Yui Inoue Arizona woman kills her two young children with meat cleaver following argument with estranged husband over money during divorce. Bodies found at Tempe, Phoenix apartment.
An Arizona woman is accused of having killed her two young children with a meat cleaver in a suburban Phoenix apartment over the weekend, following an argument with her husband over money.
Yui Inoue, 40, upon her arrest was charged with suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder, according to Tempe police. The mother, come Monday remained jailed without bond.
Police said the woman primarily speaks Japanese and had an interpreter for their interviews.
Inoue drove to a police station about 7 a.m. Saturday and told officers she was hearing voices telling her to kill her children, AZCentral reported citing authorities.
Police said a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, whose names weren’t immediately released, were found dead in the apartment.
Meat cleaver found along blood stained clothing
The two bodies were under a blanket and boxes and ‘there were significant injuries to their bodies including numerous lacerations, incised wounds and some amputations, consistent with a violent attack and defensive wounds,’ said Sgt. Steven Carbajal, a Tempe police spokesman.
He said Inoue had blood and lacerations on her body when she was detained and there were blood stains in her vehicle.
A meat cleaver with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) blade was found inside a bag with blood-stained clothing in her vehicle, according to Carbajal.
‘There were several pieces of information/evidence that led detectives to believe that the cleaver was the weapon used during this incident,’ Carbajal said.
Police said Inoue told them she woke up around 4:30 a.m. Saturday with blood on her hands and arms and the two children were dead and bloody near the doorway of the bedroom.
Inoue didn’t believe she had killed the children, but said she couldn’t remember and ‘woke up’ to the situation after taking a bath.
Of note, Tempe police said they had been called to the same apartment earlier Saturday morning as a result of a domestic dispute involving a husband and wife.
UPDATE: A Valley mother is facing first-degree murder charges after her two children were found dead at their Tempe Saturday morning. https://t.co/dpFBSu8kpQ #abc15 pic.twitter.com/ahpJiVn5pE
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) May 16, 2021
Amid bitter divorce
Police said Inoue’s husband confirmed he had left the apartment around 12:30 a.m. Saturday after arguing with her over money. At the time the woman had threatened taking the couple’s two children and returning to Japan.
The un-named husband, said the children were asleep at the time of the argument and that he didn’t have concerns about Inoue harming them.
Inoue and her husband had filed for divorce in April but were still sharing the house while living in separate rooms, police said on Sunday.
Police also said there was no apparent reason at the time to call child welfare authorities.
The man told police he slept until morning in his vehicle in the parking lot of a bank where he works.
Carbajal said the officers who discovered the bodies were not the same ones who were at the apartment on the earlier domestic dispute call.
The officers who found the dead children were receiving counseling.
Inoue remains held on a $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 21, according to online jail records.
