(USNewsMag.com) – A tragic murder-suicide happened in Los Angeles, leaving three dead after a mother fatally stabbed her boyfriend and then ejected her two children from a moving vehicle before crashing it into a tree. One of the two children died.
The incident happened on Monday, April 8th, beginning with a murder in a residence and ending with a suicide by car. Investigators were able to piece together the order of events, of which 34-year-old Danielle Johnson was found to be the cause.
Johnson ended up in a heated argument with her boyfriend, 29-year-old Jaelen Chaney, who lived with her. During that argument, which happened in their home around 3:40 AM, Johnson stabbed Chaney with a knife and killed him.
After the murder, Johnson took her two young children out of the house and into her car, a Porsche SUV. While driving on Interstate 405, the mother threw the two children from the moving vehicle and then crashed it into a tree.
Highway patrol responded to reports at 4:29 AM that injured children were on the freeway next to the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes exit, arriving minutes later to discover the baby seriously injured. At 4:44 AM, the Culver City Fire Department pronounced the 8-month-old infant dead.
The fatal crash happened in Redondo Beach. Reaching an estimated 100mph, Johnson died in the collision. According to the California Highway Patrol, her children either fell out or were thrown from the SUV before the crash. One of them, a nine-year-old girl, suffered moderate injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital. The other, an eight-month-old infant baby girl, died from her injuries after being expelled from the moving vehicle.
Chaney’s body was discovered after law enforcement responded to the scene on the interstate. He was found in their home in Woodland Hills, roughly 30 miles north of the crash site.
Police Lt. Guy Golan told reporters that law enforcement is unsure “why this incident escalated to such violence.” According to Johnson’s social media posts prior to the eclipse, she believed the celestial event would cause the end of the world. Johnson was a popular online astrology influencer with a following of over 100,000 people. Authorities are interviewing her family and friends to gather more information regarding her motives.
The surviving 9-year-old is being taken care of by Child Protective Services.
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