LANCASTER, Calif. — A California couple has been found guilty of murdering two of their own children and terrifying their surviving sons in what prosecutors describe as one of the most disturbing cases the county has ever seen.

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, a jury convicted Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr. and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse.

Investigators say the couple fatally stabbed and decapitated their 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka, and 12-year-old son, Maurice, inside their Lancaster home in 2020. Detectives testified that after killing the children, the parents forced their two younger sons — just 8 and 9 years old at the time — to look at their siblings’ bodies. The boys were then kept in their bedrooms for days with no food.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the case “a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” adding that the surviving children endured “unimaginable horror.”

Taylor and Brothwell now face the possibility of life in prison without parole, plus an additional six years and four months. Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 13, 2026.

Hochman credited Deputy District Attorneys Alexander Lara and Kirsten Brown, along with investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lancaster Station, for meticulously building the case and presenting it to the jury.

A booking photo of Taylor was not immediately released by authorities which can be found below:

This report was compiled using information gathered from law enforcement statements, official press releases, and publicly available news sources.

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