May 21, 2025 • 49 mins
On May 16th, 2021, in Tempe, AZ, a tragic and shocking family murder occurred. This brutal and disturbing crime would horrify the community and forever traumatize law enforcement, crime scene specialists, the coroner, and the entire courtroom. This is the case of Yui Inoue.
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Research Materials for Ep 51:
100 Years of the Infanticide Act: A Legacy of Controversy and Compassion
Ariz. Mom Murdered Her 2 Young Children with a Meat Cleaver to Get Back at Estranged Husband
Child murder by mothers: patterns and prevention - PMC
Fatality Statement - Kai Inoue and Mia Inoue
'It's incomprehensible:' Tempe mom convicted of killing her two kids sentenced to life in prison
Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates
Mother Who Killed Her Children With Meat Cleaver Gets Life
Mothers Who Kill: Cross-cultural Patterns in and Perspectives on Contemporary Maternal Filicide
National Violent Death Reporting System | NVDRS | CDC
Police: Woman kills her 2 kids with meat cleaver in Arizona | AP News
Tempe mom found guilty of murdering her 2 children after police visit for domestic disturbance
Tempe mother sentenced to life in prison for murder of 2 children
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
In the early morning hours on May 16th, 2021 in Tempe, AZ,
police officers entered an apartment.
They noticed a large pool of blood.
Near a bedroom were trash and boxes, random items thrown
about, a blanket and a mattress.They lifted the mattress and
began to rummage through the pile, which is when they
(00:30):
discovered two small bodies underneath.
Who were these innocent victims,and who was the monster who
tried to hide their remains? Hello and welcome to Shades of
(01:03):
Murder. In this podcast, I discuss cases
of murder from around the world and throughout history,
attempting to unravel the layersof darkness that help make
humans into monsters. This is a special warning for
those of you who are particularly sensitive to crimes
(01:26):
against children. This show is not intended for
all audiences and listener discretion is strongly advised.
At 12:30 AM on May 15th, 2021 inTempe, AZ, law enforcement
officers responded to a call from a man who reported the
woman he had recently divorced was behaving violently and
(01:50):
acting erratically. The man, Subasa Anu, said that
his ex-wife had hacked 2 pieces,his computer and other
electronics in the house. She was screaming at him,
wielding a large. Kitchen knife and had.
Threatened to stab him. When the police arrived, they
did not believe there was any real.
(02:11):
Cause for a concern? There was minimal.
Damage done and Noah had been physically.
Harmed police officers left the house after being reassured that
their two kids were fine and asleep in their beds.
The husband later said that he left the residence around 3:00
AM. There is no known exact time of
(02:33):
the following sequence of events.
After the police had left Yua Anu alone, she went into her
children's bedroom with a meat cleaver.
She dragged her children down tothe floor and firmly held them
down. Ewie Anew raised the knife and
struck her son and daughter dozens of times with the blade.
(02:58):
She was now covered in her children's blood.
Ewie Anew removed her clothing and placing inside a garbage
bag. Then she took a bath.
Afterwards, she packed a backpack which contained her
passport, cash and jewelry. Then she locked the front door
(03:19):
and left her apartment. Around 7:30 AM, Yui Anu drove to
a Tempe police substation and flagged down officers speaking
to them primarily in Japanese. Yui Anu informed an officer that
she was hearing voices telling her to kill her children.
(03:40):
Police observed blood stains on her heel.
Superficial. Cuts.
Along her fingers and that her hands and.
Knees were bruised. Law enforcement officers.
Returned to the. Residence around 8:00 AM.
Inside they were met with the most horrifying and traumatizing
(04:01):
crime scene. An investigator can face the
brutal slain of two small kids. When police entered the
apartment, they noticed a pile of trash and boxes, random items
thrown about in the mattress. They lifted the mattress and
began to run through the pile, which is when they discovered
(04:22):
two small bodies hidden underneath.
The woman, son and daughter, 9 year old Mia and seven-year old
Kai, have been hacked to death with some kind of vicious bladed
weapon. The two small children had
countless lacerations, cuts and amputations.
(04:45):
There were also multiple defensive wounds on them.
The children had been almost completely decapitated.
The scene was too much for investigators to process.
It was too much darkness for anyone to grasp.
(05:09):
Autopsy reports could not quantify exactly how many times
the children were struck with the meat cleaver.
It was estimated to be dozens oftimes.
And the unforgiving knife wielded against these helpless
small children had even amputated pieces of their
(05:29):
bodies. The coroner's official cause of
death for each child was sharp force and multiple chopping
injuries. Their mother, Ewie anew, was
promptly. Arrested on suspicion of murder.
When she was detained. Investigators saw the blood and.
(05:51):
Lacerations on her body during her interrogation, ewie anew
told homicide investigators thatshe had gone to bed with her
kids that night she woke up around 4:30 AM to a.
Bloody and unbelievable scene her hands and arms were.
Covered in blood. Then she saw, lying near the
(06:13):
doorway, her two children, dead and bloodied, but she claimed to
have no recollection of harming them.
She told police how it wasn't until after her bath that she
became awoken of what she had done, but that she didn't
(06:35):
believe. She had killed them.
Investigators would search her vehicle and find her blood
soaked clothes and the weapon, ablood covered meat cleaver with
A6 inch blade inside a bag. The suspect also had suitcases
(06:57):
inside the car, which were spattered with blood.
The investigation later revealedhow the couple had recently
divorced, and Yui Anu had planned to return to her native
homeland of Japan. However, money was tight and
finances became the center of hostility between the man and
his former wife. On the night of the murders, the
(07:21):
former husband Tsubasa Anu and his wife Yui Anu were fighting
about the money needed for her to relocate to Japan.
The conflict escalated and Huey Anew grabbed the meat cleaver
from the kitchen and began swinging it around, attacking
his computer and other items before threatening to stab her
ex-husband. The man reported this incident
(07:44):
to the police and he claimed that he slept in his vehicle
that night in the parking lot ofthe bank where he worked.
Except for the incident of domestic abuse the night of the
murders, there were no previous signs of violence exhibited by
the mother or any sounds heard from the apartment at all.
(08:04):
According to one of their next door neighbors at the apartment
complex, Kevin Hochstadter, he didn't know them very well and
they hadn't lived there very long, but he said that the
couple never made any noise. He wasn't even aware they had
children, so he was especially startled when he heard through
(08:29):
their. Shared wall.
A. Sudden outburst.
A pounding. It lasted around 8 consecutive
minutes, then all sounds stoppedfor about 5 minutes until the
pounding began again, but this time it was much softer.
(08:50):
This. Information he shared with the
police and the same details wereconfirmed by a neighbor who
lived beneath them. The DCS, or Department of
Children's Services at the time of the children's death, were
investigating the mother for alleged neglect.
She had recently taken off with her youngest son, Kai, before
(09:11):
the police located her and the boy hiding behind a convenience
store. Yui Anu was admitted to a
psychiatric hospital and her sonKai was returned to his father.
DCS argued there was no evidenceof neglect or abuse.
Both children said they felt safe with their parents.
(09:32):
From what they saw and heard. There was no viable reason to
remove the kids from the home that night, even though the
investigation was still open when the children were killed.
On May 15th, 2021, UE Anu, 40, was officially indicted by a
grand jury on 2 counts of first degree murder, 2 counts of child
(09:53):
abuse and disorderly conduct. UE Anu was held in Maricopa
County Jail on a $2,000,000 bondon July. 7th, 2021 the state put
forth the. Argument of aggravating
circumstances in the death of her two children this same day,
Yui Anu would be appointed a Japanese speaking interpreter
(10:15):
there was no denying that since.English was not her native
language. Yui Anu had many challenges
communicating her story with thepolice and later understanding
the legal. Process at her first official
hearing through her Japanese speaking.
Interpreter, she said. That she didn't kill anybody on
(10:35):
September 12th, 2021. UE Anu filed a defendant.
