Maurice Taylor Sr., a 34-year-old personal trainer is charged with decapitating his 12-year-old son and 13-year-old teen daughter in their California home.
Taylor, who works at a physical therapy center in Santa Monica, has been charged with two felony counts each of murder and child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily harm, according to CBS Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Times.
Taylor’s son, Maurice Taylor Jr., and daughter, Maliaka Taylor, were discovered decapitated in the family home in Lancaster earlier in the month.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a report of a possible gas leak at Taylor’s home after receiving a call from one of Taylor’s clients, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s news release.
She was previously worried after Taylor failed to send a Zoom link for a scheduled training session. Fire personnel arrived at the home and found the two children to be dead.
After being notified by fire officials, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Lancaster Station deputies responded to the scene.
The son and daughter were found suffering from “lacerations and stab wounds,” but later reports confirmed the children were decapitated.
Taylor was arrested earlier in the month on suspicion of murder.
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The suspect was ordered to be held in of $4.2 million bail while awaiting his court hearing in Lancaster on Dec. 21.
Taylor could face up to 57 years and four months to life in state prison, if convicted.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is being asked to contact the LA County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.