A jury has found a couple guilty of the horrific crime of stabbing and decapitating their two children, subsequently forcing their surviving offspring to witness the gruesome scene.

Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., aged 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, aged 48, were convicted on November 17. They faced two felony charges of first-degree murder with special circumstances, along with two felony charges of child abuse for their roles in the heinous 2020 killings.

“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” commented Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman in a statement issued on November 18. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror.”

Prosecutors detailed that Taylor and Brothwell killed their 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka T., and 12-year-old son, Maurice T., on November 29, 2020, within their residence in Lancaster, California.

After committing the murders, the parents coerced their two younger children, who were 8 and 9 at the time, to look at the bodies. They then confined these children to their rooms for several days without providing them with food, according to the prosecution.

Law enforcement officers were called to the home, according to The Los Angeles Times, after receiving reports from Taylor’s personal training clients about a possible gas leak. His clients had reportedly been concerned after he missed their scheduled Zoom training appointments. 

Once there, detectives discovered the bodies of the couple’s children in separate bedrooms.

Taylor was arrested on Dec. 4, 2020. Brothwell was initially considered a person of interest in the case but was later arrested in September 2021 while living in Arizona.

“The jury’s verdict delivers justice for these victims and sends a powerful message,” Hochman said. “Those who commit such evil acts will be held fully accountable.”

Taylor and Brothwell are now facing a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Their sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place on Jan. 13, 2026, prosecutors said.

The district attorney’s office declined to provide an update to Oxygen on the couple’s two surviving children.