'S rule 12.9 motion. This is a legal motion in which
a defendant in a criminal case. Challenges a grand jury
proceeding. It is a process to argue that
the grand jury proceeding was flawed somehow, which may have
led to an invalid indictment. I cannot locate any specific
(10:58):
reason why the defense counsel argued this.
Point, but it may have simply been a legal.
Strategy to delay the pretrial hearings further.
On March 2nd, 2022, a motion forthe appointment of a mental
health expert witness, along with a request to transport the
defendant to a clinic for psychiatric assessment was
filed. Everyone involved in the
(11:19):
investigation, in particular homicide investigators, believe
that the mother was severely mentally ill.
She initially had told police that voices had commanded her to
kill her children, but during her court hearing, she would say
that her kids were still alive. UE Anew would later claim that
her children were not dead, and she couldn't understand why
(11:40):
people were saying that she had killed them, according to her
interpreter. She said they were spending time
with her parents in Japan, that she left her kids dearly, and
that it was very odd that everyone was saying they were
dead. Yui Anu was given multiple
psychiatric assessments, but they would not help in her
(12:03):
defense. On September 29th, 2023, more
than a year and a half later, Yui Anu was declared to be
competent to stand trial. Further, the judge prohibited
anything mental health related from being addressed during her
trial. The criminal trial of Yui Anew
began in February 2025 and lasted around 2 weeks.
(12:26):
Maricopa County Prosecutor Sheely Beasley painted Yui Anew
as a monster of a mother who expressed 0.
Remorse. Over.
Having. Slain her two small children,
she told the. Jury the story like this.
Mia and Kai Anew were sleeping soundly in their beds when their
(12:47):
own mother came into their bedroom holding a knife, a meat.
Cleaver, that is. Literally designed to cut the
bones of animals and she attacked them with it.
She had to think. She had to act and there is
nothing. Unclear or speculative about any
of that. During the criminal trial, the
(13:09):
prosecution addressed the. Trauma that these murders.
Had caused for all involved, including the.
State the defense, the investigators, the coroner and
crime scene specialist, many of them.
Had to undergo counselling. Because of what they were
exposed to, Mia and Kai's uncle told the courtroom how their
(13:31):
loss has severely affected theirentire family.
Their former elementary school principal, Tammy Fate read a
victim impact statement, chokingback tears.
And I quote their absence from our school community has been
felt every day since their death.
(13:52):
We miss their warm and welcomingsmiles.
We miss their gentle spirits. We miss their infectious
giggles. Although they were both
children, I want this court to know their short lives mattered.
Rebecca Foemly, her defense attorney, discussed Ewey Anew's
(14:15):
suffering mental state and addressed how she was
involuntarily evaluated twice inthe months before her children
were killed. Ewey Anew's defense did their
best to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the jury, pointing
out how there were no eyewitnesses to the children's
(14:36):
murders and that Yui Anu, who was a small woman, was not
physically strong enough to carry out the crime.
The medical examiner testified regarding the extreme amount of
force that would be necessary toinflict such severe injuries.
He stated that it would require a significant amount of strength
(14:58):
and energy over an extended period to cause the wounds with
the meat cleaver, describing it as equivalent to the amount of
force from a guillotine. Their client also had no memory
of committing these murders. She asked the jury why would my
(15:20):
client go to the police station wearing the blood of her kids
with the weapon in the vehicle if she was the one who had
killed them? But nothing could be said about
the defendant, Yui Anu to wipe away the graphic images and
(15:45):
horrifying descriptions of two small innocent children brutally
slain. The jury would quickly return
with a verdict. They found UE anew guilty on 2
counts of first degree murder, 2counts of child abuse and one
count of disable conduct. The State asked that the judge
(16:08):
sentence the defendant to consecutive life sentences for
her crimes. The prosecutor spoke the
following within her memorandum.The children were helpless,
sleeping, and completely at the mercy of their own mother who
showed none. These deaths were physically
painful and emotionally torturous.
(16:31):
The first responders, detective,crime scene specialist and
medical examiner are permanentlytraumatized by the injuries
inflicted on these children. The children's friends, school
teachers and Tempe community are.
Harmed by such a horrific event,there is no mitigation that
(16:51):
warrants anything less than consecutive presumptive terms
for these crimes. On May 2nd, 2025, a little more
than four years after the murders of her two children, the
convicted mother faced the judgefor her punishment.
Before handing down her penalty.Judge Geoffrey Ruder said to the
(17:14):
courtroom. I can't imagine what those
children went through in their last minutes.
The fear, the suffering, it's incomprehensible.
He later spoke to the media about how it was the hardest
case he has ever dealt with over2 decades being a judge.
(17:34):
He sentenced UE anew to two lifeterms, one for each child she
killed, and an additional 35 years for the counts of child
abuse and disorderly conduct to be served consecutively to her
life sentences. This case is beyond tragic, It
is horrible and heartbreaking and there are no words that can
(17:57):
properly describe the crimes committed against these
children. The question remains, what was
this mother's motive, what triggered her to kill her
innocent children, and could this crime have been prevented?
First, it is necessary to view this offender and her crimes
(18:19):
through the specific type of homicide she committed.
Philicide, specifically maternalphilicide.
Children are most at risk of being killed by their parents.
This is not a modern day phenomenon, nor is the crime
(18:39):
limited to 1 country, race or ethnicity.
In the last quarter of the 20th century, 61% of children under
five years old were murdered by their.
Parents 61%. Of these murders, 30% were
committed by their mothers and 30. 1% by their fathers.
(19:03):
As mentioned in a previous episode, the United.
States has the highest. Rate of child homicide.
When compared with other developed.
Nations, the child homicide ratefor infants is 8 out of
100,002.5 for preschool aged kids and 1.5 for school aged
children described as being between 5 and 14 years old.
(19:25):
Based on the 1973 classificationsystem established by forensic
psychiatrist PD Scott regarding paternal philicide, psychiatrist
D Orban created her own for maternal philoside.
The six categories include battering mothers, mentally ill
mothers, neonaticides, retaliating women, unwanted
(19:46):
children, and mercy killings. There are specific patterns of
maternal philoside that are important to note.
Almost all cases have occurred at home.
In most incidents, the mother has killed more than one child.
In half of the cases, the motherhad an upsetting conversation or
altercation with the husband before committing the ACT.
(20:10):
A history of violence by the offenders of maternal philicide
does not seem to correlate with the act of philicide, although
many have been young, poor, undereducated, and were the
children's primary caregivers. Depression and experiencing
hallucinations has been found tobe a commonly shared trait
(20:31):
amongst these perpetrators. Motherly love the ultimate
protection and security. A child is supposed to be able
to depend on the one who nurtures you, tends to your
wounds and loves you beyond her own life, something that many of
us have experienced. But some women regret and resent
(20:54):
this label, this expectation placed upon them by society, by
the patriarchal forces that perceive females as being meant
to be mothers and caregivers. The data on historical records
show us that women have rejectedand violently rebelled against
(21:15):
the notion of motherhood for centuries.
Unfortunately, and tragically, some women have elected to
murder their children. As a result, the structure of
motherhood and women's status within society is an overarching
theme across all cases. A philicide.
(21:40):
In almost every incident of maternal philicide, the ACT is
committed by a mother who, for one reason or another, is faced
with circumstances that deny herto parent and her children.
Psychologist Meyer and Olbermannhave provided a very interesting
perspective on the actophyllicide 2 female
(22:01):
psychologist who have reviewed hundreds of cases have noticed
patterns that have led. Them to establish a typology.
Unique from the others, they. Believe that this crime is.
Triggered not just from mental illness.
But rather from the intersection, a society,
environment, culture, and of course, variables that are
(22:24):
distinct to the individual's life experience.
Their categories include philicide related to an ignored
state of pregnancy, abuse related philicide, philicide due
to neglect, assisted or coerced philicide, and purposeful
philicide. For mothers whose cases have
fallen under purposeful or intentional philicide, they have
(22:47):
all been considered mentally ill.
