The judge said the slain children were “helpless” and ordered consecutive life-without-parole sentences plus additional prison time.
LANCASTER, Calif. — A Los Angeles County judge on Monday sentenced Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering and decapitating their 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in 2020 at the family’s Lancaster home.
The punishment caps a case that shocked the Antelope Valley and stretched over five years. Jurors convicted the couple in November of two counts of first-degree murder with a special-circumstance finding of multiple murders, as well as two counts of felony child abuse involving the surviving siblings. Prosecutors said the parents forced the boys, then 8 and 9, to view the bodies and kept them confined without food for days. Monday’s hearing formalized the maximum sentence available and added a six-year term tied to the abuse counts. A 10-year protective order covers the surviving children.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa M. Strassner ordered the terms to run consecutively. Strassner called the slain children “helpless” and said the surviving siblings were made to “look at the aftermath.” The case began Nov. 29, 2020, when, according to trial testimony, the daughter and son were fatally stabbed and decapitated inside separate bedrooms. Authorities did not find the remains until days later, after firefighters responded to a reported gas leak and worried clients of Taylor, a personal trainer, reported that he had stopped answering messages. “This was a monstrous act of cruelty,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at the time of the convictions.
In court and in filings, prosecutors described a controlled home where the parents isolated the children. Records show the couple was arrested months apart; Taylor was taken into custody shortly after the bodies were found, while Brothwell was arrested in 2021 in Arizona. During trial, jurors saw photographs from the scene, heard from first responders, and reviewed interviews with the surviving boys. The panel returned guilty verdicts Nov. 18, 2025, on murder and child-abuse counts. Neither defendant took responsibility at sentencing, and Brothwell maintained she tried to help the children, a claim the judge rejected. The surviving children are in protective care; officials have not released their current living arrangements.
Records from the Antelope Valley Courthouse show the case moved slowly through pandemic-era backlogs, mental-health reviews and pretrial motions before reaching a joint trial last fall. The special-circumstance finding mandated life without parole, leaving little discretion for the court beyond whether to stack terms. Prosecutors sought consecutive life sentences and additional time for abuse, which the judge imposed Monday. No further charges are pending, and there is no death penalty in California under current statewide policy. Any appeal would proceed through the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.
The killings rattled Lancaster, where residents left flowers outside the family’s cul-de-sac home after the arrests. At Monday’s hearing, a representative for the surviving children described lasting trauma and night terrors. “They relive those days,” the statement said. A neighbor who knew the family through Taylor’s online fitness business told reporters that clients raised alarms when he suddenly stopped returning calls the week of the murders. In court, public defenders argued that pandemic pressures and financial stress preceded the violence; prosecutors said nothing justified the calculated acts.
As of Monday evening, both defendants had been remanded to state custody to begin serving the consecutive terms. The court scheduled standard post-sentencing paperwork this week; any notice of appeal is due within 60 days. The District Attorney’s Office said it will continue providing victim services to the surviving siblings.
Author note: Last updated February 4, 2026.