(L.A.) Jelani Taylor, a Baby, Died in a Hospital

Case Number: 2021-10924

Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a Black female that occurred in a hospital.

The coroner’s office has identified the girl as Jelani Taylor.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Cause of Death: Blunt-Force Head and Neck Trauma

RIP JELANI TAYLOR (July 31, 2021 – September 29, 2021)

Formal pronouncement of death was made on Wednesday at 10:07 a.m.

The decedent was about two months old.

In September 2025, her father Marcel James Taylor pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison. He was 30 years old at the time of sentencing.

Taylor had called 911 at around 3:01 a.m. September 26, 2021, saying “I have a baby here, and she is not breathing.”

Paramedics took the girl to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita and then to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she was pronounced dead a few days later.

Authorities alleged he had forcefully shaken his infant daughter.