Murders of Yuna and Minu Jo

In August 2022, the bodies of two children, later identified as Yuna and Minu Jo, were discovered inside suitcases in Auckland, New Zealand. The suitcases had been purchased as part of the contents of an abandoned storage unit sold at auction from Safe Store Papatoetoe. A family who bought the suitcases discovered the remains after noticing a smell, opened one of the cases, found a body later identified as Minu Jo, and called police. New Zealand Police confirmed the purchasing family had no connection to the children's deaths. Police stated the children may have been dead for up to four years before discovery.

The children's mother, Hakyung Lee (born Ji Eun Lee), had migrated from South Korea to New Zealand with her family in 1993. She married Ian Jo in 2006, and the couple had two children: Yuna, born September 2009, and Minu, born March 2012, who had a cleft palate causing a speech impediment. Ian Jo died of cancer in November 2017. Following his death, Lee became isolated and, according to trial evidence, believed it was best for her children to die rather than face life without their father. In the following months, Lee took her children on extended holidays to South Korea, Taupō, the Gold Coast, and Queenstown. The children were last seen by relatives on 26 April 2018 and last logged into an online game on 27 June 2018. According to trial evidence, Lee killed her children around late June 2018 by giving them juice mixed with the antidepressant drug Nortriptyline, then hid their bodies in suitcases in a storage unit. She subsequently changed her name, attempted suicide, and moved to South Korea in July 2018.

In September 2022, Lee was arrested in Ulsan, South Korea, and New Zealand authorities began extradition proceedings. In November 2022, South Korea's Minister of Justice approved her extradition following approval by the Seoul High Court and her written consent. She was extradited to New Zealand on 29 November 2022 and appeared in Manukau District Court, where she was remanded into custody. Lee's identity, along with those of her children and a relative, was initially suppressed by the courts; her identity was later confirmed in July 2023 after the Court of Appeal lifted suppression, and the children's names were released by the coroner in September 2023.

Lee's trial began on 8 September 2025 at the Auckland High Court, where she pleaded not guilty and represented herself with assistance from court-appointed lawyers. Both prosecution and defence agreed Lee had caused her children's deaths; the central dispute was whether she was legally insane under Section 23 of the Crimes Act 1961 at the time. The defence's sole witness, a psychiatrist, argued Lee met the insanity criteria, while the Crown's rebuttal witness, a forensic psychiatrist, testified she did not display symptoms of psychosis. The Crown pointed to Lee's post-killing actions — hiding the bodies, changing her name, and fleeing to South Korea on a business-class flight — as evidence she understood her actions were wrong. On 23 September 2025, after roughly three and a half hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Lee of murdering both children. She was sentenced to life imprisonment on 26 November 2025, with parole eligibility after 17 years.