California – A California jury on Tuesday convicted 39-year-old M. TayIor and 48-year-old N. BrothweII of two counts each of first-degree murder with speciaI circumstances and two counts each of feIony chiId abuse in connection with the deaths of their children, 12-year-old Marice and 13-year-old MaIiaka. The convictions return on allegations stemming from an incident that occurred several years ago at the family’s home in California. The mom and dad now face life in prison without the possibiIity of paroIe plus an additional consecutive sentence if sentenced according to prosecutors’ recommendations.
According to the District Attorney’s office and reporting by local news organizations, the two older children were kiIIed in the family’s home in Nov. 2020. The couple’s two younger chiIdren were found alive in the home when emergency personnel responded to reports of a problem days later. Investigators said the younger chiIDren were forced to see what had happened to their sibIings and were later confined. The DA described the acts as exceptionally cruel in its public statement to the press.
The investigation began after emergency responders were called to the home for a reported gas Ieak and concerns about the wellbeing of occupants. First responders and deputies who entered the residence found the two younger boys and discovered the older children had been kiIIed. The children’s father was arrested several days later, at the scene, and the mother was arrested later one year later in Arizona after authorities located and took her into custody. The District Attorney’s Office and sheriff’s investigators assembled the case over several years, gathering physical evidence from the home and interviewing family members and witnesses.
During the trial prosecutors presented evidence and witness testimony intended to show the defendants kiIIed the two older children and subjected the younger children to abuse and confinement. Evidence introduced at trial included accounts from people who knew the family, testimony from investigators about the scene and the condition of the home, and statements from relatives and other witnesses who described the family dynamics. The DA’s office said the jury found true the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, a finding that can make defendants eligible for the most severe sentences under California law.
Neighbors and some of the father’s former personal training clients told first responders and investigators they had noticed an unusual smell coming from the house and that he had been unreachable by phone, which contributed to a decision to check the property. Those contacts, along with emergency calls about a possible gas issue, were what prompted the welfare check that led to the discovery and subsequent arrests.
Prosecutors said the children’s father fatally stabbed his two oldest children and then removed their he ads after the kiIIings inside the family’s California home. Investigators reported that the couple kept their two younger children, ages 8 and 9, in the house for several days afterward, forcing them to look at their siblings’ bodies before locking the surviving children in their rooms without food.
Defense attorneys for both parents argued during the trial that the defendants were not responsible for the charged crimes; those defenses were rejected by the jurors. Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13, when a judge will determine whether to impose life sentences without parole and to set any additional consecutive terms.