A California couple has been found guilty of the horrific crimes of murdering and decapitating their two oldest children. The parents then allegedly “forced” their younger children to witness the gruesome scene before confining them to their rooms without food for several days.

On Tuesday, a Los Angeles County jury convicted Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 48, on two counts each of first-degree murder with special circumstances. The victims were their 12-year-old son, Maurice Taylor Jr., and their 13-year-old daughter, Maliaka Taylor.

The couple also faced convictions on two counts of felony child abuse under conditions likely to result in severe injury or death, according to official reports.

“This was a monstrous act of cruelty that shattered an entire family,” stated Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman in a press release. “Two innocent children were brutally murdered, and their young brothers were left to endure unimaginable horror. The jury’s decision provides justice for these victims and serves as a stern warning: Those who engage in such heinous acts will face full accountability.”

According to previous reports from Law&Crime, prosecutors revealed that on November 29, 2020, Taylor fatally stabbed and then decapitated his two oldest children in separate rooms of their home. Investigators alleged that he kept the bodies inside for five days, repeatedly forcing his younger sons, aged 8 and 9, to view the disfigured remains of their siblings.

The surviving children were subsequently confined to their rooms, where they endured several days without food.

Taylor had been working as a personal trainer, with several of his clients taking his classes over Zoom, The Los Angeles Times reported. Those clients became worried about a possible gas leak in the home when he did not contact them regarding a scheduled training session. The clients requested a welfare check.

Police who responded to the home came across a grisly scene.

After finding the children’s bodies, which were described as having “lacerations and stab wounds,” police placed Taylor under arrest. They had to forcibly remove him from the home by strapping him to a stretcher.

Brothwell was in the house when police arrived, but she wasn’t arrested until nearly a year after the kids’ bodies were discovered.

“This prosecution would not have been possible but for the tremendous efforts of Deputy District Attorneys Alexander Lara and Kirsten Brown of the Sex Crimes Division, who along with investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Lancaster Station, pieced this gruesome case together and presented it compellingly to the jury,” Hochman said.

The defendants are scheduled to return to court for their sentencing hearings on Jan. 13. Both face a maximum possible sentence of life without parole in a state correctional facility.