Maurice Taylor Sr., 34, was arrested Friday on suspicion of the murder of his two teenage children

The bodies of his daughter, 13, and son, 12, were found inside the family home on the 45000 block of Century Circle, Lancaster, Friday morning

Authorities had responded to reports of a possible gas leak at the home

An adult female believed to be the victims’ mother, as well as, two other children were also present in the home at the time, but appeared to be unharmed

It is not clear when the victims died but Taylor’s personal training clients, concerned earlier in the week when he failed to show up for fitness sessions he had been running over Zoom, contacted the cops Tuesday

Another client reported the possible gas leak Friday morning, fearing for the family’s safety

The responding firemen made the grim discovery

Maurice Taylor Sr. was arrested on suspicion of murder and he is being detained in lieu of $2million bail 

A California dad, 34, has been arrested for allegedly decapitating his daughter, 13, and son, 12, after cops made the grim discovery at his home where his wife and two other children were found alive and well.   
Personal trainer, Maurice Taylor Sr., was arrested Friday on suspicion of the murder of his two teenage children whose bodies were found inside the family home in Lancaster, earlier that morning.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, firemen were responding to his clients’ concerns about a possible gas leak at the home when they made the discovery.

An adult female – thought to be the victims’ mother – and two other children were also present in the home at the time. They appeared to be unharmed and were being questioned by officers. 
It is not clear when the victims died but Taylor’s personal training clients, who described him as ‘mellow’ and ‘reliable’, told the LA Times they grew concerned earlier in the week and contacted authorities as far back as Tuesday when he failed to show up for fitness sessions he had been running over Zoom. 
One client told the paper he then reported a possible gas leak at the home Friday morning leading the fire department to enter the home and find the bodies of Taylor’s children.  

The Los Angeles County Fire Department was called to the single-story home in the 45000 block of Century Circle at around 7:50 a.m. Friday to reports of a possible gas leak.
Fire crews entered the home and found the bodies of the two children in separate bedrooms with lacerations and stab wounds. Both victims had been decapitated according to Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, who described the scene as ‘brutal’. 
The children have not been named by police but are described as a 12-year-old male and a 13-year-old female.  
The victims suffered from some type of a sharp trauma, either stabbing or slicing device. 
There was no sign of a gas leak at the property and it didn’t seem that the cause of death from the two people inside had anything to do with a gas leak,’ police said.   

Deputies questioned the four other people inside the home at the time, including Taylor, an adult female and two children.  
The relationship of the three other individuals inside the home to the two victims is not yet known.
However the children’s mom who was present at the home was questioned by cops but not arrested.  
Police said one of the adults was transported to a local hospital ‘for difficulty breathing’. 
The two children, whose ages and identities have not been released, were taken to hospital as a precaution but appeared to be uninjured.  
Taylor was arrested without a struggle and booked into Lancaster station where he is being held on $2 million bond.  
The investigation is ongoing. 
Taylor was arrested without a struggle and booked into Lancaster station where he is being held on $2 million bond.
LASD said it is working with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services to place the two surviving children.
It is not clear whether the DCFS had any prior contact with the family before Friday’s events. 
Howard Kern, who had Taylor as trainer for seven years, called the fire department at 7:34 a.m. Friday morning as he and some of Taylor’s other clients grew increasingly concerned about the family’s welfare.  
‘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,’ he told the LA Times. 

Another client said she had contacted the Sheriff’s Department Tuesday when Taylor failed to show for a session over Zoom. She knew something was wrong when he didn’t send a Zoom link for a session and then didn’t show up at the allotted time.
Several of Taylor’s clients after unsuccessfully trying to contact him started contacting each other voicing concerns that something had happened.   
‘I knew they weren’t out of town. They didn’t have money to travel,’ one client said. 
‘We were afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning, or they were all dead from falling asleep.’    

She described Taylor as ‘so reliable, so responsive’ and ‘mellow’. 
It is not clear whether or not deputies responded to the home Tuesday when she contacted LASD.  
The property management company responsible for the home was also contacted by Taylor’s concerned clients.   
Taylor was a personal trainer at a Santa Monica physical therapy and fitness center but was now holding sessions over Zoom due to the pandemic. 
Kern was worried that Taylor ‘was living under a tremendous amount of pressure’ having lived and worked on his own since he was 18 and being in a marriage Kern described as ‘contentious’.
The client said he would often hear Kern on the phone to his wife at the gym and hear ‘her yelling at him’.
‘He’d be very apologetic and she’d be yelling at him,’ said Kern. 
He described him as 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.’ 
Offering a counter view, a property owner in the area says he thought only two children lived in the home. The home environment ‘looked strange’ with the family keeping themselves to themselves and the windows were often ‘blacked out’ in a neighborhood where most others would stop and chat outside.