Mom used meat cleaver to kill her children, ages 9 and 7, while they were ‘sleeping soundly in their beds’

Inset: Yui Inoue (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Authorities at the Arizona apartment where Yui Inoue killed her two children (AZFamily/YouTube).

Inset: Yui Inoue (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Authorities at the Arizona apartment where Yui Inoue killed her two children (AZFamily/YouTube).

Using a meat cleaver “designed to cut the bones of animals,” Arizona mother Yui Inoue killed her two kids — ages 9 and 7 — in a heinous 2021 murder case that wrapped up this week with her conviction.

“Mia and Kai Inoue were sleeping soundly in their beds when their own mother came into their bedroom holding a knife, a meat cleaver … and she attacked them with it,” prosecutors said Monday during closing arguments, according to AZFamily. “She had to think. She had to act. And there’s nothing unclear or speculative about any of that.”

A Maricopa County jury found Inoue, 44, guilty Monday of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of child abuse in connection to a prior investigation by the Arizona Department of Child Safety and the murders of Mia and Kai Inoue, who were identified by local officials, in May 2021.

Prosecutors say Inoue set upon her two children after claiming to hear “voices telling her to kill” them. She called 911 afterward and then went to flag down officers at a police substation on East Apache Boulevard near Arizona State University.

The distraught mother was primarily speaking Japanese, police said, and she reportedly confessed to the officers on the spot about the slayings. Authorities went up to her apartment in response and found the mutilated bodies of Inoue’s kids.

“[S]he was hearing voices telling her to kill her children,” charging documents said.

More from Law&Crime: ‘Human foot was sticking out’: Mom murdered son, buried him in backyard before she was arrested for leaving other son in feces-filled car while donating plasma: Cops

Inoue later told police that she woke up with blood on her hands around 4:30 a.m. to find her children dead and also covered in blood near a doorway. After that, she said she took a bath and finally “woke up” to the reality of the violence she committed. Her lawyers claim Inoue had no memory of carrying out the killings. According to local ABC affiliate KNXV, Tempe police said a blood-soaked meat cleaver was discovered inside the vehicle Inoue drove to the police substation.

“We are here because this woman tried to decapitate two souls,” said Maricopa County prosecutor Shaylee Beasley during her closing arguments Monday, according to the Arizona Republic.

Beasley described in detail how Inoue “delivered chop after chop” to the children while they both “tried to protect their heads.” She reportedly showed close-up photos of the children’s horrific injuries to the jury and claimed their deaths were connected to a bitter divorce she was having with their father.

You May Also Like

‘I guess I’m done for a while’: Judge who texted court clerk ‘I won’t be in’ after murdering wife hugs son after he’s found guilty

Inset: Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson (Anaheim Police Dept.). Background:…

‘All he needed was a villain’: Army pilot wrongly identified as helicopter pilot in midair DC crash plans to ‘fight as hard as we can’ as she sues for defamation

Inset: Jo Ellis (WTTG/YouTube). Background: The aftermath of the Jan. 29 aviation…

‘Worthy of a 3-year-old’: Trump administration shredded over ‘temper tantrum’ behavior in Perkins Coie case that firm blasts as ‘national insecurity’

Left: FILE – In this Dec. 11, 2007 file photo, Commissioner Beryl…

‘Can I finish, please?’: Alito snaps as SCOTUS justices appear to split along ideological lines over LGBTQ+ books in schools

Left: WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 23: Associate Justice Samuel Alito sits during…