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Kanagawa cops: Woman murdered 2 children, attempted to kill another

Chiaki Ochiai
Chiaki Ochiai

KANAGAWA (TR) – A 39-year-old woman in custody for the attempted murder of her son has been re-arrested by Kanagawa Prefectural Police for the killing of two of her children in Atsugi City, reports TBS News (Mar. 4).

Sometime during the evening of February 12 and the following morning, Chiaki Ochiai allegedly strangled her daughter Yumea, 7, and son, Haruma, 5, with a belt as they slept inside a second-floor bedroom of their residence in the Tomuro area.

The children were confirmed dead at a nearby hospital. The cause of death for both was suffocation.

In the same incident, Ochiai made a similar attempt to take the life of her 11-year-old son but he survived. On February 13, police initially arrested her for attempted murder.

“I was pessimistic about the future,” the suspect is quoted by police in admitting to the murder of her two youngest children. She told police that she had been planning to commit the murders and then take her own life, according to the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 13).

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on February 13, police found the bodies of the youngest children collapsed atop futons in the bedroom. About 15 minutes before, the suspect’s 11-year-old son came to a nearby police station to report the incident. He had injuries consistent with having been strangled on his neck.

On December 28, Ochiai telephoned a child consultation center to explain that she was having difficulties raising her children.

Ochiai’s parents and husband, a company employee, also live at the residence. During the incident, her parents were asleep on the first floor and her husband was away from home.