2nd suspect indicted in death of man found wrapped in plastic in 2018

Donovan McDermott

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Donovan McDermott

A second suspect was indicted in connection to the death of a man found wrapped in plastic nearly four years ago off Arlington Road in Clay Twp.

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted 51-year-old Donovan James McDermott on murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse charges, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records. The grand jury declined to indict him on two additional murder charges, as well as two counts of kidnapping.

McDermott was arrested on a warrant Monday night by Dayton police. He is scheduled to be arraigned July 21.

A Browns Nursery worker on Oct. 8, 2018, found a body — later identified as Steven T. Johnson — off Arlington Road. Johnson was wrapped in plastic and put inside a sleeping bag, according to court records. He died from blunt force trauma, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

Later that month the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office tracked down a suspect in Wisconsin, where Oak Creek police arrested David Savage.

Former Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said at the time that Johnson was killed at a vacant house on Eichelberger Avenue in Dayton and a metal pipe may have been involved.

Savage pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, according to court records. He is incarcerated at the Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction website.

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