If a woman is suffering from severe depression and or
psychosis, how is it possible that she meet the needs and
demands of taking care of young children?
The role of mental illness thus falls into place for the primary
reason behind why and how a woman could kill her kids.
(23:10):
Yet little research exists within this realm of family
murder, and what does the methodology and sample size and
selection tend to be very narrowto generate any helpful
conclusions that can help lead to real prevention.
The average perpetrator of maternofilicide is early 20s to
(23:33):
30s, uneducated, unemployed, outside the home, lower to
middle class, and are socially isolated.
Since this describes a large population of mothers, how is
anyone supposed to identify signs or characteristics that a
mother may be capable of child homicide?
(23:54):
Psychiatric diagnosis are too often made after the murders
have already been committed. Some research has suggested that
the evidence of mental illness may be a direct result of the
PTSD and depression caused by the act of philicide and didn't
necessarily exist during the time of the offence.
(24:19):
However, there are way too many cases similar to UE Anews where
there are very clear warning signs of psychosis and impending
violence. Prosecutors believed that UE
Anew was triggered after her ex-husband had called the police
over to intervene on the night of the children's murders.
(24:43):
She wanted revenge against him for contacting them and wanted
him to pay in the worst imaginable way by murdering his
kids. She had already planned to
return to Japan. There is no record as to whether
she intended to bring the children with her.
Or if that was an. Additional point of tension and
(25:04):
hostility between the former spouses.
It was suggested and illustratedby the prosecution during her
criminal. Trial that her main motivation.
Was to get. Back at her husband, this mother
of two young kids wanted revengeagainst her ex for divorcing her
(25:25):
and for not having enough money for her to comfortably return to
Japan. His calling the police over to
their apartment the night of themurders was the last straw.
Spousal revenge, as the primary motivator of phyllicide, is one
of the rarest forms as defined by the offender seeking
(25:48):
retaliation against their partner by killing one or more
of their children. The individual is motivated by
the desire to make that person suffer.
This desire has been written about as early as the play from
431 BC, which referenced its act.
(26:10):
In the play, what is known as the Medea syndrome is discussed.
Euripidus tells the story of a woman, Medea, who kills her two
sons in an act of revenge upon her husband.
Although it does exist, apparently has since this time
in history, research shows it only incurs in around 2% of
(26:31):
maternal phylicide, with his presence much more common when
committed by the father. According to a specialist in
this field, Resnick, there have been two characteristics of
women who commit this type of maternal philicide.
They have borderline personalityand dependent personality
disorders. When their crimes fall under the
(26:52):
realm of retaliation. The brutal depravity and sheer
rage Yui Anu exhibited toward her innocent children does
indicate some elements of a revenge killing.
Her actions were so beyond. Anything comprehensible for
anyone, much less a mother, to do it is difficult to believe.
(27:17):
That their deaths were. Premeditated and caused by anger
around her divorce. But maybe she was one of the
rare perpetrators of this kind of maternal philicide.
Her actions nevertheless also showed signs of delusion and
psychosis. Why would she have driven to the
police and told them about the voices telling her to kill her
(27:40):
children when she could have simply driven to the airport and
left the country? That doesn't sound like a smart,
cold calculated killer to me. Our society continues to insist
that mental illness is the primary reason behind any woman
who kills her kids. Because such a horrific act goes
(28:04):
against the grain of everything we believe in, it shatters the
pillar of what civilization is built on.
We can't comprehend that a womanwould willingly end the lives of
innocent children who are literally a part of her flesh.
(28:24):
Such a woman must be mad, insane, sick and twisted.
The ACT has to be beyond herself, willing control.
It must be her mental illness telling her to brutally and
savagely end the most innocent of lives.
Some studies suggest that it is not the mental illness at the
(28:46):
forefront of the homicidal act, but rather the conditions of
motherhood and the expectations laid upon her across time and
place, cultures, and all demographics.
This crime has happened and continues to exist.
(29:06):
It is not one group's issue or concern.
However, the ways in which this crime is viewed and treated
under the law is drastically different outside of much of the
United States. the US in particular, but like many other
(29:27):
Western countries, has a tendency to ignore mental health
and chooses to not understand, much less be invested in, the
mental health of mothers. Many nations around the world
have specific maternal philicidestatutes which recognize the
extent to which this crime is distinct from ordinary homicide.
(29:53):
They explicitly diminish the severity of punishment for women
who killed their children. US jurisdictions lack such
statutes and maternal philicide as prosecuted under standard
homicide laws. The result has been a tendency
towards treating each maternal philicide case as exceptional,
(30:14):
rather than recognizing the patterns that link these cases
and the extent to which these crimes are linked to the social
expectations from others. And too often, the media plays a
powerful role in dictating how the defendant is framed and even
in determining how these cases are resolved.
(30:40):
The result is that US maternal philicide case law is incoherent
and often arbitrary. Women convicted of substantially
equivalent crimes, such as neonaticide, receive sentences
that can vary from probation with counseling to life
(31:00):
imprisonment without parole. The inconsistencies and
sentencing demonstrated by the US criminal justice system is
very disturbing. There is the potential for
injustice in specific cases, butalso the US criminal justice
system tends to either over prosecute to the fullest extent
(31:26):
of the law or not convict the offender at all, unlike the
United States which penalizes philicides.
Similar to other murders, several countries have
infanticide laws that recognize the unique circumstances that
exist around the crime, specifically the killing of
(31:47):
children who are under one yearsold.
These nations seek to acknowledge and address the
correlation between childbirth and mental disturbance in some
women. This is a reflection of their
concern and understanding of themental state of women who suffer
from postpartum depression that research shows can lead to
(32:10):
psychosis. For example, in the England,
which is 1 of 20 European countries that have infanticide
laws, they passed the Infanticide Acts of 1922 and
1938, which recognize how the severe impact of childbirth has
on the mental health of a woman and it helps to provide a
(32:30):
partial defense to murder in such criminal cases.
Before this legislation, any woman who killed her child was
subjected to the laws dictated by all murder, which at that
time would have mandated the death penalty.
Similar legislation exists in Wales, Ireland, Canada and
(32:51):
regions of Australia. They promote more humane
treatment and focus on providingpsychiatric care for women who
kill the young children over giving them harsh criminal
penalties. Hong Kong has mirrored the
Infanticide Acts in England, which provide more lenient
punishment towards women who murder their infants if it can
(33:11):
be shown that at the time their mental state was disturbed.
Part of the problem in how the United States handles such cases
and its offenders is that they are dependent upon the insanity
defense. Since perinatal illness or
postpartum psychosis is not identified under the DSM as a
(33:32):
legitimate diagnosis, this leaves offenders of maternal
phyllicite to declare a state ofinsanity, which is not easy to
prove a judge. Has the power to bar.
The mention of mental. Health in a court proceedings.
But it does. Depend on several different
factors. First, the specific context of
(33:54):
the case is taken into consideration.
Second, any relevant laws and rules of evidence must be
considered. Lastly, the assessment of the
facts and circumstances revolving around the crime.
A judge. May deem it as being.
Relevant in cases when mental impairment for the defence has
been acknowledged or in competency evaluations.
(34:17):
However, a judge can limit or eliminate its use altogether in
court if they consider it to be irrelevant, unfairly
prejudicial, or if it fails to be probative.
For example, in Arizona case law, a judge may restrict the
diagnosis of a personality disorder as a basis for
mitigating circumstances in a criminal trial.
(34:40):
In the case of UE Anu in Tempe, AZ, the parameters of using
insanity as a defense have become increasingly more
difficult and complicated in thelast few decades.
In 1993, the not guilty by reason of insanity law was
replaced by guilty except insane, also known as GEI.
(35:03):
This emitted the MC Naughton test to require that at the time
of the offense, the person had amental disease or defect and the
person did not know the criminalact was wrong.
This further changed the law to exclude GEI as a result of acute
voluntary intoxication, character defects, psychosexual
or impulse control disorders, and temporary conditions arising
(35:26):
from the pressure of the circumstance.
