The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has a couple “persons of interest” they are working to speak to in the death of a man who was found wrapped in plastic in Clay Twp.
UPDATE: Arrest made in Wisconsin in death of Clay Twp. man found wrapped in plastic
Steven T. Johnson, 47, of Clay Twp., died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, but it’s too early to know how long he’d been dead, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
[ >> Body of registered sex offender found wrapped in plastic; death ruled homicide ]
“His death was a very very violent death,” said Sheriff Phil Plummer. "He frequented the east side of Dayton and he definitely had a drug problem.”
Deputies do not believe Johnson’s status as a registered sex offender had anything to do with his death.
“I’m sure its more related to the drug problem,” Plummer said.
Johnson’s body was discovered Oct. 8 off Arlington Road on nursery property, Sheriff’s Sgt. M.D. Hutchison said.
Employees of Browns Nursery reported they found a deceased person in one of the fields a couple thousand feet off the road, he said.
“I think I found a dead body,” the Browns Nursery worker said in a 911 call made about 12:15 p.m. “I was driving through and I looked over to the right and I saw this blue blanket on the woods line.”
Johnson’s body was taken to the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab for an autopsy.
“The body was found wrapped in some items and we’re going to remove it just as we found it to preserve any evidence that could possibly be contained inside those items,” Hutchison said Monday.
Johnson was on the state’s sex offender registry for a December 1999 conviction for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, records show.
Johnson had several cases in Greene County Common Pleas Court, including for charges of domestic violence, illegal cultivation of marijuana, failure to notify of change of address and the sex crime conviction.