There seems to be no shortage of dark stories in the news these days. One of the latest is the report of a woman in South Korea who was arrested in connection with the bodies of two children found in suitcases in a rented storage facility in New Zealand.
According to reports, the children were found when the contents of the storage facility were auctioned after administrators determined the items were abandoned.
CNN reported that the woman who was arrested is believed to be the mother of the children. The unnamed woman, 42, reportedly moved to South Korea “years ago” after abandoning the suitcases in a New Zealand storage facility.
New Zealand Detective Inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Vaaelua reports that local police are attempting to have the woman extradited back to New Zealand to face murder charges.
Vaaelua commended South Korean police for placing the woman in custody: “To have someone in custody overseas within such a short period of time has all been down to the assistance of the Korean authorities and the coordination by our NZ Police Interpol staff.”
The BBC reported that the children’s bodies were found in August when “a family purchased a trailer full of items at a storage auction, including the two suitcases.”
The BBC report noted that “the children had likely been dead for years” and were “between 5 and 10 years old when they died.”
Vaaelua noted that authorities used items found with the suitcases to identify the children. Authorities cleared the family that purchased the items during the auction of any wrongdoing after reviewing surveillance footage from the storage facility.
“We want to reassure the community our investigation is continuing to establish the facts to ascertain the full circumstances around the deaths of these children. This includes establishing when, where, and how,” Vaaelua said in the press release.
“[W]e are continuing to treat this matter very seriously and we are determined to hold the person, or persons, responsible for the deaths of these children to account.”
Vaaelua added: “Police can confirm the discovery of these children’s remains occurred after the residents of the Moncrieff Avenue property brought unowned property back to their address from a storage facility.”
According to CNN, Vaaelua concluded his statement by offering words of sympathy for the family of the victims:
“I really feel for the victims or the family of these victims. And, you know right here, right now, there are relatives out there that aren’t aware that their loved ones have deceased.”
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