Man who killed man found stuffed in a sleeping bag at local nursery guilty on charges

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A New Mexico man who had been scheduled for trial this week for killing a Clay Twp. man in October 2018 pleaded guilty to charges before the trial got underway.

David Savage, 64, pleaded guilty to charges of voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence, according to court records. He had previously been facing charges of murder, felonious assault, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence for the death of 47-year-old Steven T. Johnson of Clay Twp.

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As part of the plea deal, Savage will face up to eight years in prison for the crimes, online jail records show.

Johnson’s body was found by a Brown’s Nursery worker in October 2018. His body was wrapped in plastic, stuffed in a blue sleeping bag and dumped near a wooded area.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s detectives tracked Savage to Wisconsin, and told police there where he was.

Savage was arrested in the following weeks by Oak Creek Police.

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Former Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said early on in the investigation that Savage and Johnson likely argued about a woman and drugs before Savage allegedly beat Johnson to death.

“I got a tip personally about where he did it, how he did it and it was on a vacant house on Eichelberger (Avenue),” Plummer told News Center 7 after Savage’s arrest.

“It was over a female and drugs. These people run in bad crowds, doing drugs. They were fighting over a woman,” Plummer said at the time.

Deputies said Johnson was killed sometime between 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 and 1:45 a.m. Oct. 8, according to documents.

The sheriff said Savage may have used a metal pipe to kill Johnson.

A coroner’s investigator said Johnson died of blunt force trauma.

Detectives searched the house in the neighborhood off Gettysburg Avenue. Evidence uncovered inside convinced them that Johnson was killed there, likely by Savage.

Savage will be sentenced on Dec. 17.

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