Mother arrested after four children found dead

A mother in Sue, Fukuoka Prefecture, was arrested Monday for allegedly killing her four children, who were found dead in their home, police said.

The police said they were questioning Junko Fuchi, 41, as the suspect in a possible murder-suicide attempt. The children’s father, identified as construction worker Masao Fuchi, 39, made the emergency call to the police.

The dead were identified as the couple’s son, Shunsuke, 10, and daughters, Miyu and Mina, both 6, and Mio, 3.

“Their father found them dead and reported it to police,” a police spokesman said without providing further details.

Junko Fuchi confessed to the police she had killed the children, according to TV Asahi. The police were reported as saying at least one child bore marks indicating strangulation.

Junko Fuchi was taken to a hospital because her wrist was bleeding, according to media reports. She allegedly told the police she cut herself with a kitchen knife.

According to the police, she made emergency calls to police on Friday and Saturday asking for “advice about family issues,” but the police judged her request was “incomprehensible.”

A police officer visited her at the family’s home on Friday to talk to her but did not visit again on Saturday after she contacted police and said the issues were resolved.

Murder-suicide cases are not uncommon in Japan and usually involve a mother killing her child or children.

Some parent-child murder-suicides have been attributed to poverty. In 2014, a single mother in Chiba Prefecture killed her teenage daughter and tried to kill herself reportedly because she could not afford to pay the rent.

On Monday, a mother and her two sons, aged 1 and 6, went missing in Gunma Prefecture and her car was found near a river.

Police suspect the woman jumped into the river with her sons in a murder-suicide, the Sankei Shimbun reported.

Last month, a mother in Chiba Prefecture killed herself after stabbing her three children, according to local media. Her 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son were confirmed dead.

Source: Japan Times
Image: ANN