{"id":2406687,"date":"2026-05-07T21:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2406687"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:24:17","slug":"celebrity-chef-gets-death-for-christmas-family-massacre-a-day-after-santa-claus-is-coming-to-town-video-with-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/celebrity-chef-gets-death-for-christmas-family-massacre-a-day-after-santa-claus-is-coming-to-town-video-with-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrity Chef Gets Death for Christmas Family Massacre, a Day After &#8216;Santa Claus is Coming to Town&#8217; Video with Son"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\">NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"mb-4\">\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An Arizona chef was sentenced to death after murdering his ex-wife and two children on Christmas Day 2017<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Anthony Milan Ross was previously convicted of the murders of Iris Ross and their two children, Nigel and Anora, in November<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ml-4 list-disc\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The day before the murders, Ross and his son recorded a video singing &#8220;Santa Claus is Coming to Town&#8221; together<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">An Arizona chef was sentenced death months after he was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/ariz-celebrity-chef-guilty-killing-wife-two-young-children-christmas-day-11844677\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:convicted of the 2017 murders;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;convicted of the 2017 murders&quot;}\" class=\"link \">convicted of the 2017 murders<\/a> of his ex-wife and two children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Anthony Milan Ross fatally shot Iris Ross in Phoenix, Ariz., before entering his apartment and killing his 8-month-old daughter, Anora, and his 11-year-old son, Nigel, on Dec. 25, 2017, the Maricopa County Attorney&#8217;s Office said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Prior to the shooting, authorities said, Iris had gone to Ross&#8217; apartment to pick up the children and celebrate Christmas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While there, she told Ross she would not take him back, according to prosecutors. He then shot her as she tried to run away before standing over her and firing more shots.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-primary p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-primary\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" class=\"flex-none size-4 -scale-x-100 text-primary lg:size-6 [&amp;_path]:fill-current\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M3.1 3.1V11h1.8V6.314l5.392 5.393 1.415-1.414L6.313 4.9H11V3.1zm17.8 17.8V13h-1.8v4.686l-5.393-5.393-1.415 1.414 5.393 5.393H13v1.8z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-primary hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p><i>Anthony Milan Ross<br \/>Credit: Maricopa County Sheriff&#8217;s Office<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Nigel, whom Ross shot last, put his hand up in an attempt to defend himself, according to the county attorney&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After threatening two witnesses, Ross then engaged in an hours-long standoff with police, which ended with him exchanging shots with officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><strong><em>Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for <\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-true-crime-newsletter-sign-up-8692775\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;PEOPLE'&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><strong><em>PEOPLE&#8217;s free True Crime newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em> for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The day before the murders, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/crime\/phoenix-chef-entrepreneur-murders-ex-wife-young-children\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:PEOPLE previously reported;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;PEOPLE previously reported&quot;}\" class=\"link \">PEOPLE previously reported<\/a>, Ross and Nigel recorded a video of them singing &#8220;Santa Claus is Coming to Town&#8221; and posted it on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI\u2019m smiling and hanging out with Nigel on Christmas Eve and we are about to embarrass ourselves,\u201d Ross said in the video.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In November 2025, Ross was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and several counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to death on Thursday, May 7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThis defendant was supposed to protect his family; instead, he made a deliberate choice to take their lives on Christmas Day when his wife wouldn\u2019t take him back,\u201d Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement.. \u201cToday&#8217;s sentence reflects the gravity of what he did, and he deserves the ultimate punishment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;There is justice for Iris, Nigel, and Anora,&#8221; Mitchell continued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ross worked as a vegan chef, motivational speaker and entrepreneur prior to the killings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the original article on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/celebrity-chef-gets-death-for-christmas-family-massacre-11969759\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:People;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;People&quot;}\" class=\"link \">People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEED TO KNOW An Arizona chef was sentenced to death after murdering his ex-wife and two children on Christmas Day 2017 Anthony Milan Ross was previously convicted of the murders of Iris Ross and their two children, Nigel and Anora, in November The day before the murders, Ross and his son recorded a video singing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[406711,375634,470396,412560,470397],"class_list":["post-2406687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-anthony-milan-ross","tag-christmas-day","tag-iris-ross","tag-nigel","tag-santa-claus-is-coming-to-town"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Celebrity-Chef-Gets-Death-for-Christmas-Family-Massacre-a-Day.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2406687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406689,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406687\/revisions\/2406689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2406687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2406687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2406687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}