The alarming beliefs of astrology influencer-turned killer who warned followers of impending ‘apocalypse’ | EUROtoday

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In the early hours of Monday 8 April, following a loud verbal altercation at their house in north Los Angeles, 34-year-old Danielle Johnson stabbed her accomplice and fled in a dark-coloured Porsche SUV along with her two younger kids.

As the automobile sped down the 405 Freeway, Johnson out of the blue pushed her kids out of the car and into the trail of oncoming visitors. Her eight-month-old child was killed, however her nine-year-old sister survived the horrific occasions. Their mom later died after ploughing the automobile right into a tree.

Johnson, an astrology influencer and peddler of religious treatments, had just lately taken to social media to warn her intensive following of an impending “apocalypse” forward of the photo voltaic eclipse, which swept throughout North America and all over the world in a while Monday.

In erratic posts within the days main as much as the tragedy she instructed folks to get their hearts “in the right place” and “pick a side” forward of a “new world order”.

Police say that no situations of a home disturbance between Johnson and her 29-year-old boyfriend Jaelen Chaney had been reported beforehand and that the motive for the mother-of-two’s stunning actions was nonetheless unclear.

Here is what we all know:

Who was Danielle ‘Ayoka’ Johnson?

Johnson – identified on-line as Danielle Ayoka – was an astrology influencer and would-be religious healer, claiming to be an authorized Reiki Master Teacher educated in over 10 completely different “alternative healing modalities.”

According to her web site, she suffered a near-death expertise on the age of three, which “served as her rite of passage into Shamanism”. The web site says she got here from a line of Indigenous Shaman and Medicine Women which prompted her “spiritual gifts” to “blossom”.

She studied psychology on the undergraduate stage earlier than beginning her skilled profession.

Johnson started tutelage with a private healer in 2011, spending three years in coaching. From this, she claimed to have created a singular technique of therapeutic that mixed her coaching along with her earlier information of “energy, physics and psychology”.

She was additionally an aspiring musical artist – producing low-fi and digital music beneath the identify Ayoka.

The artist launched an album in 2020, adopted by a number of singles in 2021. The hottest observe, Weekend, has round 200,000 listens on Spotify.

Business endeavours

Johnson’s private web price is unknown, and it’s unclear to whom the Porsche SUV through which she made her determined escape belonged.

Her web site affords a wide range of providers similar to rituals, intuitive steerage, distant therapeutic and astrology. The varied “aura cleanses” vary in value from $2.99 to $150 monthly, although different household and pals packages had been accessible.

She claimed to have subscribers worldwide, from the US and Canada to Japan, China, India, Australia, South Africa, West Africa, London, Korea, New Zealand, and Spain.

Johnson additionally operated a web page on the web purchasing platform Etsy, beneath the username RichGirlMagic. Item costs vary round $15 with over 800 recorded gross sales and 100 five-star critiques.

Products listed on the web page embody different religious and therapeutic therapies similar to audio tarot, guided meditation packages, and Zodiac therapeutic cleanses.

The Zodiac therapeutic cleanse is described as “a remote energy work service that is designed to help each sign overcome the hurdles holding them back from their full potential”. The cleanses are “one-time use” and “automatically links to your aura” as soon as bought.

Customers should buy the product once more in the event that they want to repeat it. Etsy at the moment states that the web store is “taking a short break”.

Social media

Johnson had a large social media following, with 1000’s of followers on varied platforms and greater than 100,000 followers on X, the place she posted repeatedly.

As effectively as posts about her personal merchandise, a few of her reposted articles pushed conspiracy theories about political occasions and the Covid-19 vaccine. Several posts shared by Johnson had been marked as containing anti-Semitic content material.

In the times earlier than the photo voltaic eclipse on 8 April, Johnson’s posts appeared to change into extra erratic, and he or she warned followers of an impending “apocalypse” – urging them to “pick a side”.

The Eclipse and apocalypse

“This eclipse is the epitome of spiritual warfare. Get your protection on and your heart in the right place,” she wrote on 4 April. “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.”

A day in a while 5 April, she wrote in all capitals: “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 word is possible for the people RT (retweet) now.

“There is power in choice. There is power in choice! Repost to make the choice for the collective.”

LAPD detectives investigating the incident on Monday instructed The Associated Press that whereas investigators have reviewed Johnson’s social media posts, they didn’t contemplate the eclipse to be a contributing consider her actions.

“We’ve taken all the facts we can, but without being able to interview her and without having something more tangible than a post on X, I don’t know how much weight you can give to somebody (saying) there’s an apocalypse and attribute it to one of the most horrific murders we’ve had in LA,” LAPD Lt. Guy Golan mentioned.

Following the incident different social media customers replied to Johnson’s pinned submit, warning of the apocalypse, and speculating over her psychological state – with some suggesting she was affected by “psychosis”.

What occurred to her kids?

Johnson’s nine-year-old daughter is the only survivor of their mom’s horrific killing spree. According to witnesses, the kid witnessed the preliminary stabbing of her accomplice earlier than being thrown from the transferring car alongside along with her toddler sister.

The pair had been “forcibly pushed” from the car, with the woman holding the eight-month-old little one, Mr Golan mentioned. Authorities mentioned the toddler was killed by oncoming visitors.

Good Samaritans discovered the youngsters on the freeway and known as 911. Emergency responders pronounced the child lifeless on the scene, and her older sister was transported to a hospital.

The surviving little one was later positioned within the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

According to Fox11, the kid’s father at the moment resides out of state, although might doubtlessly take custody of her. Specifics of the association stay unclear.

Who is her boyfriend?

Police recognized the 29-year-old sufferer of Johnson’s rampage as her accomplice, Jaelen Allen Chaney, a former member of the US army, who had goals of changing into a weatherman.

According to a 2020 army archive, Chaney was a senior airman with the 31 Munitions Squadron armament technician when he was stationed in Italy in December of that yr.

His brother Mark Chiricas mentioned Chaney checked in with him sporadically, and that he had travelled round Europe with Johnson whereas he was stationed on the market.

Mr Chiricas instructed The Daily Mail his brother didn’t share particulars of his relationship, however had despatched a “concerning” message to him in November 2022 that mentioned he had been “dealing with a lot” but it surely was not “appropriate” to share.

“The last message he sent to me was (wishing) me a happy birthday,” Chiricas instructed the outlet. “He was in the Air Force, but he had dreams to become a weatherman. He was just like the rest of us, trying to have fun and trying to have a family.”

LAPD investigators mentioned that Chaney and Johnson had been relationship for round three years and had been dwelling collectively.

Mr Golan added that there had been no prior incidence of home violence ever reported between the couple, per CBS, although neighbours mentioned that on the evening of the incident they’d heard a loud argument coming from their house in Woodland Hills, a neighbourhood north of LA.