Yuhwei Chou Skillman NJ mother charged in murder of two young children, ages 7 and ten months old after bodies found tied in backseat of car. Had planned to kill infants over the last week.
A mother has been charged with murder after the bodies of her two young children were found bound to the backseat of car ditched along a New Jersey road.
Yuhwei Chou, 36, of Skillman, N.J, was charged with murder for the deaths of her 7 year old daughter, Samantha Ross and 10-month-old baby boy, Paul Ross, after cops ‘observed that the children were bound and restrained,’ according to the Somerset County prosecutor’s office.
The family’s car was found beside a road by a tow-truck driver, who happened to be passing by on the rural road shortly before 8am on Tuesday.
The tow truck driver’s father, Robert Long, told CBS that his son called him in a frantic state, having found the mother and two dead children near Mountain View Road, about 50 miles east of Newark.
‘He was shook up,’ Long said.
Had planned to kill infants over the last week.
‘He said he found a lady in the ditch and said he asked her if she was all right and she said no, I think. And then he seen the babies and then he called the cops right away.’
Cops found Chou with the vehicle, and her two children secured in a booster seat and a baby seat in the back.
The childrens’ cause of death has yet to be announced, with the prosecutor’s office saying it sought to have preliminary autopsy findings indicating the cause and manner of the children’s deaths from the medical examiner’s office by Friday.
During questioning, Chou said she killed the children the previous day, on Monday around 2 p.m, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by MyCentralJersey.com.
Chou said she drove to Wawa for lunch and then to a True Value hardware store where she bought duct tape and zip ties, according to the affidavit.
She then drove to a sports facility on Mountainview Road in Hillsborough where she began to put duct tape on her daughter’s face, but she became ‘spooked’ by a bystander in the park, the affidavit says.
She then drove along Mountainview Road and parked in a hunting area with a dirt driveway on the side of the road before she climbed into the backseat and zip tied her daughter’s hands and duct taped her face along with her son’s face, according to the affidavit.
‘never saw any sign of her being a bad mom.’
Chou used her hands to suffocate both victims until they were dead, the affidavit says.
‘Chou stated that she has been planning the two murders for approximately one week,’ according to the affidavit.
Chou gave her statement to police after being given her Miranda warning against self-incrimination.
A report via WLNY cited a neigbhor saying that Chou and her family ‘really kept to themselves,’ while another said they ‘never saw any sign of her being a bad mom.’
Michael Robertson, prosecutor for Somerset County, said Chou has been charged with two counts of murder, and is being held at Somerset County jail.
In a statement, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said: ‘Prosecutor Robertson stated that the investigation has revealed that Yuhwei Chou caused the deaths of her two children Samantha and Paul.
The responding officers found the driver, identified as Yuhwei Chou, of Montgomery Township. Two children were bound and restrained inside of the car – one in a booster seat and another in a baby seat. @TonyCaputo spoke to their heart-broken babysitters.https://t.co/Pe45ryTT2f
— 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐙𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 (@TheBriZi) November 10, 2021
No known motive
‘No vital signs were present on the children and they were pronounced deceased at the scene.
‘The circumstances leading to the events which caused the deaths of the two children are under investigation by authorities.
‘No motive has been released. An autopsy for the cause and manner of death will be performed by the Medical Examiner’s Office.’
Chou is scheduled to make her first court appearance at a detention hearing in Superior Court next week.
