Jury convicts Lancaster couple of killing, decapitating two of their children
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
- Maurice Jewel Taylor, 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, of Lancaster were convicted on two counts of murder with special circumstances and two counts of child abuse after killing and decapitating their 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in November 2020.
- They could face life in prison without the possibility of parole and a consecutive sentence of six years and four months in state prison.
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 Los Angeles County Superior Court jury found personal trainer Maurice Jewel Taylor, 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, guilty of 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 44-year-old woman was charged with two counts each of murder and felony child endangerment in the deaths of her son, 12, and daughter, 13.
The crimes 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 COVID-19 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 children in separate bedrooms the following Friday.
Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr. made a court appearance before a judge suspended proceedings until a mental competency hearing.
Taylor was arrested Dec. 4, 2020, and charged four days later. At the time, Brothwell was considered only a person of interest.
She was arrested in September 2021 in her Arizona 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.
Times staff writer Richard Winton and Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.
More to Read
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco supervisor, is running against State Sen. Benjamin Allen for the role of running California’s long-beleaguered Department of Insurance. In this episode she talks to Rebuilding L.A. host Kate Cagle about why she should get the job.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Puerto Rican rapper and composer Álvaro Díaz, fresh off the release of OMAKASE — his third album, a genre-defying concept record that debuted at number one globally on Spotify and is charting in 16 Latin American countries.
