TEMPE, Ariz. — An Arizona mother is facing two counts of first-degree murder after her young children were found dead in a Tempe apartment early Saturday morning.
Sgt. Steve Carbajal with the Tempe Police Department told KPHO that a woman, later identified as 40-year-old Yui Inoue, flagged down an officer and led them to her Mill Avenue apartment, where authorities found the bodies of a 9-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy with “obvious signs of physical trauma.
From Tempe PD: Inoue woke up at 4:30 am with blood on her arms and hands. Her children were dead in the doorway to the bedroom.
— Adam Waltz (@Adam_Waltz) May 16, 2021
She says she doesn't remember killing them, took a bath and then went to notify police. @abc15 pic.twitter.com/jTprj0l9Wk
“Children of 9 and 7 should be protected by their parents, and for something this traumatic to happen to them and what they must have gone through prior to that or during that is something we can’t even quantify,” Carbajal told the TV station.
Inoue also reportedly told the officer she initially flagged down that she was “hearing voices telling her to kill her kids,” Carbajal told The Arizona Republic.
According to a Tempe police statement, Inoue told investigators – with the help of a Japanese translator – that she woke up at about 4:30 a.m. with blood on her hands and found her two children dead near the doorway of the bedroom, the newspaper reported.
The police statement also includes comments from Inoue’s husband, who stated he left the home at around 12:30 a.m. because Inoue threatened to stab him after they argued about money for her pending move to Japan, The Arizona Republic reported.
The couple were in the midst of divorcing, KPHO reported.
It is with a very heavy heart that we share that we are investigating a homicide in the 4100 block of S. Mill Ave. Officers located a deceased 9 year old and 7 year old inside the apartment. The mother of the children has been detained and is being interviewed. pic.twitter.com/hCEymjjHoZ
— Tempe Police (@TempePolice) May 15, 2021
Police had already confirmed that they had responded to the apartment at around 12:30 a.m. for a “domestic dispute” between the husband and wife, but no arrests were made, the pair was separated and the children were safe in bed before authorities left the dwelling, Carbajal told the newspaper.
Carbajal told KPHO that the father was never a suspect in the murders and that he broke down crying when he learned that his two children were dead.
According to the police statement, officers observed cuts and blood on Inoue that they say are consistent with the crime scene found at the apartment that indicated a violent attack took place.
Officers also found a bag with bloody clothes and a meat cleaver, which they believe was used in the attack, in Inoue’s car, The Arizona Republic reported.
Inoue was granted a $2 million bond and is slated to appear in court on May 21, according to online jail records.
Cox Media Group
