CULVER CITY, Calif — The woman who police say fatally stabbed her partner then pushed her two young daughters out of a moving car on the San Diego (405) Freeway — killing one of them — before dying in a Redondo Beach car crash was an astrology enthusiast who posted online messages warning of the dangers of the solar eclipse that occurred Monday, just hours before the deadly crime spree.


What You Need To Know

  • Law enforcement sources confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the woman suspected in the violence, 34-year-old Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, was known online as Danielle Ayoka, a self-described astrologer, Reiki master teacher and recording artist
  • Sources told The Times that investigators who searched her Woodland Hills apartment, where her partner was fatally stabbed Monday morning, found items including Tarot cards and black feathers
  • Authorities said Johnson is suspected of killing her live-in partner, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney, in their shared apartment in the 6200 block of Variel Avenue in Woodland Hills, in an attack believed to have occurred around 3:40 a.m. Monday
  • She then allegedly grabbed her two daughters — aged 8 months and 9 years old — and fled the blood-filled apartment in a dark-colored Porsche Cayenne

Law enforcement sources confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the woman suspected in the violence, 34-year-old Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, was known online as Danielle Ayoka, a self-described astrologer, Reiki master teacher and recording artist.

Sources told The Times that investigators who searched her Woodland Hills apartment, where her partner was fatally stabbed Monday morning, found items including Tarot cards and black feathers.

Last Thursday, April 4, Ayoka posted on X, “This eclipse is the epitome of spiritual warfare. Get your protection on and your heart in the right place. The world is very obviously changing right now and if you ever needed to pick a side, the time to do right in your life is now. Stay strong you got this.”

The next day, using all upper-case letters, she posted, “WAKE UP WAKE UP THE APOCALYPSE IS HERE. EVERYONE WHO HAS EARS LISTEN. YOUR TIME TO CHOOSE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IS NOW. IF YOU BELIEVE A NEW WORLD IS POSSIBLE FOR THE PEOPLE RT NOW.

“THERE IS POWER IN CHOICE. THERE IS POWER IN CHOICE!!!! REPOST TO MAKE THE CHOICE FOR THE COLLECTIVE.”

In a comment, she responded, “We Can do it!!! We can do it!!!! Can do it!!!! Believe!!!!! You (sic) magic is in what you believe. I believe we can be free!!! I believe we can be free!!!!!”

The Times reported that in the days leading up to the eclipse and the killings, Johnson — as Ayoka — made various antisemitic posts online denigrating Jewish people, along with posts spouting conspiratorial theories about the origins of COVID-19.

Authorities said Johnson is suspected of killing her live-in partner, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney, in their shared apartment in the 6200 block of Variel Avenue in Woodland Hills, in an attack believed to have occurred around 3:40 a.m. Monday.

She then allegedly grabbed her two daughters — aged 8 months and 9 years old — and fled the blood-filled apartment in a dark-colored Porsche Cayenne.

Around 4:30 a.m. Monday, the California Highway Patrol responded to the northbound San Diego (405) Freeway near the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit in Culver City, where they found Johnson’s 8-month-old daughter dead on the roadway and the 9-year-old girl on the right shoulder with moderate injuries.

Police said Johnson allegedly was driving on the freeway and slowed the vehicle down and then pushed the girls out of the car. The older girl was holding the baby when they were forced out of the vehicle.

Around 5 a.m. Monday, a female driver in a black Porsche Cayenne sped south on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, slamming into a tree near Vincent Street. The driver, believed to be Johnson, died at the scene, police said.

The Los Angeles Police Department described the chain of events as a double-murder-suicide.

Danielle Ayoka’s website offers a variety of services, including weekly aura cleanses, Mercury retrograde grounding and Zodiac healing. According to a biography on the site, she claims to have had a “near death experience at 3 years old,” which led her into “Shamanism.”

“After 3 years of intensive training, Danielle began to expand her abilities by creating a unique method of healing that combined her training along with her knowledge of energy, physics and psychology,” according to the website. “After going to undergrad for Psychology, Danielle decided she wanted to go beyond the mundane limitations of the traditional theraputic methods of healing and started her professional career.

“Offering services which include rituals, intuitive guidance, remote healing and astrology, Danielle has developed a grounded approach to total healing for the everyday struggles we face and experience in our lives.”