A renowned vegan chef was reported to have conducted troubling online searches related to guns, silencers, and acid before allegedly committing the horrific act of murdering his entire family on Christmas Day, as prosecutors detailed at the start of his trial.
Anthony Milan Ross, aged 53, is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Iris, 38, outside their apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 25, 2017, before engaging in a six-hour police standoff inside their home.
When cops finally breached the apartment, they found the bodies of his children Nigel, 11, and Anora, 10-months, inside.
According to prosecutors, Ross’s supposed scheme initiated with online searches for dangerous materials, including battery acid, sulfuric acid, skin-melting acid, firearms, silencers, and cases of families being murdered on Christmas Day.
Maricopa County prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft said that Ross had also told people to ‘expect something big on Christmas.’
It was suggested that Ross was fixated on his public image as a celebrity, which was enhanced by his motivational talks about weight loss. However, he relied heavily on Iris, from whom he was separated at the time, for financial support to maintain his way of living.
When she filed for divorce in 2017, Ross snapped and murdered his wife and children, according to Dusterhoft.
‘His five minutes of daytime TV fame was up. The money, the success — all a façade. And so was the perfect family,’ he said.
The trial revealed that Anthony Milan Ross had allegedly searched for disturbing contents such as guns, silencers, and acid, preparing for the gruesome act of killing his family on Christmas Day, according to the prosecutors.
Prosecutors also detailed how Ross purportedly began plotting with online research into hazardous substances like battery acid, sulfuric acid, skin-melting acid, alongside guns, silencers, and incidents where individuals had killed their families on Christmas Day.
As trial for his three first-degree murder charges and 20 counts of aggravated assault got underway, prosecutors alleged that Ross premeditated the murders in a twisted revenge plot.
‘He thought about it before he did it. He meant to do it, and then he did it. Why?’ Dusterhoft said in his opening statement, per AZ Central.
The TV chef’s defense attorney Carrie Gallagher warned the jury that the trial would involve grisly details and admitted the events were a ‘tragedy’, but argued that the killings were not planned.
‘There is a difference, however, between rumination and premeditation,’ she said, noting that prosecutors had to plan Ross premeditated the murders for it to constitute first-degree murder.
If convicted, Ross faces the possibility of the death penalty.
Ross, who was commonly known by Milan by his fans, lost a significant amount of weight in his 20s when he switched to a vegan lifestyle.
He then became a chef and started writing and doing inspirational videos about his transformation and new lifestyle.
Ross was also featured alongside celebrities such as James Cameron and Samuel L Jackson in a feature-length documentary about veganism.
Ross, who was commonly known by Milan by his fans, shot to fame after he lost a significant amount of weight in his 20s when he switched to a vegan lifestyle
As his trial got underway on three first-degree murder charges as well as 20 counts of aggravated assault, prosecutors alleged that Ross premeditated the murders in a twisted revenge plot
Gallagher said that Ross’s mental health rapidly deteriorated in 2017 and he began suffering from insomnia, which she said explained some of the chilling internet searches.
‘You will see that much of this behavior, these searches, were done during periods when (he) had poor sleep or even no sleep,’ she said.
Gallagher said that the internet searches were ‘obsessive thoughts’ that can be mitigated in some people by searching for them, but do not necessarily indicate that he was planning to carry out the killings.
‘During the same period of time that Milan was researching online, he was also engaging in future-oriented activities, and he was generally planning for the future,’ she argued.
She said these ‘future plans’ included adopting a dog, planning to meet up with friends after the holidays, writing himself a check for his business, and proposing to his girlfriend days before the slayings.
‘What these actions do suggest is that while (he) had perhaps had thoughts in the past about murder-suicide, which were reflected in those internet searches, he didn’t actually have any plans to follow through with those thoughts prior to seeing Iris,’ she said.
Ross became a chef and started writing and doing inspirational videos about his transformation and new lifestyle. Ross was also featured alongside celebrities such as James Cameron and Samuel L Jackson in a feature-length documentary about veganism
On the morning of the killings, Ross woke up extremely depressed, and messaged Iris about the pain of their separation after drinking a bottle of whiskey, Gallagher said.
She asked the jury to question: ‘Did (Ross) actually think about what he was doing before he did it?’
Witnesses said that they allegedly saw Ross shoot his wife as she tried to run away from him outside their apartment.
Then when they asked if she was fine, he said ‘no’ and pointed his gun at them before entering his apartment, where witnesses said they heard two or three more gunshots, according to police.
On Christmas afternoon Ross posted a touching video alongside his 11-year-old son, Nigel, singing ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town.’
Just 90 minutes later police said the shooting rampage began.
