A California father and mother were found guilty this week of stabbing and decapitating their teenage children inside a Lancaster home – before forcing their two younger kids to see the bodies – in a disturbing incident nearly five years ago.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that jurors found personal trainer Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the November 29, 2020, killings of their 12-year-old son, Maurice, and 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka. Jurors also found true the special circumstances of the multiple murders.
Prosecutors said the parents forced their younger sons, 8 and 9, to see their siblings’ bodies and stay in their rooms without food for “several days.”
“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror.”
The parents were also convicted of two counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, the district attorney said.
The children’s bodies – as well as the surviving youngsters – were found after firefighters responded to reports of a gas leak at the house on December 3, 2020, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Neighbors had previously reported a smell emanating from the house, while Taylor Sr.’s clients also contacted authorities with their concerns after he missed Zoom personal training sessions and stopped responding to their messages.
Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris said at the time said that a blend of the economy, closed school and public spaces during the Covid pandemic created a stressful environment in the home, according to the New York Post.
Taylor and Brothwell face a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, plus a consecutive sentence of six years and four months in state prison.
Their sentencing is set for January 13.
The district attorney’s office declined to the Times with an update on the status of the two surviving siblings, the outlet reported Tuesday.
The Independent has contacted the district attorney’s office for comment.
