Mother of decapitated children arrested in Tucson, charged in their killings

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Natalie Brothwell (Pima County Sheriff's Department)

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) - An Arizona woman accused of killing her two children, who were decapitated in their Southern California home last year, has been arrested at her Tucson home, authorities said Wednesday.

Natalie Brothwell, 44, was taken into custody Sept. 28 and was being held at the Pima County Jail pending extradition to California, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Brothwell was charged Monday with murder and felony child endangerment, the department said.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Malaka Taylor, and 12-year-old son, Maurice Taylor Jr., were found decapitated Dec. 4 at their home in Lancaster, in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.

The children’s father, 35-year-old Maurice Taylor Sr., was earlier charged in their deaths and remains in custody, authorities said.

Maurice Taylor allegedly killed the children on Nov. 29, kept the bodies in the home for days and then showed their bodies to his two other sons.

Taylor was charged with child abuse of the surviving sons, who were 8 and 9 years old at the time. The children also were forced to stay in their rooms without food for several days, prosecutors contended.

Brothwell’s alleged role in the killings wasn’t immediately clear from the Sheriff’s Department statement.

It also wasn’t immediately clear whether Brothwell or Taylor had attorneys to speak on her behalf.