If an offence is determined to be serious, the equity would be
commended to the jurisdiction ofthe Arizona Psychiatric Security
Review Board for a term equal tothe sentence that they would
have received if found guilty under the Arizona Criminal Code.
If it is determined that the person still needed involuntary
(35:50):
treatment, they could be held further under civil commitment
statutes. In 2004, a report surfaced that
explained how valuable space andresources were being wasted at
hospitals for the mentally insane to house individuals who
were no longer receiving psychiatric care there, but who
were still considered to be dangerous.
(36:11):
This resulted in a major change in 2007, which required judges
to sentence individuals who werefound guilty by reason of
insanity to a term of incarceration before committing
them to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review
Board for the term of their sentence.
It is then up to this review board to determine if and when
(36:34):
the individual's treatment has been successful, or if they need
ongoing care, or if they are deemed dangerous and considered
likely to reoffend. In 2007, new legislation was
introduced that allowed for the courts to send.
Some offenders who were found. Guilty but mentally ill to
(36:55):
prison rather than to. Hospitals for psychiatric care.
What this essentially equates tois that it doesn't matter
whether you were found to be mentally ill in an Arizona
Criminal Court, that doesn't mean you won't go to prison.
Now, if someone is found to be mentally incompetent to stand
(37:15):
trial, then that is a different matter altogether.
In the case of Yui Anu, since she was found to be mentally
competent, the severity of her mental illness was not even
considered a factor in the killing of her children.
The defendant had a recorded history of psychiatric care,
(37:37):
then it would be next to impossible to deny that she was
mentally unstable. I was surprised to learn how the
judge had decided to prohibit the mention of her mental health
during the court proceedings. UEA News Mental health in
combination with other stressorswas likely would help to trigger
(37:59):
her violence. In no way does it change the
crimes she committed, but it mayhave changed what kind of
penalty she received, which I presume is exactly why the judge
elected not to allow any mentionof it in the trial.
In the case of UENU, she was committed to a psychiatric
(38:21):
hospital twice in the months before she killed her children.
There was documented proof of her volatile and erratic
behaviour. The mother was actively under
investigation by DCS, yet on thenight of the murders neither her
(38:43):
ex-husband nor the police failedto see any reason for concern
regarding the welfare of her children.
She had threatened to stab her ex-husband and attacked his
items with a meat cleaver, but there was no evidence of
potential violence. Their decision to leave the
(39:04):
children there is anything but logical, much less responsible
to me. I'm tired of hearing about how
the child welfare system in thiscountry keeps failing to protect
kids from harm when there were obvious signs of their mother's
mental illness. No one except for Yui Anu is
(39:28):
responsible for these atrocious crimes, whether her mental
illness played a part or not, but I can't help but think that
there were so many signs of her snapping that should not have
been dismissed. What stands out to me in this
(39:49):
case and the offender's subsequent punishment, is how
Yui Anew was perceived and handled by the courts and the
media when compared to similar offenders.
There have been many other casesof maternal philicide in which
the perpetrators inflicted unimaginable brutal violence and
(40:09):
terror upon their young children.
Cases that also showed evidence of premeditation and whose
perpetrators mental health history involved hallucinogenic
commands telling them to kill their kids.
Yet this information was not only included in their criminal
(40:30):
trials but ultimately helped them win their insanity.
Please. Deanna Laney, whom I have
covered in my podcast, and of course the infamous Andrea Yates
were found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to
psychiatric care. Their vicious attack on their
(40:50):
small, innocent children was perceived to be altruistic since
they believed God had commanded them to kill their children.
The first one I mentioned, who is now walking around freely,
mind you. So what are the glaring, obvious
differences between these women and a mother who kills her
(41:12):
children like Yui anew? First of all, Deanna Laney and
Andrea Yates were both white, devoutly Christian women Who.
Homeschooled their children. And who were known as being the
most loving and pure? Hearted of mothers.
Yui Anu was a stranger to the United.
(41:32):
States it has not known how longthe family.
Had lived in the area. Or even the country.
But she barely spoke English. Her husband, in contrast, worked
at a bank in the area. So it appears that he.
Was adapting fine to living in anew place?
I can't help but think her beinga Japanese immigrant made it
(41:57):
next to impossible for the judgeand the jury to relate to her on
any level. It was easier for everyone
involved to label her as a monster and throw away the key.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
Yui Anu deserves to be locked upfor life and not experience any
level of happiness, much less comfort.
(42:19):
But I can't help but notice how these white married Christian
women, who were suffering from the same severity of mental
illness as Yui Anu was, had their crimes perceived as a
result of their sickness and were not portrayed as evil
monsters. Was UE Anew an evil monster?
(42:44):
No one can deny that her actionswere indicative of evil, but how
can a judge deny how severely sick she was to commit such an
act against her children? Even if that doesn't mean she
spends any time in a psychiatriccare hospital, shouldn't there
be treatment so she doesn't cause future harm to those
(43:06):
around her in prison? The Bureau of Justice Statistics
found that 60% of individuals injail, 49% of state prisoners,
and 40% of convicted offenders in federal prison show signs or
symptoms of a mental health disorder.
Yet our country and its criminaljustice system fails to
(43:30):
prioritize mental health of offenders.
And in general. Help prevent the harm and
violence triggered by mental illness.
This specific type of murder is so important to gain further
insight on because 1/4 of women who are admitted to psychiatric
(43:52):
care have children under five years old.
It is also important to study women who commit maternal
philicide who are not mentally ill, particularly women who lack
education, are young, impoverished and neglect their
prenatal care. One study of mothers a colicky
(44:12):
infants who were not diagnosed as mentally ill, discovered that
as high as 70% of the women had explicit aggressive thoughts
towards their babies and 26% of them had thoughts of killing
them during an episode. To help prevent this horrendous
crime, understanding these thoughts and characteristics of
(44:36):
mothers who may be more prone toacting upon these feelings than
others is critical. It may help to identify mothers
who are at high risk of killing their children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed the
National Violent Death ReportingSystem, which collects data
about violent deaths, including homicides, suicides and deaths
(45:00):
that occur by law enforcement inthe act of duty.
They systematically gather information from medical
examiner reports, law enforcement and death certifies
and place them into an anonymousdatabase.
The system pulls more than 600 unique data elements to help
paint a clearer, more detailed picture of what may have caused
(45:23):
these deaths. Everything from relationship
problems, mental health conditions, toxicology reports,
to life stressors such as known financial issues, employment
problems, or physical related problems are all collected to
provide valuable context into the individual's death.
(45:44):
The CDC uses this data to develop, implement, and evaluate
programs and strategies to help prevent violence.
All 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto
Rico, submit this data to the NVDRS.
Even more relevant to this case is how the USFBI has established
a project that examines data. For a large sample of women.
(46:07):
Who have killed their children. All 50 states also have.
Implemented child fatality review teams.
But unfortunately, these individuals deaths are often not
investigated until after a. Person has been prosecuted due
to restrictions to. Access on law enforcement and
coroner reports. These cases of murder are
(46:29):
unbearable. They are difficult to listen to
and emotionally draining to cover countless podcasts.
Stay clear of covering such family violence.
These crimes are beyond horrifying and disturbing.
Our society doesn't want to think about a parent killing a
child, but the only way to ever prevent these crimes is to
(46:52):
acknowledge their existence and discuss these cases.
At the children's former school,Kyrene del Cielo and Tempe, they
have memorialized Mia and Kai anew, so their impact is forever
remembered. In a beautiful mural, the
(47:15):
children are painted outside amongst the trees.
Mia is depicted with many cats whom she adored and Kai and his
red sneakers which he always wore no matter what clothes he
had on. Their former principal spoke
(47:37):
about how these two children were adored at the school.
Everyone loved them. They were two of the kindest,
brightest and most polite kids she had the privilege of ever
knowing. They both loved art class and
some of their paintings hang near the mural.
(48:00):
They are vivid, creative and bright, just as the children
were known for being during their short lived lives.
