Jeffery Lynn Johnson, ‘Tiger King’ participant, died by apparent suicide at 58

By Gregory Lemos and Lisa Respers France, CNN

Jeffery Lynn Johnson, 58, who appeared in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” died by an apparent suicide during an argument with his wife, the Oklahoma City Police Department told CNN on Monday.

Johnson — a former reptile dealer — was one of several people interviewed in episode 4 of the enormously popular 2020 docuseries on Netflix.

According to a police incident report, officers were dispatched to the Johnson family home shortly after 10 p.m. on September 8 for a reported attempted suicide.

Johnson’s wife, Charity, told police her husband killed himself in front of her during an argument in their garage. Their 4- and 5-year-old children were inside the house at the time, the report says.

Johnson still had a pulse on the scene and was taken to a hospital but was later pronounced dead, according to the report.

An attorney for Joseph Maldonado, the show’s central figure known as Joe Exotic, confirmed he had spoken to Johnson’s widow about the incident.

According to the report, Johnson had “no mental health history.”

“Tiger King 2” is currently streaming on Netflix.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.