A California mother and father decapitated two of their children — and then forced their younger siblings to look at their bodies — in what prosecutors have called a “monstrous act of cruelty.”
Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and his wife, Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, were found guilty of two felony counts of first-degree murder in November 2025 for the killings of their 12-year-old son, Maurice, and 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka, inside their Lancaster home on November 29, 2020.
Both were sentenced Monday to six years in prison plus two consecutive terms of life without parole, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror.”
Prosecutors said the parents forced their two younger sons to look at their siblings’ decapitated bodies.
“They then forced their two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings’ bodies and remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days,” the district attorney’s office said.
In November 2025, 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 father, Taylor, worked as a personal trainer in Santa Monica, but held Zoom sessions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, when he failed to log in to meetings with clients in December 2020, they became concerned and contacted the authorities.
When deputies arrived at the home, they found the children’s bodies in separate bedrooms with what investigators called “some type of sharp trauma” from “either a stabbing or slicing device,” KTLA reported.
The children were identified by authorities as a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl.
Taylor was arrested and charged with murder and child abuse four days later. Meanwhile, Brothwell was arrested in September 2021 at her home in Tucson, Arizona, a day after authorities issued a warrant for her arrest, KTLA reported.
The two surviving children were placed under a 10-year protective order by the court.
