뉴질랜드 재판부가 지난해 발생한 ‘가방 속 아동 시신’ 사건의 용의자인 40대 한인 여성의 신상을 공개했다. 이번 사건의 피의자는 42세 이하경(Hakyung Lee)이다. 본명은 이지은으로 이하경으로 개명했다. (Hakyung "Jasmine" Lee)

이씨는 2018년 뉴질랜드 오클랜드에서 7세와 10세 아이 (조유나 & 조민우)를 살해한 혐의를 받는다. 뉴질랜드 경찰은 2022년 8월 창고 경매로 판매된 여행 가방에서 어린이 시신 2구를 발견했고, 숨진 아동들의 어머니 이씨가 한국에 있는 것으로 파악해 수사 공조를 요청했다. 이씨는 범행 이후 한국에 입국해 도피생활을 한 것으로 확인됐다.

국내 경찰은 이씨의 국내 체류기록과 진료기록, 전화번호 등을 분석하며 소재를 추적한 결과 2022년 9월15일 울산의 한 아파트에서 이씨를 체포했다. 그후 한국 법무부는 뉴질랜드로부터 긴급인도구속 청구를 접수하고 피의자를 2022년 11월29일 뉴질랜드로 송환했다.

자녀들을 살해 후 그 시신을 가방에 숨겼던 ‘슈트케이스 살인 사건’의 엄마에게 ‘종신형(life imprisonment)’이 내려졌다.  피고인 이하경(Hakyung Lee, 45)은 올해 초 열린 배심원 재판에서 두 자녀를 살해한 혐의로 유죄 판결을 받았다. 이 씨가 한국으로 출국하기 전에 여행 가방에 넣어 임대창고에 보관했던 아이들 시신은 4년 뒤 창고 물건 온라인 경매에서 발견됐다. 

11월 26일 오클랜드고등법원에서 열린 선고 공판에서 판사는, 최소한 17년의 가석방 금지를 포함한 종신형을 선고했는데, 재판 내내 그랬듯이 이 씨는 고개를 숙이고 말 없이 피고석에 앉아 있었다.

  Hakyung Lee was extradited from Seoul in 2022 after the remains of her children, both aged under 10, were discovered in suitcases that had been left at a storage unit in south Auckland. The bodies were found after an unsuspecting family bought the contents of a unit in an online auction of abandoned goods from the storage facility. In August 2022 the bodies of two children, Yuna and Minu Jo, were found in suitcases in Auckland.

2025년 9월 - The trial for a woman accused of murdering her two children and leaving their remains in suitcases is expected to start in the High Court at Auckland today. Hakyung Lee has been charged with the murder of her children, aged 8 and 6, in 2018. The children were found in suitcases in Auckland in 2022 after a family bought the contents of an abandoned storage locker in an online auction.

Court documents obtained by RNZ revealed Lee’s husband died in 2017. Before his death, documents said Lee threatened to kill herself and her children if her husband passed. The court documents revealed the method of murder was unknown, but was believed to be related to medication prescribed to Lee for sleeping issues following her husband’s deteriorating health. She was alleged to have murdered the children between late June and late July 2018. “After murdering the deceased, the defendant wrapped each of their bodies in plastic bags and plastic wrap,” documents said. “The defendant placed each body into a separate suitcase and put them into black plastic bags to conceal them.” Lee rented a storage unit in Papatoetoe where she took the suitcases, and stored them among other household items. She changed her name and left the country for Seoul, South Korea under her new identity as Hakyung Lee. Lee continued to pay for storage, until she ran into financial issues in April 2022, documents said. In August that year, the storage unit was auctioned off, with the auction winners taking the suitcases to their home in Clendon Park. They opened the bags to find the children’s remains. A post-mortem on both victims was carried out, with forensic pathologist Dr Simon Stables finding they died by unspecified means, associated with the prescribed medication. Ji-Eun Lee, who would later change her name to Hakyung Lee, killed her young children in 2018, months after the death of husband Ian Jo. She is on trial in Auckland for two counts of murder.

2025년11월25일-Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty in September of killing her children — eight-year-old Yuna Jo and six-year-old Minu Jo — in a grisly crime dubbed the country's "suitcase murders".

Justice Geoffrey Venning sentenced Lee to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years, but ordered that she be treated as a special patient under the Criminal Procedure Mentally Impaired Persons Act.