
Tempe, Arizona: Officers responded to an apartment for a "domestic dispute" on Saturday morning at approximately 12:30 am. Before the officers left the residence, the husband and wife were separated with the husband reportedly leaving the residence for the night. It was the first contact law enforcement had with the couple.
"Officers noted that the children were safe in their beds before they left the apartment," Temple Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steven Carbajal said during a press conference.
Later that morning, at about 7:30 am, 40-year-old Yui Inoue arrived at one of the Tempe Police Department's substations and flagged down an officer that was leaving for his normal patrol duties.
She told the officer that she had been "hearing voices telling her to kill her kids."
Officers reportedly noted blood and cuts on her as well as a bag of bloody clothing and a meat cleaver in her vehicle.
Responding to the apartment two children, a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl were found deceased from "obvious signs of physical trauma."
"It was something very traumatic for our officers to walk into," Carbajal stated. "We're trained to see these things. We have seen these things. We have the experience of seeing the worst, things that people will never see. There's something elevated about that when it's a 9-year-old and a 7-year-old. This should never have happened."
Carbajal stated that "we have officers that are struggling" as a result of what they saw inside the apartment. They will be receiving support and counseling. "This is something that will stay with them the rest of their lives."
During an interview with investigators, conducted primarily through a Japanese translator, Inoue is said to have told officers that she had woken up at about 4:30 am and discovered blood on her hands. She said that she didn't think she had killed her children, but that she couldn't remember.
Inoue stated that she bathed and then "woke up" to the reality of the situation and then headed to the police station.
Inoue and her husband filed for divorce in April, but were still living in the same apartment but sleeping separately according to officers.
She has been booked on two counts of first degree murder and has been given a bond of $2 million. She is due to appear back in court on May 21.