Photo/Illutration The home in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, of Ayano Ueda, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering her second son. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

YOKOHAMA--A 42-year-old woman charged with the murder of her son in 2019 was rearrested on suspicion of suffocating another son two years earlier, police announced July 31.

Police said Ayano Ueda has denied the latest accusation.

Investigators believe she also killed her third son, 17-month-old Kosei, by covering his nose and mouth at her apartment in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the afternoon of April 5, 2017.

According to the Kanagawa prefectural child welfare center, Ueda summoned an ambulance to her home, telling the emergency services operator Kosei had suffered a fit.

Police were unable to determine the cause of death despite performing an autopsy.

But they continued to investigate suspicions of foul play due to marks on his body.

Ueda has been already charged with the slaying of her second son, Yudai, by suffocating the 7-year-old in 2019.

Police said Yudai and Kosei did not have any pre-existing health conditions.

Since her arrest in February over the death of Yudai, Ueda has denied killing him, police said.

The Yokohama District Public Prosecutors Office indicted Ueda for Yudai’s murder on July 29 after concluding she is mentally competent to be held responsible for the crime following a psychiatric test that lasted until July 25.

Ueda had two other children, a boy and a girl, with her former husband. They died between 2002 and 2003, while they were still infants.

(This article was written by Shinjiro Omiya and Junji Murakami.)



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