An Australian mother, Hakyung Lee, has been convicted of murdering her two young children, Minu Jo and Yuna Jo, whose bodies were found in suitcases in a storage unit in New Zealand after four years. Lee, who fled to South Korea and changed her identity, continued to pay for the storage unit where she left the bodies.
Lee, a New Zealand citizen, was extradited from South Korea and faced trial at the High Court in Auckland, where a jury found her guilty of two counts of murder. The sentencing is scheduled for November 26, with murder in New Zealand carrying a mandatory life sentence and a minimum of 10 years in prison before parole eligibility.
During the verdict announcement, Lee appeared with her head bowed and her face covered by her hair. The tragic incident occurred in the spring of 2018, leading to Lee’s arrest in June of the same year. The discovery of the children’s remains in 2022 coincided with Lee’s inability to maintain the storage unit payments.
Despite claims of mental health issues at the time of the murders, the jury rejected Lee’s defense. The trial revealed that Lee’s actions followed the death of her husband due to cancer, seven months before the children were killed. The presiding Justice ordered Lee to remain in custody until the sentencing in November.
In a separate case, Nicholas Shane Stephenson from North Carolina was recently convicted of second-degree murder and serious child abuse in the death of his 12-week-old daughter, Riley. Stephenson was found guilty of torturing, abusing, neglecting, and starving the infant, resulting in a tragic outcome.