LANCASTER (CNS) – The parents of a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl who were found decapitated at the family’s home in Lancaster were sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of the two children.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa M. Strassner ordered Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, to serve the life terms consecutively, calling the two children “helpless” and saying that the couple forced their surviving two children to “look at the aftermath” of the Nov. 29, 2020, stabbings and decapitations of the couple’s 12-year-old son, Maurice, and 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka.
Despite an emotional statement from Brothwell in court in which she maintained her innocence and said she “did not murder my children” and had tried to save them, the judge said she found no evidence of “genuine remorse” from the defendants and that there was instead “silence where accountability should be.”
In a statement read in court on her behalf, the victims’ maternal grandmother said Taylor had “ruined so many lives,” while maintaining that her daughter is “innocent.”
The judge rejected a motion for a new trial from Taylor’s attorney, Christopher C. Chaney, saying that the verdict was “fully supported by the evidence.”
Taylor and Brothwell were convicted last November of two counts of first-degree murder for the killing, with jurors finding true the special- circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
The two were also found guilty of two counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office — which noted that prosecutors had proven the couple forced their younger sons, who were then ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings’ bodies and to remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days.
The victims’ bodies were still inside the family’s home in the 45000 block of Century Circle when authorities arrived five days after the killings, officials said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said soon afterward that the county fire department had received a call about a possible gas leak and immediately notified deputies after finding the two children dead inside the home. Authorities said two adults — one male and one female — were found at the location, along with the other two children.
“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in the aftermath of the November convictions.
“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.”
Back in 2020, some of Taylor’s clients from a Santa Monica physical therapy and fitness center had contacted authorities to check on the family after becoming concerned that he did not send out a Zoom link for a scheduled session during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he could not be reached, the Los Angeles Times reported soon after the children’s bodies were discovered.
Taylor has remained behind bars since he was arrested Dec. 4, 2020, by the sheriff’s department.
Criminal proceedings against Taylor were temporarily suspended after a doubt was declared about his mental competency, but were subsequently reinstated.
Brothwell was taken into custody in Tucson, Arizona, in September 2021 and returned to Los Angeles County the following month. She has also remained behind bars since then.
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