The decomposed bodies of two children aged just 6 and 8 were hid in suitcases and went undiscovered for four years — until a family opened them after buying them at a storage auction
When one family bought a storage unit at an auction, you can bet the last thing they imagined they would find inside were two dead bodies.
But that’s exactly what happened to a horrified family in New Zealand according to People.com.
Hakyung Lee, 44, is currently on trial in Auckland for the 2018 murder of her daughter Yuna Jo, 8, and son Minu Jo, 6. The mother is accused of killing her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases after allegedly drugging them with a strong antidepressant.
She also told others that she would rather the whole family die together, prosecutors said in court this week.
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Prosecutors told jurors that toxicology tests revealed traces of the antidepressant Nortriptyline in both children’s chest cavities and livers, according to the BBC.
A pathologist concluded the children were murdered by “unspecified means”, as the passage of time prevented exact dosing analysis. However, an autopsy showed no signs of trauma, like broken bones, on their bodies.
Nortriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant used for depression and nerve pain, can cause seizures, dangerous heart arrhythmias and cardiac arrest in children, even at relatively low doses, according to medical experts.
Lee allegedly obtained a prescription for the drug in August 2017 — several months after her husband was diagnosed with cancer — and told a doctor she was suffering from dizziness and had trouble sleeping, according to the BBC.
Prosecutors also said Lee’s mental state worsened after her husband’s diagnosis and death.
“If you die, I will die along with our two kids,” she allegedly texted him and later told a friend she wished they had all died together in a plane crash. Lee also allegedly told the friend that she would have been “less sad” if her children had died instead of her husband.
Prosecutors claim Lee admitted to wrapping each child’s body in three layers of plastic, sealing them with duct tape, and placing them in separate suitcases that she moved to a storage unit.
Lee fled the country a month after the killings on a business class ticket and changed her name. She was later extradited from South Korea in 2022 and has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder claiming an insanity defense.
Her attorney argued this week that Lee experienced a “descent into madness” and believed the entire family should die together, adds People.com.
“She has killed her children, but she is not guilty of murder by reason of insanity,” the attorney said, according to the BBC.
Justice Geoffrey Venning told jurors they may need to decide not only whether Lee killed the children, but whether she was legally insane at the time. The trial is expected to last up to four weeks.
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