It took a jury only two hours to convict an Arizona mother of first-degree murder in the horrific deaths of her two children. Yui Inoue brutally attacked her 9-year-old daughter, Mia, and 7-year-old son, Kai, with a meat cleaver in 2021. It appears the distraught woman killed her children in an attempt to get back at her husband during a contentious divorce.
According to AZ Family, the prosecution argued that Inoue killed her children in a brutal manner because of financial woes. Hours before her children died, police went to Inoue’s Tempe home after receiving a call about a domestic dispute. At that time, the children were alive. Hours later, she reportedly showed up at the police station and told officers that voices told her to kill her children.
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When police went back to the home, they found the children dead with multiple chop wounds. Inoue had also covered their bodies with trash, boxes, and a mattress.
The prosecution said Inoue killed her children with intent.
“Mia and Kai Inoue were sleeping soundly in their beds when their own mother came into their bedroom holding a knife. A meat cleaver, that is literally designed to cut the bones of animals. And she attacked them with it,” prosecutors said. “She had to think. She had to act. And there’s nothing unclear or speculative about any of that.”
Per AZ Family, a medical examiner testified that the injuries to the children were extensive and significant.
The defense argued Inoue could not have caused such wounds to her children.
“He (the medical examiner) likened the amount of force to a guillotine. … She (Inoue) is a very tiny very slightly built woman. She doesn’t have the energy, the power, or the strength to cause that type of injury to those kids,” the defense explained, adding that there were no witnesses to corroborate the prosecution’s accusations.
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“There are seven other apartments in the building where Yui and her husband lived. You didn’t hear from any of the neighbors. Nobody saw or heard anything. If they did, the state would have called them,” the defense argued, AZ Family reported.
In the end, it didn’t matter. They could not convince a jury of Inoue’s innocence and found her guilty of two counts of child abuse and one count of disorderly conduct in addition to two counts of first-degree murder, per AZ Family. She will appear in court on March 21, 2025, for sentencing. According to state law, she could face the death penalty.
