A disgraced celebrity chef in Arizona was convicted of slaughtering his wife and two young kids on Christmas Day — nearly eight years after posting a cheerful caroling video with his son the night before the killing spree.
Anthony Milan Ross, 53, was found guilty Monday by a Maricopa County jury on three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of his estranged wife, Iris, and their two young children, 11-year-old Nigel and 10-month-old Anora, AZ Family reported.
Ross, a local TV vegan chef and cookbook author, killed his family at his apartment when Iris, who had filed for divorce six months earlier, arrived to pick up their children on Dec. 25, 2017.
Witnesses told investigators they saw the killer celebrity chef shoot Iris dead outside before he ran back inside.
Law enforcement descended on the complex at 4 p.m. and found Iris’ body on the front patio of the chef’s apartment. Ross by then had barricaded himself inside his apartment with his two children.
After a tense, seven-hour standoff, police stormed Ross’ apartment and found one of his children shot dead.
As they were clearing the apartment, Ross appeared and opened fire on the officers, injuring one of them.
He surrendered after the brief shootout with police and was arrested. Investigators then found Ross’ other child had also been shot dead after he was detained.
On Christmas Eve, Ross laughed and sang Christmas carols as he appeared a happy, loving father alongside Nigel.
“I’m smiling and hanging out with Nigel on Christmas Eve, and we’re about to embarrass ourselves,” Ross said in the video posted on Facebook hours before he’d kill the 11-year-old. “We’re gonna sing!”
The video shows the pair performing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” together, then finishing the video with a heartfelt “Merry Christmas!”
Ross had also texted his estranged wife’s sister, Mary Wogas, during his Christmas Day killing rampage, telling her he had “just killed Iris and the kids.”
“I knew that man was very unstable. I knew he had a very, very dark side. I didn’t know it was this dark,” Wogas told investigators, according to court documents obtained by ABC 15.
She also added that the child killer struggled with depression.
Iris’ roommate, Lushanya Echeverria, also told the Arizona Republic that Ross had been harassing her in the weeks before the murders and had shown up to pick up their kids armed with a gun.
In addition to the three first-degree murder convictions, the disgraced chef was found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault and 17 counts of assaulting a peace officer.
He is scheduled to face sentencing on Jan. 9, 2026. Ross faces life in prison or death by lethal injection or the gas chamber.
Before the murders, Ross promoted himself as a man who had lost more than 200 pounds through a vegan diet and active lifestyle, as detailed in his book “The Change: Transforming Yourself and Your Body Into the Person You Want to Be.”
He was also featured in the 2016 vegan documentary “Eating You Alive” — alongside stars like Samuel L. Jackson and James Cameron — and regularly appeared at food and lifestyle events, including the Scottsdale Food Festival, and on local news.
