🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A California father has been charged with murdering his 12-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, who were reportedly decapitated at a home in Lancaster.
Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 34, was charged in court on Tuesday on two counts of murder the L.A. County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
Taylor Sr., was not in court due to COVID-19 procedures but he was ordered to be held in lieu of $4.2 million bail while awaiting arraignment on December 21.
He was also charged on two counts of child endangerment in relation to two other children, reportedly two boys aged 8 and 9.
The department added that the Deputy District Attorney declined to charge Taylor Sr. with the weapon enhancement in accordance with the new directive from the District Attorney's Office.
The two children were found dead at around 7.50 a.m. on Friday in a home on the 45000 block of Century Circle in Lancaster, the sheriff's department said.
L.A. County Fire Department personnel were originally called to the home after reports of a possible natural gas leak. The sheriff's department was then called when the bodies of two children were found inside.
Lt. Brandon Dean later told reporters at the scene: "L.A. County Sheriff deputies responded out to the location and saw that there were two individual inside—both very young possibly in their teenage years—deceased.
"One appears to be a male one appears to be a female, possibly suffering from some sort of sharp trauma either stabbing or slicing device."
The sheriff's department said a man, a woman and two other children were also in the house when the discovery was made and they were later questioned.
The victims were identified by the L.A. County coroner's office as Maurice Taylor Jr., 12, and Malaka Taylor, 13, according to NBC.
Taylor Sr. could face up to 57 years and four months to life in state prison if convicted as charged, the broadcaster cited the L.A. County District Attorney's Office as saying.
The District Attorney's Office confirmed to NBC that the children had been decapitated.
Newsweek has contacted the D.A.'s office and the coroner's office for comment.
Taylor Sr. reportedly worked at a physical therapy center in Santa Monica but had been conducting training sessions via Zoom during the coronavirus pandemic.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
