Murder Conviction Lands Oxford Man A Life Sentence

WEST CHESTER , PA—A 48-year-old Oxford man was sentenced Friday in the Chester County Justice Center here to life in state prison for the 2018 strangulation death of a 48-year-old woman in a home they shared in East Nottingham Township.

In July 2021, a jury found Daniel Proffitt guilty but mentally ill of first-degree murder in the strangulation of 64-year-old Anna Johnson.

Chester County Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft imposed the mandatory sentence as required by law.

Johnson died as a result of strangulation, according to medical authorities.

Police said they recovered a text message the Johnson sent to a friend before her death that stated, “If something happens to me, Danny Profitt did it.”

She was killed hours later, police said.

“Anna Johnson feared for her life, something she unwittingly warned a friend about shortly before she was murdered," Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said.

Ryan said that the jury held the defendant accountable for his brutal crime, and he will never live a free life again.

According to court records:

Oxford Police and Pennsylvania state troopers responded on Dec. 29, 2018 to a report of an unresponsive female in the bathroom of a home on Brick Road.

When officers arrived, the defendant was outside the residence and claimed that the victim had attacked him with a butcher knife, so he killed her in self-defense.

Investigators said they Proffitt determined that the defendant and the victim argued earlier in the day.

After leaving the house, the defendant returned and broke into the bathroom while the victim was undressed and getting ready for a bath.

State police, county detectives and Oxford police conducted an investigation. Chief Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei prosecuted the case.

During the trial, Ryan Grace, a West Chester attorney representing Proffitt, said his client was protecting himself during an attack.