A California jury has convicted Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr. and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell of murdering two of their children and abusing their two younger sons in a case described by authorities as exceptionally brutal. According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, both parents were found guilty 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. The two younger boys, then ages 8 and 9, were forced to see their siblings’ bodies and were confined to their rooms without food for days.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the crime “a monstrous act of cruelty,” emphasizing the profound trauma inflicted on the surviving children. The case was built through extensive work by prosecutors and investigators, who reconstructed the sequence of events and presented the evidence to the jury.
Taylor and Brothwell face a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole, plus an additional six years and four months. Sentencing is scheduled for January 13, 2026.
Law enforcement did not immediately release a mug shot of Taylor.
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