Ariz. Mom Murdered Her 2 Young Children with a Meat Cleaver to Get Back at Estranged Husband

Mar. 15, 2025

Yui Inoue.Photo: Tempe Police Department/AP/Shutterstock

AnArizona motherwas convicted of killing her two children with a meat cleaver, according to multiple news reports.

On Monday, Feb. 24, Yui Inoue was found guilty of first-degree murder, child abuse and disorderly conduct in connection with the 2021 deaths of her 9-year-old daughter Mia Inoue and 7-year-old son Kai Inoue,AZ Family,The Arizona RepublicandFox 10 Phoenixreported from the courtroom.

Inoue, 44, was not in Maricopa County Court when her verdict was read since she waived her right to be present during the trial, according to theRepublic.

Prosecutors argued Inoue killed her children in an act of revenge against her husband after a heated argument about money she demanded from him amid their divorce,12 Newsreports. On May 15, 2021, the husband left and called Tempe police, who responded to the home. The officers noted minimal damage in the apartment and said that the children were asleep, per the outlet.

According to police, Inoue said at the time that she went to bed and woke up early that morning with blood on her hands and arms and that her two children were dead and bloody near the bedroom doorway.

Prosecutors argued Inoue carefully planned the murders, while her defense team contended that the mother didn’t have enough strength to commit the murders and said there were no eyewitnesses to the slayings, AZ Family reports.

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“Mia and Kai Inoue were sleeping soundly in their beds when their own mother came into their bedroom holding a knife,” prosecutors said, per AZ Family. “A meat cleaver, that is literally designed to cut the bones of animals. And she attacked them with it. She had to think. She had to act. And there’s nothing unclear or speculative about any of that.”

source: people.com