NEED TO KNOW

• Maliaka Taylor, 13, and Maurice Taylor Jr., 12, were found stabbed and decapitated in their home in Lancaster, Calif., in December 2020

• Their father, Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., was arrested days later, and their mother, Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, was arrested in September 2021

• On Nov. 18, the two parents were convicted of the brutal murders of two of their children

A Calif. couple has been convicted of stabbing their two children to death and decapitating their bodies.

Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, were found guilty of two felony counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and two felony counts of child abuse, according to a Nov. 18 news release from Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office.

A jury found that on Nov. 29, 2020, Taylor and Brothwell stabbed and decapitated their daughter, Maliaka, 13, and son Maurice Jr., 12, in the family’s home in Lancaster, Calif.

The parents then forced their two younger sons, who were 8 and 9 years old at the time, to view the bodies of the deceased siblings. After, they confined their surviving children to their bedrooms without food for “several days,” the release said.

Hochman’s office has not shared an update on the two surviving siblings.

Maliaka and Maurice Jr.’s bodies were discovered after a potential gas leak was reported at the home. Additionally, Maurice Sr.’s personal training clients alerted authorities after suspecting something was amiss when he didn’t reply to their attempts to contact him, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives arrived at the home on Friday, Dec. 3, and found the bodies of the decapitated children in separate bedrooms.

Maurice Sr. was arrested the next day. However, Brothwell was only considered a person of interest in the killings. She was arrested in Tucson, Ariz., in September 2021.

Both pleaded not guilty to child abuse and murder charges in Feburary 2022.

“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” Hochman said in the news release. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror.”

“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 continued.

The parents will be sentenced on Jan. 13, and both face life in state prison without the possibility of parole, along with a consecutive sentence of six years and four months.

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If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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