May 17, 2024 / By mobanmarket
CULVER CITY, CA — A San Fernando Valley woman stabbed her partner to death, pushed her baby and 9-year-old daughter out of a moving car on the San Diego (405) Freeway, instantly killing the infant and fled to Redondo Beach where she died in a high-speed car crash, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
Police connected the series of tragedies after responding to a report of a baby being thrown onto one of the world’s busiest freeways just before the morning rush hour near the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit in Culver City Monday. As the California Highway Patrol was responding to that horror, police in Los Angeles responded to a report of a man’s fatal stabbing in a high-end Woodland Hills apartment complex, and police in Redondo Beach investigated the death of a woman who crashed her Porsche into a tree at high-speed.
It was the lone survivor, the 9-year-old girl, who put it all together for police.
“You have this poor 9 year-old little girl who has to live with this for the rest of her life,” Lt. Guy Golan, homicide supervisor for the LAPD Valley Bureau told The Los Angeles Times.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, 34, killed her partner, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney of Woodland Hills. Around 3:40 a.m. Monday, Johnson and Chaney got into a fight at their Woodland Hills apartment “that escalated into Johnson becoming violent, stabbing Chaney, who succumbed to his injuries at scene,” according to the LAPD. Johnson then fled the scene in a dark-colored Porsche with her two children, ramming the apartment complex gate to escape.
Hours later, a neighbor would discover the blood trail leading from the apartment and call police.
Not long after Chaney was killed, the children were thrown from the moving vehicle onto the freeway.
At about 4:30 a.m. Monday, the California Highway Patrol responded to the northbound 405 Freeway near the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit in Culver City, where they found an 8-month-old girl on the roadway and her 9-year-old sister on the right shoulder. The infant was pronounced dead at the scene, while the young girl was taken to a hospital with “moderate” injuries, according to the CHP, which said a witness reported seeing a black sedan in the area where the girls were found.
“Johnson then fled the scene and made her way to Redondo Beach where she was involved in a traffic crash and succumbed to her injuries,” according to the CHP.
At around 5 a.m. Monday, police responded to the crash on Pacific Coast Highway and Vincent Street in Redondo Beach where the driver of a black Porsche was traveling at speeds topping 100 mph when she slammed into a tree.
As authorities investigated the freeway fatality and the Redondo Beach fatality, police in Woodland Hills were called to the apartment building in the 6200 block of Variel Avenue around 7:35 a.m. Monday in response to a report of an unresponsive man in his 30s. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene.
Richard Berglund, who lives in the Montecito Apartments in Woodland Hills where the killing took place, told the Los Angeles Times he was the one who found his neighbor’s body. He told The Times his daughter had left for work that morning and saw blood in a hallway and an elevator. Berglund then went to the neighbor’s unit, where the door was open and looked inside to see blood splattered around the unit and a man’s legs sticking out from the kitchen, the paper reported.
“The apartment was in disarray. Everything was knocked over,” he told The Times.
Berglund said he called 911 and the dispatcher told him to check on the man in the unit, who was lying face down wearing only socks and underwear.
According to the LAPD, the couple did not have a history of domestic violence.
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Anyone with information about the Woodland Hills killing was asked to contact LAPD Operations Valley Bureau Homicide Detectives at 818-374-9550, or during non-business hours, at 877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247). Anonymous tips can be made through Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or at www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Anyone with details on the Redondo Beach crash should call Detective S. Martin with the Redondo Beach Police Department.
Anyone with information regarding the discovery of the girls on the freeway was asked to contact CHP Detective E. Kim at the Southern Division Major Crimes Unit at 323-644-9550. After business hours, people can call 323- 259-3200.
City News Service and Patch staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.
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