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‘Suitcase murders’: New Zealand mother jailed for life after killing two children

Hakyung Lee, 45, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 17-year non-parole period after being convicted of killing her two children in 2018 and hiding their bodies in suitcases. The children, aged six and eight, were given a fatal dose of nortriptyline; their remains were discovered in an Auckland storage unit in August 2022. The defence cited severe depression and prolonged grief after the death of Lee’s husband, while prosecutors argued her actions to conceal the crime and flee showed she understood what she was doing. Judge Geoffrey Venning ordered Lee be treated as a “special patient” during her sentence.

11:57 AM, 11/26/2025Society
‘Suitcase murders’: New Zealand mother jailed for life after killing two children

Hakyung Lee, 45, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand after being convicted of killing her two young children in 2018 and concealing their bodies in suitcases.

Sentence and court findings

High Court Judge Geoffrey Venning ordered Lee to serve a minimum of 17 years before she can be considered for parole. The judge set out a timeline showing the murders followed the death of Lee’s husband, Ian Jo, from oesophageal cancer, and concluded Lee carried out the killings because she could not cope with the responsibilities of caring for the children after his death.

“You relied heavily on him during your marriage, you could not cope when he became seriously unwell, and perhaps you could not bear to have the children around you as a constant reminder of your former happy life, which had been cruelly taken from you.”

What happened

Prosecutors say Lee gave six-year-old Minu Jo and eight-year-old Yuna Jo a fatal dose of the antidepressant nortriptyline mixed into orange juice, then placed their bodies in suitcases and stored them in a rented Auckland storage unit. Lee fled New Zealand soon afterwards, changed her name and returned to South Korea. The children’s remains were discovered in August 2022 when a couple bought the contents of an abandoned storage unit at auction.

Arguments and legal outcome

Lee’s defence accepted she administered the medication but argued she was suffering severe depression and prolonged grief after her husband’s illness and death. During the case, Lee told several people she intended to kill herself and her children if her husband died, and she told her mother she had “no will to live.” Her mother later said she urged Lee to harm only herself, not the children.

Prosecutors rejected a legal insanity defence, pointing to Lee’s efforts to conceal the bodies and flee the country as evidence she understood her actions. Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker told the court the killings were deliberate and not an act of someone who had lost touch with reality.

Justice Venning acknowledged Lee’s mental health issues and ordered that she be treated as a “special patient” under the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act while serving her sentence.

“If she wanted to die, why didn’t she die alone? Why did she take the innocent children with her?”

The court also read a statement from the children’s uncle, Jimmy Sei Wook Jo, who said the family has been left devastated and that he now finds it difficult to be near children the same age as Minu and Yuna.

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