A personal trainer in California has been arrested and charged for decapitating his 12-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter in his Lancaster home last week. The incident happened in the presence of two other boys and their mother, who were in another room, police said. Maurice Taylor Sr, 34, who was arrested on Friday and charged on Tuesday, however, is yet to reveal the motive behind the dual murders.
Police have launched an investigation but is yet to learn what led Taylor to commit the grisly murders. Taylor was also charged with child abuse for allegedly harming his other two kids, who are still in trauma after watching the beheading of their two siblings.
Monstrous Act
The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to Taylor's single-story home at around 7.50 am after receiving reports of a possible gas leak on Friday. However, when they arrived at the scene and broke open the door, they were taken aback after finding headless bodies of two kids. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said both victims had been decapitated and described the scene as 'brutal'. It is unclear how long they had been dead.
However, there were no signs of a gas leak. Police immediately started searching the home and found a woman and two other boys, ages 8 and 9, in another room. The woman is possibly the mother of the two kids, who is being questioned now.
The woman and the two kids, however, didn't realize that Taylor had murdered his two children in the next room. On searching further, police also traced Taylor. Taylor was arrested without a struggle and booked into Lancaster station where he is being held on $2million bond.
Police Clueless
Four days have passed since the incident but police is still clueless about the motive behind the murder. Police said that there were no signs of gas leak at the property. Taylor worked at a physical therapy center in Santa Monica and had been conducting training sessions via Zoom due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Some of his clients contacted authorities after he failed to show up for scheduled appointments leading up to the discovery of the victims. One of the clients told LA Times that she knew something was wrong when Taylor didn't send a Zoom link for a session and then didn't show up at the allotted time.
According to some clients Taylor as a personal trainer was 'mellow' and 'reliable'. One of his clients, who spoke anonymously to the media outlet, said she and other clients tried and failed to contact Taylor and started contacting each other voicing concerns that something had happened. 'We were afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning, or they were all dead from falling asleep.'
It is still not known if police responded to a call made by this client. Taylor has been charged on two counts of murder and child abuse. If proven guilty, he might end up serving 57 years in jail.
