An infant was found deceased and her sister injured on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles County early Monday morning, kicking off a perplexing investigation that spanned across the region. The tragic series of events started when officers discovered an 8-month-old girl with severe injuries who unfortunately died on scene, along with her 9-year-old sister who sustained moderate injuries, after they were allegedly ejected from a vehicle near the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit at approximately 4:30 a.m.
Shortly after, at around 5:00 a.m., in Redondo Beach, a fatal car crash was reported when a black Porsche Cayenne, driven at speeds exceeding 100 mph, struck a tree on Pacific Coast Highway near Vincent Street. The driver, 34-year-old Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, was declared dead at the site of the crash.
Initially, authorities did not connect these two incidents. It was only upon further investigation that the link between them became grimly apparent. Two hours after the crash, authorities entered Johnson’s residence in Woodland Hills where another gruesome scene awaited them. A man, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney, was found having succumbed to stab wounds.
Investigators pieced together that Johnson had murdered Chaney at their Woodland Hills apartment before taking her children, driving away, and pushing them out of the car on the freeway.
Source: Los Angeles Times
