A Lancaster couple who stabbed and decapitated their son and daughter before showing the remains to their two surviving children were convicted of murder Wednesday in the Antelope Valley Courthouse.
A Superior Court jury found personal trainer Maurice Jewel Taylor, 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, guilty on two felony counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and two felony counts of child abuse.
The couple face life in state prison without the possibility of parole, as well as a consecutive sentence of six years and four months, when they are sentenced Jan. 13.
“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror.”
A call to the defendants’ attorney was not immediately returned.
The unthinkable crime unfolded on Nov. 29, 2020, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Taylor and Brothwell stabbed and decapitated their daughter Maliaka, 13, and son Maurice, 12, in the family’s Lancaster home on Century Circle, according to court documents.
Taylor and Brothwell then forced their two remaining sons, ages 8 and 9 at the time, to view the bodies before confining them to their bedrooms without food, according to prosecutors.
Taylor’s clients, who were training with him over Zoom during the pandemic, contacted authorities after becoming concerned about a potential gas leak when he missed a workout session and didn’t respond to them.
“I knew they weren’t out of town. They didn’t have money to travel,” one client told The Times in 2020.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives investigating the scene found the decapitated son and daughter in separate bedrooms the following Friday.
Taylor was arrested Dec. 4 and charged Dec. 8, 2020. At the time, Brothwell was only considered a person of interest.
She was arrested in September 2021 in her Tucson, Ariz., home and charged.
“The jury’s verdict delivers justice for these victims and sends a powerful message: Those who commit such evil acts will be held fully accountable,” Hochman said.
The district attorney’s office declined to provide an update on the status of the two surviving siblings boys.
Times staff writer Richard Winton and Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
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