Thank you so much for listening to this heartbreaking story of
(48:24):
Mia and Kai Anew of Tempe, AZ. Please let me know your thoughts
on this case. I know it was a very difficult
one to hear, but these stories are so important to be told.
We can't, as society, afford to just bury our heads in the sand,
(48:48):
so to speak, and not talk about the most horrific of cases.
Until next time, be safe and watch out for shades of murder
happening in the streets next door, especially inside your own
(49:13):
home. Shades of Murders created,
researched, written and edited by Lita Caldwell.
Original music stranger composedby Stereo Code.
In the early morning hours on May 16th, 2021 in Tempe, AZ,
police officers entered an apartment.
They noticed a large pool of blood.
Near a bedroom were trash and boxes, random items thrown
about, a blanket and a mattress.They lifted the mattress and
began to rummage through the pile, which is when they
(00:30):
discovered two small bodies underneath.
Who were these innocent victims,and who was the monster who
tried to hide their remains? Hello and welcome to Shades of
(01:03):
Murder. In this podcast, I discuss cases
of murder from around the world and throughout history,
attempting to unravel the layersof darkness that help make
humans into monsters. This is a special warning for
those of you who are particularly sensitive to crimes
(01:26):
against children. This show is not intended for
all audiences and listener discretion is strongly advised.
At 12:30 AM on May 15th, 2021 inTempe, AZ, law enforcement
officers responded to a call from a man who reported the
woman he had recently divorced was behaving violently and
(01:50):
acting erratically. The man, Subasa Anu, said that
his ex-wife had hacked 2 pieces,his computer and other
electronics in the house. She was screaming at him,
wielding a large. Kitchen knife and had.
Threatened to stab him. When the police arrived, they
did not believe there was any real.
(02:11):
Cause for a concern? There was minimal.
Damage done and Noah had been physically.
Harmed police officers left the house after being reassured that
their two kids were fine and asleep in their beds.
The husband later said that he left the residence around 3:00
AM. There is no known exact time of
(02:33):
the following sequence of events.
After the police had left Yua Anu alone, she went into her
children's bedroom with a meat cleaver.
She dragged her children down tothe floor and firmly held them
down. Ewie Anew raised the knife and
struck her son and daughter dozens of times with the blade.
(02:58):
She was now covered in her children's blood.
Ewie Anew removed her clothing and placing inside a garbage
bag. Then she took a bath.
Afterwards, she packed a backpack which contained her
passport, cash and jewelry. Then she locked the front door
(03:19):
and left her apartment. Around 7:30 AM, Yui Anu drove to
a Tempe police substation and flagged down officers speaking
to them primarily in Japanese. Yui Anu informed an officer that
she was hearing voices telling her to kill her children.
(03:40):
Police observed blood stains on her heel.
Superficial. Cuts.
Along her fingers and that her hands and.
Knees were bruised. Law enforcement officers.
Returned to the. Residence around 8:00 AM.
Inside they were met with the most horrifying and traumatizing
(04:01):
crime scene. An investigator can face the
brutal slain of two small kids. When police entered the
apartment, they noticed a pile of trash and boxes, random items
thrown about in the mattress. They lifted the mattress and
began to run through the pile, which is when they discovered
(04:22):
two small bodies hidden underneath.
The woman, son and daughter, 9 year old Mia and seven-year old
Kai, have been hacked to death with some kind of vicious bladed
weapon. The two small children had
countless lacerations, cuts and amputations.
(04:45):
There were also multiple defensive wounds on them.
The children had been almost completely decapitated.
The scene was too much for investigators to process.
It was too much darkness for anyone to grasp.
(05:09):
Autopsy reports could not quantify exactly how many times
the children were struck with the meat cleaver.
It was estimated to be dozens oftimes.
And the unforgiving knife wielded against these helpless
small children had even amputated pieces of their
(05:29):
bodies. The coroner's official cause of
death for each child was sharp force and multiple chopping
injuries. Their mother, Ewie anew, was
promptly. Arrested on suspicion of murder.
When she was detained. Investigators saw the blood and.
(05:51):
Lacerations on her body during her interrogation, ewie anew
told homicide investigators thatshe had gone to bed with her
kids that night she woke up around 4:30 AM to a.
Bloody and unbelievable scene her hands and arms were.
Covered in blood. Then she saw, lying near the
(06:13):
doorway, her two children, dead and bloodied, but she claimed to
have no recollection of harming them.
She told police how it wasn't until after her bath that she
became awoken of what she had done, but that she didn't
(06:35):
believe. She had killed them.
Investigators would search her vehicle and find her blood
soaked clothes and the weapon, ablood covered meat cleaver with
A6 inch blade inside a bag. The suspect also had suitcases
(06:57):
inside the car, which were spattered with blood.
The investigation later revealedhow the couple had recently
divorced, and Yui Anu had planned to return to her native
homeland of Japan. However, money was tight and
finances became the center of hostility between the man and
his former wife. On the night of the murders, the
(07:21):
former husband Tsubasa Anu and his wife Yui Anu were fighting
about the money needed for her to relocate to Japan.
The conflict escalated and Huey Anew grabbed the meat cleaver
from the kitchen and began swinging it around, attacking
his computer and other items before threatening to stab her
ex-husband. The man reported this incident
(07:44):
to the police and he claimed that he slept in his vehicle
that night in the parking lot ofthe bank where he worked.
Except for the incident of domestic abuse the night of the
murders, there were no previous signs of violence exhibited by
the mother or any sounds heard from the apartment at all.
(08:04):
According to one of their next door neighbors at the apartment
complex, Kevin Hochstadter, he didn't know them very well and
they hadn't lived there very long, but he said that the
couple never made any noise. He wasn't even aware they had
children, so he was especially startled when he heard through
(08:29):
their. Shared wall.
A. Sudden outburst.
A pounding. It lasted around 8 consecutive
minutes, then all sounds stoppedfor about 5 minutes until the
pounding began again, but this time it was much softer.
(08:50):
This. Information he shared with the
police and the same details wereconfirmed by a neighbor who
lived beneath them. The DCS, or Department of
Children's Services at the time of the children's death, were
investigating the mother for alleged neglect.
She had recently taken off with her youngest son, Kai, before
(09:11):
the police located her and the boy hiding behind a convenience
store. Yui Anu was admitted to a
psychiatric hospital and her sonKai was returned to his father.
DCS argued there was no evidenceof neglect or abuse.
Both children said they felt safe with their parents.
(09:32):
From what they saw and heard. There was no viable reason to
remove the kids from the home that night, even though the
investigation was still open when the children were killed.
On May 15th, 2021, UE Anu, 40, was officially indicted by a
grand jury on 2 counts of first degree murder, 2 counts of child
(09:53):
abuse and disorderly conduct. UE Anu was held in Maricopa
County Jail on a $2,000,000 bondon July. 7th, 2021 the state put
forth the. Argument of aggravating
circumstances in the death of her two children this same day,
Yui Anu would be appointed a Japanese speaking interpreter
(10:15):
there was no denying that since.English was not her native
language. Yui Anu had many challenges
communicating her story with thepolice and later understanding
the legal. Process at her first official
hearing through her Japanese speaking.
Interpreter, she said. That she didn't kill anybody on
(10:35):
September 12th, 2021. UE Anu filed a defendant.
'S rule 12.9 motion. This is a legal motion in which
a defendant in a criminal case. Challenges a grand jury
proceeding. It is a process to argue that
the grand jury proceeding was flawed somehow, which may have
led to an invalid indictment. I cannot locate any specific
(10:58):
reason why the defense counsel argued this.
Point, but it may have simply been a legal.
Strategy to delay the pretrial hearings further.
On March 2nd, 2022, a motion forthe appointment of a mental
health expert witness, along with a request to transport the
defendant to a clinic for psychiatric assessment was
filed. Everyone involved in the
(11:19):
investigation, in particular homicide investigators, believe
that the mother was severely mentally ill.
