Mom who killed partner, child was astrology influencer upset at eclipse

Selfie picture of Danielle Johnson.

(Twitter)

Danielle Johnson was nervous in regards to the eclipse.

The astrology influencer and “divine healer,” who glided by the title Danielle Ayoka on-line, known as the upcoming astronomical occasion “the epitome of non secular warfare” and instructed folks they wanted to “choose a aspect,” in posts Thursday on X.

Lower than three days later, within the early morning earlier than the partial photo voltaic eclipse, Johnson left a trail of tragedy in her wake: her companion stabbed to dying within the kitchen of the household house in Woodland Hills, her 8-month-old child useless after being pushed from Johnson’s transferring Porsche Cayenne on the 405, and Johnson herself useless after crashing her automotive on Pacific Coast Freeway in Redondo Seaside.

Discovered by investigators mendacity in regards to the Woodland Hills house: tarot playing cards and black feathers.

Regulation enforcement sources confirmed to The Occasions on Wednesday that Ayoka — who was lively on-line as an R&B recording artist in addition to an astrologer providing self-help and therapeutic classes for a price — was Johnson, the suspect within the two deaths.

The LAPD has stated little publicly in regards to the motive within the deaths and stress the investigation is ongoing. Lt. Man Golan, murder supervisor for the LAPD Valley Bureau, stated Johnson and her companion, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney, had no documented historical past of home violence or calls to the Los Angeles Police Division. There have been no prior indicators of home strife, Golan stated.

With no clear motive, investigators consider that the eclipse could have been an element within the killings due to a few of the issues Johnson wrote simply days earlier than, in accordance with sources, who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.

Beneath the Ayoka moniker, Johnson issued a torrent of antisemitic screeds, conspiracy theories and alarmist warnings on Thursday and Friday. These included a repost of a debunked apocryphal speech attributed to Ben Franklin about how Jewish folks “depreciated” societies wherever they settled, a video about Jews selling pedophilia within the leisure trade, and unproven theories in regards to the origin of COVID-19.

In late March, she posted a GIF of a tapered candle surrounded by leaves, calling it a “free eclipse safety candle to your thoughts and physique” and advising customers to “wish to activate.” However because the eclipse drew nearer, her posts grew extra alarming. On Friday she wrote an all-capital message: “If any non secular account is just not revealing the reality proper now they’re pretend. They’re lies. They’ve offered out and are on the flawed aspect. Get up!”

Eclipses have change into fraught with conspiracies of imminent doom. Social media posts, together with one on Reddit that expressed concern over an impending “large human sacrifice” throughout the eclipse, have gained consideration regardless of an absence of credible proof.

In 2017, NASA revealed a webpage devoted to debunking numerous myths surrounding that 12 months’s eclipse. One was that eclipses are prophesies of main life modifications or impending occasions.

“This can be a frequent interpretation present in astrological forecasts, that are themselves based mostly upon coincidences and non-scientific beliefs in how celestial occasions management human conduct,” NASA‘s webpage says.

NASA notes that it’s solely human psychology that “connects eclipses with future occasions in your life.”

Regardless of her penchant for offensive posts, Johnson was widespread on-line, with greater than 100,000 followers on X who favored her more and more worrying messages. Years in the past she grew to become a darling of the media, with quite a few websites comparable to Refinery 29 and the Fader posting glowing critiques of the “clairvoyant” Johnson’s expertise at giving followers “useless on descriptions of every zodiac signal and [guiding] them to wellness by way of detailed moon rituals.” She would typically make posts about particular zodiac indicators and the way they had been being affected on the time by astrological actions.

Refinery 29 stated Johnson had “an excellent reward for calling out the nonsense of any sun sign in need of real truths.”

Johnson began pursuing astrology and reiki — an power therapeutic approach — a few decade in the past and determined to submit about it on social media as a result of folks in her age group didn’t know in regards to the practices on the time, she stated throughout a podcast interview in September. She wasn’t instantly embraced.

“I acquired a lot [flak] after I went on-line and have become an astrologer and began doing reiki and began doing distant therapeutic,” she stated.

Johnson stated on the podcast that she was descended from Cherokee drugs ladies and was born with the flexibility to see spirits and a heightened instinct.

In response to her personal web site, Johnson’s personal near-death expertise at age 3 led her into “Shamanism.”

“Coming from a wealthy lineage of Indigenous Shaman and Drugs Ladies, Danielle’s non secular presents started to blossom. Danielle started her tutelage together with her private healer in 2011, after starting her personal therapeutic journey,” her web site reads.

She supplied weekly aura cleanses for $2.99 ($1.99 for members of her website) in addition to a therapeutic collection that was $150 per 30 days for 5 months, a worth that drew some criticism online.

“This collection will probably be LIFE CHANGING for anybody who has struggled with confidence, second guessing themselves and never feeling ‘ok,’” she wrote on her website.

She additionally supplied a $6.99 per 30 days residence purifying cleanse that stripped folks’s residences of “stagnant power,” citing higher sleep and an elevated “vibration” as a few of the advantages. Activating the service was easy: buy the cleanse, get a chunk of paper and title it “residence purifying cleanse” and write your handle on it. Then tuck it away in a protected place, she wrote.

Her neighbors acknowledged Johnson’s kitchen in candlelight ceremonies she would host for her followers.

As Ayoka, Johnson additionally recorded and launched songs through on-line streaming providers, and he or she had an Instagram account for her music as “ayokamystic.”

Investigators supplied this account of the morning of the killings:

Johnson stabbed Chaney within the coronary heart early Monday morning as he was on the sofa. The proof means that she tried to tug his physique out of the upscale house within the Woodland Hills Montecito Flats advanced, however sooner or later deserted the hassle and dragged his physique again into the house’s kitchen.

The hassle left bloody footprints within the hall exterior, and he or she was noticed with a noticeable limp within the aftermath. She then fled the house advanced together with her two daughters — certainly one of them 9 years previous, the opposite 8 months — ramming a gate together with her automotive on the best way out.

Shortly earlier than 4:30 a.m., she shoved her older daughter out of the automotive with the toddler within the lady’s arms as her car neared the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit. The older little one survived the autumn and escaped visitors, however the toddler was killed.

Roughly half an hour later, police in Redondo Seaside responded to reviews {that a} black Porsche Cayenne crashed right into a tree whereas driving greater than 100 mph on Pacific Coast Freeway close to Vincent Road. The driving force, who was pronounced useless on the scene, suffered large accidents that made her identification tough.

Two hours later, police arrived at Johnson’s house after a neighbor reported discovering Chaney stabbed to dying.

Chaney served within the Air Power as not too long ago as 2020, in accordance with the supply.

Nationwide Archives and Information Administration images point out that Chaney served as an armament technician within the thirty first Munitions Squadron and was stationed in Italy for a interval throughout his service.

A regulation enforcement supply instructed The Occasions that Chaney and Johnson lived collectively for greater than three years. Johnson seemed to be within the midst of a divorce involving a previous companion, in accordance with the supply.

Johnson posted a photograph on X in Might 2023 of a teardrop diamond ring on her left hand with the caption “when a Taurus man spoils you.” The picture was flooded with congratulatory feedback. “Sure, when it really works, it WORKS,” she responded.