'Suitcase murders': New Zealand mother found guilty of killing two children; bodies lay hidden for years

A New Zealand jury on Tuesday found 45-year-old Hakyung Lee guilty of murdering her two young children and stashing their bodies in suitcases that went unnoticed for years before a chilling discovery in Auckland.

The high court jury in Auckland took only hours to reject Lee’s plea of insanity, convicting her of killing her son Minu Jo, 6, and daughter Yuna Jo, 8, in June 2018. The children’s remains were found four years later, in August 2022, after the contents of a storage locker were auctioned off.

Bodies found by unsuspecting buyers
The case drew international headlines when unsuspecting buyers, who had purchased the abandoned storage unit online, discovered the children’s remains packed into luggage. Lee had stopped paying the rental fees as she spiraled into financial difficulties.

Flight and extradition
After the killings, Lee fled to South Korea, changed her name, and lived there until her arrest in 2022. She was extradited to New Zealand later that year to face trial. Her lawyers argued she was suffering from severe mental illness after her husband’s death from cancer in 2017, but prosecutors said she knew exactly what she was doing.

Silent in court, awaiting sentence
Throughout the three-week trial, Lee kept her head bowed, her hair covering her face, rarely engaging in proceedings. She returned to the dock for the verdict on Tuesday, standing silently as the jury declared her guilty.

Justice Geoffrey Venning ordered Lee to remain in custody until her sentencing on November 26. Under New Zealand law, murder carries a mandatory life sentence with a minimum of 10 years before parole eligibility.