California parents sentenced to life for decapitating two kids, abusing two others

A Los Angeles County couple convicted of murdering their teenage son and daughter and abusing their two younger boys were sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, were found guilty late last year of stabbing and decapitating their 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka T., and 12-year-old son, Maurice T., inside the family’s home in Lancaster, California, on Nov. 29, 2020.

They were also convicted of two felony counts of child abuse after prosecutors proved to the jury that Taylor and Brothwell forced their two younger sons, ages 8 and 9, to view their siblings’ dead bodies. The boys were then made to remain confined in their bedrooms without food for several days, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said, describing the murders and their aftermath as a “monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family.”

“Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to live through unimaginable horror,” Hochman said after the jury delivered its verdict.

Authorities found the teenagers’ bodies at the Century Circle home five days after the murders, NBC Los Angeles reported.

On Monday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa M. Strassner sentenced the couple to six years in prison, plus two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

In an emotional statement in court, Brothwell told Strassner that she did not kill her children and said she tried to save them, but the judge said she found no evidence of “genuine remorse” from the defendants.

The judge also denied a motion from Taylor’s attorney for a new trial, noting the verdict was “fully supported by the evidence.”