Holly MatkinHillsborough, NJ – A 36-year-old mother has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her seven-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son after the children were found suffocated to death in the backseat of a car Tuesday morning.
The incident initially began as an investigation into a vehicle that had gone off the side of Mountain View Road shortly after 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 9, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson told WNBC.
When police arrived at the scene, they found 36-year-old Yuhwei Chou inside the vehicle with her two children dead in the backseat.
Officers said 10-month-old Paul Ross was and seven-year-old Samantha Ross were both bound and restrained in their seats, WNBC reported.
At least one of the children was bound and had duct tape over their mouth and eyes, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation told the news outlet.
The children did not have any obvious wounds or signs of injury.
Law enforcement sources said the children appeared to have suffocated to death, but autopsy results are still pending, WNBC reported.
Robertson said the investigation is ongoing, but that evidence showed Chou murdered her young children.
The prosecutor did not release a motive.
Court records indicated the children were killed at approximately 2 p.m. on Nov. 8, one day before they were found, according to NJ.com.
A source involved in the investigation told WNBC Chou’s husband was at work when his children’s bodies were discovered inside the car, WNBC reported.
The couple was allegedly having domestic problems, according to the source.
“They really kept to themselves,” one of their neighbors told WCBS.
Another neighbor said he “never saw any sign of her being a bad mom.”
Chou was hospitalized after the incident and will be booked into the Somerset County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder after she is medically cleared, WNBC reported.
