NJ Mom Planned Killings Of Children For A Week: Report

MONTGOMERY, NJ — New details show a mother, who was charged in connection with the deaths of her two young children, planned the killings over a week, according to a media report.

Yuhwei Chou,36, Skillman, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after her seven-year-old daughter Samantha Ross and 10-month-old son Paul Ross were found bound and restrained in their car seats in Hillsborough, said Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson.

After being arrested Chou admitted to planning the murders over a week and for using zip ties to bound the daughter's hands and duct-taped her face and her son's before suffocating them with her hands, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

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A niece and her aunt who say they were babysitters of the two children set up a memorial outside the Skillman home and spoke publically about the children.

"She took care of him all this time. It was very difficult. My aunt loved Paul like he was her own son," said babysitter Gabriella Armijos to News 12.

Both Armijos and her aunt, Flor Cabrera, shared photos of the children on their Facebook page mourning their deaths.

"In memory of my beloved children Samantha Ross and Paul Ross, they will always live in my heart, thank you for making me happy, forever," Cabrera shared on her Facebook page.

Armijos also shared photos on her page saying "Always in my heart."

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 7:41 a.m., a 911 call reported a disabled motor vehicle that had left the roadway on Mountain View Road in Hillsborough. Read More: Skillman Mom Charged With Murder Of Child, Infant

Chou and two children were seen secured in a booster seat and a baby seat in the back seat of the vehicle, said Robertson.

Officers saw that the children were bound and restrained. No vital signs were present on the children and they were pronounced dead at the scene, said Robertson.

The children were identified as Chou's biological children. Chou was found to have caused the deaths of her two children Samantha and Paul following an investigation by the Somerset County

Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit, the Crime Scene Investigations Unit, Hillsborough Township Police, Montgomery Township Police, and Investigators from the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner's Office.

The circumstances that led to the deaths of the two children are under investigation by authorities.

No motive has been released. An autopsy for the cause and manner of death will be performed by the Medical Examiner's Office.

Chou will be sent to the Somerset County Jail pending a bail detention hearing following a medical clearance from an area hospital.

Anyone with information relating to the homicides is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100, or the Hillsborough TownshipPolice Department at 908-369-4323 or via the STOPit app.

Information can also be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers' Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports and Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

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