Tyler Johnson, Co-Conspirator in 2005 SUV Fire-bombings in San Gabriel Found Dead in France
By Terry Miller
Published: Friday, February 5th, 2010
Caltech graduate student Tyler James Johnson, who fled the U.S. investigators identified him as an alleged conspirator in a case involving arson attacks at several San Gabriel Valley car dealerships six years ago, has died according to an obituary on a Michigan Funeral Home’s web site it was first reported by the LA Times.
Johnson became a renegade fugitive after his name came up as co-conspirator in the August 2003 firebombing of eight sport-utility vehicles at a West Covina auto dealership and another SUV parked on a residential street in Monrovia. There were also attacks at Rusnak Car dealership in Arcadia.
Cottrell, then 24 and a doctoral candidate in physics, implicated Johnson in the bombings, alleging that Johnson and another conspirator threw the firebombs which damaged or destroyed the cars.
During the trial, Cottrell told the court that he and Johnson painted messages on SUVs, including “Killer,” “Terrorist” and ELF, the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, a militant environmental group.
Cottrell was convicted of conspiracy and arson in November 2004 for . He was sentenced in April 2005 to eight years in federal prison. But his arson convictions were overturned last year and his sentence vacated by a federal appeals court.
Here is the obit from the Michigan website:
Tyler James Johnson, age 30, mathematician, physicist, photographer, and mountaineer, was killed from a fall due to an avalanche while on a solo expedition in the Corsican mountains of France, December 26, 2009. He was born June 2, 1979 in Ingham County, Michigan, to James and Patrice (Weddon) Johnson and preceded in death by his maternal grandparents (Edward and Willah Weddon) and paternal grandfather (Kenneth G. Johnson). Tyler is survived by his parents (Dansville, MI), sister Kelsey Johnson (Philadelphia, PA), grandmother Winnifred Johnson (Stockbridge, MI) and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Tyler graduated from Downingtown High School, PA, as an Advanced Placement scholar, skateboarder, martial artist, filmmaker and inaugural president of the Physics Club. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, as one of two Presidential Merit Scholars and was published in scholarly journals for research in both theoretical physics and artificial intelligence. Tyler, who spoke fluent Chinese and French, traveled extensively throughout the US, China, and Australia. During the past six years in Corsica, he befriended dozens of people, hiked nearly all 214 summits greater than 2000 meters, and co-founded Solaria, a non-profit association that designs solar technology to power affordable, easily-constructed stoves for residents of third-world countries.
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