A 34-year-old Japanese woman thought to have serially slain at least five of her newborns over a period of ten years has been arrested.
Emi Wakabayashi was the subject of an investigation this month after reports that the formally-expectant suspect was no longer pregnant, but, oddly, didn’t have a baby either.
Investigators finally found the missing infant’s corpse buried near her home in the prefecture of Ehime, then also uncovered the skeletal remains of four other ones in the same rural area.
Upon questioning, Wakabayashi confessed that, since 2006, she had abandoned all of her newborns shortly after giving birth to them, some of whom she may have murdered first.
"She hinted that she was involved in the killing of some of the babies," a police spokesman said, adding that the accused woman alleged she’d had five unwanted pregnancies in all.
The suspected real-life Medea has but one living child left: her firstborn, a son. But the parentage of any of Wakabayashi’s offspring, whether alive or dead, is now being tested via DNA.
This year a similar serial killing mom also made headlines in France for offing all of her newborns; and in Massachusetts another disturbed woman currently faces charges for murdering a number of her babies and house-pets.
Shocking cases of infanticide which demonstrate that, while females rarely kill -- let alone multiple times -- it does happen once in awhile. And, sadly, vulnerable family members are usually their victims.
