Mother Who Killed Her Children and Hid Their Bodies in Suitcases Sentenced to Life in Prison

A New Zealand mother who was found guilty of killing her two children and concealing their bodies in suitcases has been sentenced to life in prison.

Hakyung Lee, a citizen of New Zealand who is originally from South Korea, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, according to ABC AU.

High Court judge Geoffrey Venning delivered the sentence on Tuesday, Nov. 25, citing that Lee, 43, killed her children when they were “particularly vulnerable,” according to The Guardian.

PEOPLE has reached out to the High Court of Auckland for comment.

The bodies of Lee’s children, Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, were discovered four years after they were killed, in a shocking case nationally dubbed “the suitcase murders.” Lee poisoned her children with an overdose of a prescription medication in 2018, The Guardian reported.

She gave the children a lethal dose of nortriptyline in orange juice, per ABC AU.

Lee went on to hide the children’s bodies in suitcases and store them in a storage locker, before ultimately fleeing back to South Korea and changing her name, per The Guardian. The bodies were discovered by a family who had purchased the storage unit at an auction. Lee was extradited from South Korea for a trial in New Zealand in 2022.

The murders took place in the family’s home in Auckland’s Papatoetoe neighborhood, according to the New Zealand Herald. Lawyers Lorraine Smith and Chris Wilkinson-Smith argued that Lee’s murders were a failed murder-suicide, but prosecutors cited evidence that Lee was already setting up an escape plan before the killings.

In the days leading up to the murders, Lee purchased a lottery ticket, spent $900 at a hair salon and bought a business class plane ticket to Korea, the outlet reported.

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The murders occurred a year after Lee’s husband, Ian Jo, died from esophageal cancer. Lee’s mother later told prosecutors that her daughter expressed suicidal thoughts leading up to and after her husband’s death.

“The Crown suggests that when she gave her two young children nortriptyline, it was a selfish act to free herself from the burden of parenting alone,” Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said in court, according to ABC AU.

“If she wanted to die, why didn’t she die alone?” Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, said in a statement read to the court, the outlet reports. “Why did she take the innocent children with her?”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.