helped him move the body — “all told on me” when police arrived on scene.
“It’s just like a nightmare. I would never hurt her or kill her. I’ve never hurt anybody in my life,” said Johnson, who at the time also pledged to give up drugs for good. “I can’t bring her back, but maybe I can use this as a wake-up call.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene