A 42-year-old woman has been arrested in Ulsan, Korea over the deaths of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in Manurewa, Auckland.
Video / NZ Herald
The Auckland house where two primary school-aged children lived before being murdered in 2018 was a simple brick rental in the suburb of Papatoetoe - not far from where their bodies were stored in suitcases in a storage unit for five years.
A homicide investigation was launched after the remains of two primary school-aged children were discovered on August 11 in suitcases bought by the occupants of a property on Moncrieff Ave, Manurewa.
The suitcases were bought unwittingly as part of an online auction for the abandoned contents of a storage unit in the Safe Store facility in Papatoetoe, Auckland.
The Herald has spoken to neighbours of the Korean family who lived in the rental property since at least 2015.
The current tenants of the house where the Korean family lived said the owner of the property lived in Australia, and they knew nothing of the Korean family who lived there in the years before 2018.
Several neighbours who spoke to the Herald said they remember the family and the two children playing in the driveway leading to their rental house.
“I just remember the kids, a girl and a little baby,” said one. “There was no fighting, nothing [among the family]. Yeah, quiet family, normal family, nothing out of the ordinary, no fights or anything like that. We just saw the kids playing.”
Another neighbour said: “We see the girl play here. She was 5 or 6 years old. We’d see her playing from our backyard. We see the whole household.”
The woman covers her face as she leaves Ulsan Jungbu police station in South Korea. Photo / AP
Neighbours on the street all said they were door-knocked by police about a month back - but all noted that police were not in touch with them when the bodies of the children were found in August.
“A detective from Manukau police station came here, I forget his name. They just wanted to know about the family.”
But “it was news to us”, the neighbour said, that the family was the one involved in the suitcase deaths.
The current renters of the property were reluctant to give any information, but said they had only recently moved into the house where the Korean family had lived. They had, however, been contacted by police and were in touch with them fairly regularly.
Homicide investigation so far
A 42-year-old woman was arrested on September 15 after an early-morning stakeout by plainclothes police officers of a grouping of identical 15-storey buildings in the town of Onsan-eup within the South Korean port city of Ulsan, the Herald revealed last month.
New details of the circumstances around her arrest have emerged as she awaits extradition to New Zealand to face charges over the murders of two children, aged 7 and 10, in 2018.
New Zealand Police have confirmed they had made the extradition application and are working through the process with Crown Law.
Immigration records show the woman arrested over the murders arrived in Korea in July 2018.
She had been holed up in a modern apartment complex owned by a metals company usually reserved for their workers.
Seoul’s National Police Agency confirmed the woman arrested was accused of murdering her two children, but NZ Police have still not clarified this.
The apartment blocks from which she was arrested on September 15 shortly before 1am Korean time (4am NZ time) are owned by Korean metals and energy company Korea Zinc.
It’s understood the woman lived in an apartment on the top floor of one of a grouping of five identical buildings. The company logo Korea Zinc can be seen printed on the side of one high-rise.
It is not clear if the 42-year-old was arrested directly at her apartment, or out the front of the buildings. But it’s understood neighbours within the Korea Zinc apartment complex saw the woman being escorted by plainclothes policemen on September 15.
A grouping of identical 15-storey buildings in the town of Onsan-eup within the South Korean port city of Ulsan where the woman charged with murder over the death of two children was living.
The Korea Zinc complex is reserved exclusively for employees of the company, but it’s believed the 42-year-old did not work for it, and may not have been working at all in Korea since moving there in July 2018.
A source told the Herald this likely means the woman knew someone living in the complex.
It can also be revealed the woman had relatives in Seoul who have been located.
As the 42-year-old was leaving Ulsan police station later on September 15 to be transported to Seoul, ushered by authorities, she was photographed with a hooded jacket pulled over her face.
The woman repeatedly said “I didn’t do it”, Korean media reported.
Ulsan is a port city on Korea’s southeast coast with a population of 1.1 million.
“Police arrested the suspect at an apartment in Ulsan on Thursday following a stakeout with tips on her whereabouts and CCTV footage,” Seoul’s National Police Agency said at the time.
“The suspect is accused by the New Zealand Police of having murdered two of her children, aged 7 and 10 then, in around 2018 in the Auckland area,” it said.
“She’s been found to have arrived in South Korea after the crime and has been in hiding ever since.”
Korean media have also reported the children were a boy and a girl.
Korean and New Zealand police in conjunction with Interpol managed to track the whereabouts of the woman in Ulsan via her medical records and phone number, many Korean media outlets have reported.
Interpol and South Korean authorities are helping police try to track the mother of the two children whose bodies were found stuffed in suitcases. Photo / Dean Purcell
Detective Inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Vaaelua said NZ Police applied to have her extradited to New Zealand to face murder charges and requested she remain in custody while awaiting completion of the extradition process.
“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,” Vaaelua said.
“In the meantime, there are a number of inquiries to be completed both in New Zealand and overseas.”
Vaaelua said the investigation had received ongoing assistance from the South Korean Ministry of Justice, the South Korean Prosecution Service and the Korean National Police Agency.
