Neighbors reported that Lewis had jumped over a fence to the next-door property, assaulted a house painter and the homeowner (to whom Lewis had earlier introduced himself as "John, your new neighbor"), and then jumped back over the fence onto Davis' property. According to the LAPD, Lewis then either fell or jumped from the roof, garage, or patio of Davis' house. Davis' death was investigated as a homicide, and it was later determined that Lewis had killed Davis by manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head, and also killed her cat.