She initially had told police that voices had commanded her to
kill her children, but during her court hearing, she would say
that her kids were still alive. UE Anew would later claim that
her children were not dead, and she couldn't understand why
(11:40):
people were saying that she had killed them, according to her
interpreter. She said they were spending time
with her parents in Japan, that she left her kids dearly, and
that it was very odd that everyone was saying they were
dead. Yui Anu was given multiple
psychiatric assessments, but they would not help in her
(12:03):
defense. On September 29th, 2023, more
than a year and a half later, Yui Anu was declared to be
competent to stand trial. Further, the judge prohibited
anything mental health related from being addressed during her
trial. The criminal trial of Yui Anew
began in February 2025 and lasted around 2 weeks.
(12:26):
Maricopa County Prosecutor Sheely Beasley painted Yui Anew
as a monster of a mother who expressed 0.
Remorse. Over.
Having. Slain her two small children,
she told the. Jury the story like this.
Mia and Kai Anew were sleeping soundly in their beds when their
(12:47):
own mother came into their bedroom holding a knife, a meat.
Cleaver, that is. Literally designed to cut the
bones of animals and she attacked them with it.
She had to think. She had to act and there is
nothing. Unclear or speculative about any
of that. During the criminal trial, the
(13:09):
prosecution addressed the. Trauma that these murders.
Had caused for all involved, including the.
State the defense, the investigators, the coroner and
crime scene specialist, many of them.
Had to undergo counselling. Because of what they were
exposed to, Mia and Kai's uncle told the courtroom how their
(13:31):
loss has severely affected theirentire family.
Their former elementary school principal, Tammy Fate read a
victim impact statement, chokingback tears.
And I quote their absence from our school community has been
felt every day since their death.
(13:52):
We miss their warm and welcomingsmiles.
We miss their gentle spirits. We miss their infectious
giggles. Although they were both
children, I want this court to know their short lives mattered.
Rebecca Foemly, her defense attorney, discussed Ewey Anew's
(14:15):
suffering mental state and addressed how she was
involuntarily evaluated twice inthe months before her children
were killed. Ewey Anew's defense did their
best to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the jury, pointing
out how there were no eyewitnesses to the children's
(14:36):
murders and that Yui Anu, who was a small woman, was not
physically strong enough to carry out the crime.
The medical examiner testified regarding the extreme amount of
force that would be necessary toinflict such severe injuries.
He stated that it would require a significant amount of strength
(14:58):
and energy over an extended period to cause the wounds with
the meat cleaver, describing it as equivalent to the amount of
force from a guillotine. Their client also had no memory
of committing these murders. She asked the jury why would my
(15:20):
client go to the police station wearing the blood of her kids
with the weapon in the vehicle if she was the one who had
killed them? But nothing could be said about
the defendant, Yui Anu to wipe away the graphic images and
(15:45):
horrifying descriptions of two small innocent children brutally
slain. The jury would quickly return
with a verdict. They found UE anew guilty on 2
counts of first degree murder, 2counts of child abuse and one
count of disable conduct. The State asked that the judge
(16:08):
sentence the defendant to consecutive life sentences for
her crimes. The prosecutor spoke the
following within her memorandum.The children were helpless,
sleeping, and completely at the mercy of their own mother who
showed none. These deaths were physically
painful and emotionally torturous.
(16:31):
The first responders, detective,crime scene specialist and
medical examiner are permanentlytraumatized by the injuries
inflicted on these children. The children's friends, school
teachers and Tempe community are.
Harmed by such a horrific event,there is no mitigation that
(16:51):
warrants anything less than consecutive presumptive terms
for these crimes. On May 2nd, 2025, a little more
than four years after the murders of her two children, the
convicted mother faced the judgefor her punishment.
Before handing down her penalty.Judge Geoffrey Ruder said to the
(17:14):
courtroom. I can't imagine what those
children went through in their last minutes.
The fear, the suffering, it's incomprehensible.
He later spoke to the media about how it was the hardest
case he has ever dealt with over2 decades being a judge.
(17:34):
He sentenced UE anew to two lifeterms, one for each child she
killed, and an additional 35 years for the counts of child
abuse and disorderly conduct to be served consecutively to her
life sentences. This case is beyond tragic, It
is horrible and heartbreaking and there are no words that can
(17:57):
properly describe the crimes committed against these
children. The question remains, what was
this mother's motive, what triggered her to kill her
innocent children, and could this crime have been prevented?
First, it is necessary to view this offender and her crimes
(18:19):
through the specific type of homicide she committed.
Philicide, specifically maternalphilicide.
Children are most at risk of being killed by their parents.
This is not a modern day phenomenon, nor is the crime
(18:39):
limited to 1 country, race or ethnicity.
In the last quarter of the 20th century, 61% of children under
five years old were murdered by their.
Parents 61%. Of these murders, 30% were
committed by their mothers and 30. 1% by their fathers.
(19:03):
As mentioned in a previous episode, the United.
States has the highest. Rate of child homicide.
When compared with other developed.
Nations, the child homicide ratefor infants is 8 out of
100,002.5 for preschool aged kids and 1.5 for school aged
children described as being between 5 and 14 years old.
(19:25):
Based on the 1973 classificationsystem established by forensic
psychiatrist PD Scott regarding paternal philicide, psychiatrist
D Orban created her own for maternal philoside.
The six categories include battering mothers, mentally ill
mothers, neonaticides, retaliating women, unwanted
(19:46):
children, and mercy killings. There are specific patterns of
maternal philoside that are important to note.
Almost all cases have occurred at home.
In most incidents, the mother has killed more than one child.
In half of the cases, the motherhad an upsetting conversation or
altercation with the husband before committing the ACT.
(20:10):
A history of violence by the offenders of maternal philicide
does not seem to correlate with the act of philicide, although
many have been young, poor, undereducated, and were the
children's primary caregivers. Depression and experiencing
hallucinations has been found tobe a commonly shared trait
(20:31):
amongst these perpetrators. Motherly love the ultimate
protection and security. A child is supposed to be able
to depend on the one who nurtures you, tends to your
wounds and loves you beyond her own life, something that many of
us have experienced. But some women regret and resent
(20:54):
this label, this expectation placed upon them by society, by
the patriarchal forces that perceive females as being meant
to be mothers and caregivers. The data on historical records
show us that women have rejectedand violently rebelled against
(21:15):
the notion of motherhood for centuries.
Unfortunately, and tragically, some women have elected to
murder their children. As a result, the structure of
motherhood and women's status within society is an overarching
theme across all cases. A philicide.
(21:40):
In almost every incident of maternal philicide, the ACT is
committed by a mother who, for one reason or another, is faced
with circumstances that deny herto parent and her children.
Psychologist Meyer and Olbermannhave provided a very interesting
perspective on the actophyllicide 2 female
(22:01):
psychologist who have reviewed hundreds of cases have noticed
patterns that have led. Them to establish a typology.
Unique from the others, they. Believe that this crime is.
Triggered not just from mental illness.
But rather from the intersection, a society,
environment, culture, and of course, variables that are
(22:24):
distinct to the individual's life experience.
Their categories include philicide related to an ignored
state of pregnancy, abuse related philicide, philicide due
to neglect, assisted or coerced philicide, and purposeful
philicide. For mothers whose cases have
fallen under purposeful or intentional philicide, they have
(22:47):
all been considered mentally ill.
If a woman is suffering from severe depression and or
psychosis, how is it possible that she meet the needs and
demands of taking care of young children?
The role of mental illness thus falls into place for the primary
reason behind why and how a woman could kill her kids.
(23:10):
Yet little research exists within this realm of family
murder, and what does the methodology and sample size and
selection tend to be very narrowto generate any helpful
conclusions that can help lead to real prevention.
The average perpetrator of maternofilicide is early 20s to
(23:33):
30s, uneducated, unemployed, outside the home, lower to
middle class, and are socially isolated.
Since this describes a large population of mothers, how is
anyone supposed to identify signs or characteristics that a
mother may be capable of child homicide?
