Two kids, 12 and 13, 'brutally' beheaded as police arrest personal trainer dad

Firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department attended a property in Century Circle, Lancaster, California after reports of a gas leak.

Once they arrived, they found the bodies of a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl.

Detectives said the children were suffering from “lacerations and stab wounds” when their bodies were discovered.

The mayor of Lancaster, R. Rex Parris, confirmed that both victims were decapitated, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“It was pretty brutal,” he said.

Their dad Maurice Taylor Sr., a personal trainer, was arrested on Friday and is being held in lieu of $2-million bond.

Lt. Brandon Dean said the children's bodies were found in different bedrooms in the home.

Dean added it was not clear for how long they had been dead, but said their deaths did not seem to be connected with a gas leak.

Both parents were in the house when emergency services arrived.

They were detained and brought in for questioning.

The children's mum was questioned but has not been arrested, Dean said.

Two other children in the home were apparently uninjured but were taken to hospital as a precaution.

LASD said it was working with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services to place the two surviving children, according to the Daily Mail.

It is not clear what led to the children's deaths but Taylor's clients said they became concerned during the week when he failed to show up for fitness sessions he had been running over Zoom.

Howard Kern, an attorney who saw Taylor for sessions for several years, said he called the Los Angeles County Fire Department at 7.34am on Friday as he was worried about a gas leak at his property.

He recalled: “I said, ‘I’m concerned. We are concerned about a possible gas leak. There are four children and two adults - and we are concerned about their safety.’”

Of Taylor, Kern said: "Think of the nicest person that you know, then multiply that by five.

“He worked so hard to support himself. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough to say what happened or what didn’t happen.”

Another client described the man as "reliable" and "mellow"

The town's mayor said the causes of the incident were being investigated, but there was a possibility that the closure of school and the effect the pandemic had on life created a tense environment.

Mr Parris told the LA Times: “The social fabric of the country and the world has been shredded, and we are starting to see the aftermath.

“What I’m seeing is more and more people feeling desperate, and that can only have one result.”

The investigation is ongoing.

Mirror