Infant found dead on 405 Freeway linked to fatal crash in Redondo Beach; murder in Woodland Hills: Sources (2024)

LOS ANGELES - The devastating death of an infant who was found on the northbound side of the 405 Freeway in Westchester Monday morning is tied to another homicide and fatal car crash in Los Angeles County, law enforcement sources told FOX 11.

Officers were sent to the Sepulveda Boulevard/Howard Hughes Parkway exit of the northbound freeway around 4:30 a.m. after a driver discovered two children on the freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol.

STORY UPDATE: Timeline of murder-suicide that ended in death of infant on the 405 Freeway

LAPD Lt. Guy Golan confirmed to FOX 11 that the two girls — a 9-year-old and an 8-month-old — were sitting in the passenger's seat. The infant was in the 9-year-old's lap. That's when the driver, the girls' mother, slowed down in the middle of the road and pushed them out.

"As the 9-year-old fell into the middle of the freeway, she injured herself and dropped the infant," Golan said. "And then, in a race to get out of the freeway and not get hit by traffic, the 9-year-old managed to get to the shoulder successfully, but the infant was struck by traffic. And so the infant succumbed to her injuries in the middle of the freeway there."

The 9-year-old was brought to the hospital after suffering moderate injuries, and Golan said she has been interviewed by hospital staff.

Investigators Tuesday confirmed that the infant's death was connected to a murder in Woodland Hills and a fatal car crash in Redondo Beach.

Reports indicate that a woman in her mid-30s fatally stabbed her partner at The Montecito Apartment complex in Woodland Hills around 3:30 a.m. She then fled with the children in a black Porsche.

On Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner identified the man found dead as 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney.

A neighbor found Chaney's body after hearing loud sounds and fighting.

"I walked out our front door and looked to the left, their door was wide open and there was blood all throughout their front door, all the way to the hallway, into the elevator and blood on the walls, so I called my dad," the neighbor told FOX 11.

"I went into the apartment, I stepped over the blood puddles and checked on the body and I saw he was dead. Called 911 of course."

Neighbors say they've heard fighting before between the couple.

As for the second crime scene, detectives are trying to determine just how the children got on the freeway — and whether they fell out of the car or were pushed out.

It appears the woman kept driving on the 405 after the girls were ejected from the car. According to sources, the girls' mother died when the vehicle crashed into a tree near a church around 5 a.m. on Pacific Coast Highway near Vincent Street.

CHP identified the mother as Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, 34.

NOTE: APP USERS TAP ON TIMELINE TO EXPAND

In efforts to gather more information, CHP emphasized the importance of dashcam footage from vehicles in the area around 4 or 5 a.m. along the 405 between Howard Hughes and Centinela.

"Even though I do this every day, this definitely hits home. It hits different when it's a kid who didn't really have a chance, especially an infant, a baby that's really helpless, and just to see this is very traumatic," Officer Steven Salas with California Highway Patrol said.

The nine-year-old girl is now the sole survivor in her family after these three tragic events.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the CHP Southern Division Major Crimes office at 323-644-9550, or the CHP Traffic Management Center at 323-259-3200.