(23:54):
Psychiatric diagnosis are too often made after the murders
have already been committed. Some research has suggested that
the evidence of mental illness may be a direct result of the
PTSD and depression caused by the act of philicide and didn't
necessarily exist during the time of the offence.
(24:19):
However, there are way too many cases similar to UE Anews where
there are very clear warning signs of psychosis and impending
violence. Prosecutors believed that UE
Anew was triggered after her ex-husband had called the police
over to intervene on the night of the children's murders.
(24:43):
She wanted revenge against him for contacting them and wanted
him to pay in the worst imaginable way by murdering his
kids. She had already planned to
return to Japan. There is no record as to whether
she intended to bring the children with her.
Or if that was an. Additional point of tension and
(25:04):
hostility between the former spouses.
It was suggested and illustratedby the prosecution during her
criminal. Trial that her main motivation.
Was to get. Back at her husband, this mother
of two young kids wanted revengeagainst her ex for divorcing her
(25:25):
and for not having enough money for her to comfortably return to
Japan. His calling the police over to
their apartment the night of themurders was the last straw.
Spousal revenge, as the primary motivator of phyllicide, is one
of the rarest forms as defined by the offender seeking
(25:48):
retaliation against their partner by killing one or more
of their children. The individual is motivated by
the desire to make that person suffer.
This desire has been written about as early as the play from
431 BC, which referenced its act.
(26:10):
In the play, what is known as the Medea syndrome is discussed.
Euripidus tells the story of a woman, Medea, who kills her two
sons in an act of revenge upon her husband.
Although it does exist, apparently has since this time
in history, research shows it only incurs in around 2% of
(26:31):
maternal phylicide, with his presence much more common when
committed by the father. According to a specialist in
this field, Resnick, there have been two characteristics of
women who commit this type of maternal philicide.
They have borderline personalityand dependent personality
disorders. When their crimes fall under the
(26:52):
realm of retaliation. The brutal depravity and sheer
rage Yui Anu exhibited toward her innocent children does
indicate some elements of a revenge killing.
Her actions were so beyond. Anything comprehensible for
anyone, much less a mother, to do it is difficult to believe.
(27:17):
That their deaths were. Premeditated and caused by anger
around her divorce. But maybe she was one of the
rare perpetrators of this kind of maternal philicide.
Her actions nevertheless also showed signs of delusion and
psychosis. Why would she have driven to the
police and told them about the voices telling her to kill her
(27:40):
children when she could have simply driven to the airport and
left the country? That doesn't sound like a smart,
cold calculated killer to me. Our society continues to insist
that mental illness is the primary reason behind any woman
who kills her kids. Because such a horrific act goes
(28:04):
against the grain of everything we believe in, it shatters the
pillar of what civilization is built on.
We can't comprehend that a womanwould willingly end the lives of
innocent children who are literally a part of her flesh.
(28:24):
Such a woman must be mad, insane, sick and twisted.
The ACT has to be beyond herself, willing control.
It must be her mental illness telling her to brutally and
savagely end the most innocent of lives.
Some studies suggest that it is not the mental illness at the
(28:46):
forefront of the homicidal act, but rather the conditions of
motherhood and the expectations laid upon her across time and
place, cultures, and all demographics.
This crime has happened and continues to exist.
(29:06):
It is not one group's issue or concern.
However, the ways in which this crime is viewed and treated
under the law is drastically different outside of much of the
United States. the US in particular, but like many other
(29:27):
Western countries, has a tendency to ignore mental health
and chooses to not understand, much less be invested in, the
mental health of mothers. Many nations around the world
have specific maternal philicidestatutes which recognize the
extent to which this crime is distinct from ordinary homicide.
(29:53):
They explicitly diminish the severity of punishment for women
who killed their children. US jurisdictions lack such
statutes and maternal philicide as prosecuted under standard
homicide laws. The result has been a tendency
towards treating each maternal philicide case as exceptional,
(30:14):
rather than recognizing the patterns that link these cases
and the extent to which these crimes are linked to the social
expectations from others. And too often, the media plays a
powerful role in dictating how the defendant is framed and even
in determining how these cases are resolved.
(30:40):
The result is that US maternal philicide case law is incoherent
and often arbitrary. Women convicted of substantially
equivalent crimes, such as neonaticide, receive sentences
that can vary from probation with counseling to life
(31:00):
imprisonment without parole. The inconsistencies and
sentencing demonstrated by the US criminal justice system is
very disturbing. There is the potential for
injustice in specific cases, butalso the US criminal justice
system tends to either over prosecute to the fullest extent
(31:26):
of the law or not convict the offender at all, unlike the
United States which penalizes philicides.
Similar to other murders, several countries have
infanticide laws that recognize the unique circumstances that
exist around the crime, specifically the killing of
(31:47):
children who are under one yearsold.
These nations seek to acknowledge and address the
correlation between childbirth and mental disturbance in some
women. This is a reflection of their
concern and understanding of themental state of women who suffer
from postpartum depression that research shows can lead to
(32:10):
psychosis. For example, in the England,
which is 1 of 20 European countries that have infanticide
laws, they passed the Infanticide Acts of 1922 and
1938, which recognize how the severe impact of childbirth has
on the mental health of a woman and it helps to provide a
(32:30):
partial defense to murder in such criminal cases.
Before this legislation, any woman who killed her child was
subjected to the laws dictated by all murder, which at that
time would have mandated the death penalty.
Similar legislation exists in Wales, Ireland, Canada and
(32:51):
regions of Australia. They promote more humane
treatment and focus on providingpsychiatric care for women who
kill the young children over giving them harsh criminal
penalties. Hong Kong has mirrored the
Infanticide Acts in England, which provide more lenient
punishment towards women who murder their infants if it can
(33:11):
be shown that at the time their mental state was disturbed.
Part of the problem in how the United States handles such cases
and its offenders is that they are dependent upon the insanity
defense. Since perinatal illness or
postpartum psychosis is not identified under the DSM as a
(33:32):
legitimate diagnosis, this leaves offenders of maternal
phyllicite to declare a state ofinsanity, which is not easy to
prove a judge. Has the power to bar.
The mention of mental. Health in a court proceedings.
But it does. Depend on several different
factors. First, the specific context of
(33:54):
the case is taken into consideration.
Second, any relevant laws and rules of evidence must be
considered. Lastly, the assessment of the
facts and circumstances revolving around the crime.
A judge. May deem it as being.
Relevant in cases when mental impairment for the defence has
been acknowledged or in competency evaluations.
(34:17):
However, a judge can limit or eliminate its use altogether in
court if they consider it to be irrelevant, unfairly
prejudicial, or if it fails to be probative.
For example, in Arizona case law, a judge may restrict the
diagnosis of a personality disorder as a basis for
mitigating circumstances in a criminal trial.
(34:40):
In the case of UE Anu in Tempe, AZ, the parameters of using
insanity as a defense have become increasingly more
difficult and complicated in thelast few decades.
In 1993, the not guilty by reason of insanity law was
replaced by guilty except insane, also known as GEI.
(35:03):
This emitted the MC Naughton test to require that at the time
of the offense, the person had amental disease or defect and the
person did not know the criminalact was wrong.
This further changed the law to exclude GEI as a result of acute
voluntary intoxication, character defects, psychosexual
or impulse control disorders, and temporary conditions arising
(35:26):
from the pressure of the circumstance.
If an offence is determined to be serious, the equity would be
commended to the jurisdiction ofthe Arizona Psychiatric Security
Review Board for a term equal tothe sentence that they would
have received if found guilty under the Arizona Criminal Code.
If it is determined that the person still needed involuntary
(35:50):
treatment, they could be held further under civil commitment
statutes. In 2004, a report surfaced that
explained how valuable space andresources were being wasted at
hospitals for the mentally insane to house individuals who
were no longer receiving psychiatric care there, but who
were still considered to be dangerous.
