Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand woman who was convicted of killing her two kids and hiding the bodies in suitcases, was found guilty on September 23, 2025.
Although she had pleaded not guilty due to insanity she was convicted and found guilty of murder at Auckland High Court on Tuesday, according to BBC news “after a trial that lasted about two weeks. She had pleaded not guilty. Lee’s lawyers argued that she was insane at the time of the crime. Which happened a few months after her husband died of cancer while prosecutors retaliated by arguing that her actions were calculated” (Koh Ewe, Sept 23).
The remains of her kids were found in 2022 by a family who had purchased the contents of an abandoned storage unit at an auction in Auckland. It is believed that the bodies of her kids were stored there for several years. Lee was arrested in Ulsan, South Korea, in September 2022 and extradited to New Zealand later that year. During the trial, the court heard that the children’s bodies had zero signs of trauma, although it was clear they had been murdered by someone. A pathologist found they had died by homicide by unspecified means, including the use of Nortriptyline, an antidepressant, the prosecution said (Koh Ewe, Sept 23).
Lee admitted to giving her children the antidepressant medication Nortriptyline, putting their bodies in the luggage and into the storage unit, (Eva Corlett sept, 22). Lee was a new Zealand citizen originally from South Korea. This month an order for the woman’s extradition was issued by justice minister, Han Dong-hoon. South Korean police took her into custody at the southern port city. Lee was then charged for the murder of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8.
Lee admitted she had killed the children by giving them an anti-depressant medication: Nortriptyline. Though they argued that the after death happened Lee had “descended into madness and had always been “fragile,” said lawyer Lorraine Smith” (Eva Corlett sept, 22) but her mental illness became worse after her husband’s death. Prosecutors argued that Lee had likely suffered from depression but that it was not severe enough to support an insanity defense.