(36:11):
This resulted in a major change in 2007, which required judges
to sentence individuals who werefound guilty by reason of
insanity to a term of incarceration before committing
them to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review
Board for the term of their sentence.
It is then up to this review board to determine if and when
(36:34):
the individual's treatment has been successful, or if they need
ongoing care, or if they are deemed dangerous and considered
likely to reoffend. In 2007, new legislation was
introduced that allowed for the courts to send.
Some offenders who were found. Guilty but mentally ill to
(36:55):
prison rather than to. Hospitals for psychiatric care.
What this essentially equates tois that it doesn't matter
whether you were found to be mentally ill in an Arizona
Criminal Court, that doesn't mean you won't go to prison.
Now, if someone is found to be mentally incompetent to stand
(37:15):
trial, then that is a different matter altogether.
In the case of Yui Anu, since she was found to be mentally
competent, the severity of her mental illness was not even
considered a factor in the killing of her children.
The defendant had a recorded history of psychiatric care,
(37:37):
then it would be next to impossible to deny that she was
mentally unstable. I was surprised to learn how the
judge had decided to prohibit the mention of her mental health
during the court proceedings. UEA News Mental health in
combination with other stressorswas likely would help to trigger
(37:59):
her violence. In no way does it change the
crimes she committed, but it mayhave changed what kind of
penalty she received, which I presume is exactly why the judge
elected not to allow any mentionof it in the trial.
In the case of UENU, she was committed to a psychiatric
(38:21):
hospital twice in the months before she killed her children.
There was documented proof of her volatile and erratic
behaviour. The mother was actively under
investigation by DCS, yet on thenight of the murders neither her
(38:43):
ex-husband nor the police failedto see any reason for concern
regarding the welfare of her children.
She had threatened to stab her ex-husband and attacked his
items with a meat cleaver, but there was no evidence of
potential violence. Their decision to leave the
(39:04):
children there is anything but logical, much less responsible
to me. I'm tired of hearing about how
the child welfare system in thiscountry keeps failing to protect
kids from harm when there were obvious signs of their mother's
mental illness. No one except for Yui Anu is
(39:28):
responsible for these atrocious crimes, whether her mental
illness played a part or not, but I can't help but think that
there were so many signs of her snapping that should not have
been dismissed. What stands out to me in this
(39:49):
case and the offender's subsequent punishment, is how
Yui Anew was perceived and handled by the courts and the
media when compared to similar offenders.
There have been many other casesof maternal philicide in which
the perpetrators inflicted unimaginable brutal violence and
(40:09):
terror upon their young children.
Cases that also showed evidence of premeditation and whose
perpetrators mental health history involved hallucinogenic
commands telling them to kill their kids.
Yet this information was not only included in their criminal
(40:30):
trials but ultimately helped them win their insanity.
Please. Deanna Laney, whom I have
covered in my podcast, and of course the infamous Andrea Yates
were found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to
psychiatric care. Their vicious attack on their
(40:50):
small, innocent children was perceived to be altruistic since
they believed God had commanded them to kill their children.
The first one I mentioned, who is now walking around freely,
mind you. So what are the glaring, obvious
differences between these women and a mother who kills her
(41:12):
children like Yui anew? First of all, Deanna Laney and
Andrea Yates were both white, devoutly Christian women Who.
Homeschooled their children. And who were known as being the
most loving and pure? Hearted of mothers.
Yui Anu was a stranger to the United.
(41:32):
States it has not known how longthe family.
Had lived in the area. Or even the country.
But she barely spoke English. Her husband, in contrast, worked
at a bank in the area. So it appears that he.
Was adapting fine to living in anew place?
I can't help but think her beinga Japanese immigrant made it
(41:57):
next to impossible for the judgeand the jury to relate to her on
any level. It was easier for everyone
involved to label her as a monster and throw away the key.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
Yui Anu deserves to be locked upfor life and not experience any
level of happiness, much less comfort.
(42:19):
But I can't help but notice how these white married Christian
women, who were suffering from the same severity of mental
illness as Yui Anu was, had their crimes perceived as a
result of their sickness and were not portrayed as evil
monsters. Was UE Anew an evil monster?
(42:44):
No one can deny that her actionswere indicative of evil, but how
can a judge deny how severely sick she was to commit such an
act against her children? Even if that doesn't mean she
spends any time in a psychiatriccare hospital, shouldn't there
be treatment so she doesn't cause future harm to those
(43:06):
around her in prison? The Bureau of Justice Statistics
found that 60% of individuals injail, 49% of state prisoners,
and 40% of convicted offenders in federal prison show signs or
symptoms of a mental health disorder.
Yet our country and its criminaljustice system fails to
(43:30):
prioritize mental health of offenders.
And in general. Help prevent the harm and
violence triggered by mental illness.
This specific type of murder is so important to gain further
insight on because 1/4 of women who are admitted to psychiatric
(43:52):
care have children under five years old.
It is also important to study women who commit maternal
philicide who are not mentally ill, particularly women who lack
education, are young, impoverished and neglect their
prenatal care. One study of mothers a colicky
(44:12):
infants who were not diagnosed as mentally ill, discovered that
as high as 70% of the women had explicit aggressive thoughts
towards their babies and 26% of them had thoughts of killing
them during an episode. To help prevent this horrendous
crime, understanding these thoughts and characteristics of
(44:36):
mothers who may be more prone toacting upon these feelings than
others is critical. It may help to identify mothers
who are at high risk of killing their children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed the
National Violent Death ReportingSystem, which collects data
about violent deaths, including homicides, suicides and deaths
(45:00):
that occur by law enforcement inthe act of duty.
They systematically gather information from medical
examiner reports, law enforcement and death certifies
and place them into an anonymousdatabase.
The system pulls more than 600 unique data elements to help
paint a clearer, more detailed picture of what may have caused
(45:23):
these deaths. Everything from relationship
problems, mental health conditions, toxicology reports,
to life stressors such as known financial issues, employment
problems, or physical related problems are all collected to
provide valuable context into the individual's death.
(45:44):
The CDC uses this data to develop, implement, and evaluate
programs and strategies to help prevent violence.
All 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto
Rico, submit this data to the NVDRS.
Even more relevant to this case is how the USFBI has established
a project that examines data. For a large sample of women.
(46:07):
Who have killed their children. All 50 states also have.
Implemented child fatality review teams.
But unfortunately, these individuals deaths are often not
investigated until after a. Person has been prosecuted due
to restrictions to. Access on law enforcement and
coroner reports. These cases of murder are
(46:29):
unbearable. They are difficult to listen to
and emotionally draining to cover countless podcasts.
Stay clear of covering such family violence.
These crimes are beyond horrifying and disturbing.
Our society doesn't want to think about a parent killing a
child, but the only way to ever prevent these crimes is to
(46:52):
acknowledge their existence and discuss these cases.
At the children's former school,Kyrene del Cielo and Tempe, they
have memorialized Mia and Kai anew, so their impact is forever
remembered. In a beautiful mural, the
(47:15):
children are painted outside amongst the trees.
Mia is depicted with many cats whom she adored and Kai and his
red sneakers which he always wore no matter what clothes he
had on. Their former principal spoke
(47:37):
about how these two children were adored at the school.
Everyone loved them. They were two of the kindest,
brightest and most polite kids she had the privilege of ever
knowing. They both loved art class and
some of their paintings hang near the mural.
(48:00):
They are vivid, creative and bright, just as the children
were known for being during their short lived lives.
Thank you so much for listening to this heartbreaking story of
(48:24):
Mia and Kai Anew of Tempe, AZ. Please let me know your thoughts
on this case. I know it was a very difficult
one to hear, but these stories are so important to be told.
We can't, as society, afford to just bury our heads in the sand,
(48:48):
so to speak, and not talk about the most horrific of cases.
Until next time, be safe and watch out for shades of murder
happening in the streets next door, especially inside your own
(49:13):
home. Shades of Murders created,
researched, written and edited by Lita Caldwell.
Original music stranger composedby Stereo Code.
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