Couple nabbed over murder of 2-month-old twins at motel

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Couple nabbed over murder of 2-month-old twins at motel

INCHEON, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- Police said Friday they have arrested a married couple in their 20s on charges of killing twin baby sisters, who were less than 2 months old, at a motel in Incheon.

The 49-day-old twins were found dead, lying with their faces down on a motel bed in Michuhol Ward in the city, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, when emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene at 11:22 a.m. Thursday. They had livor mortis on their faces and stomachs, a posthumous symptom that develops when blood leans to the lower part of the body after death, according to officials.

During police investigations, the mother confessed to having laid the twins face down on the mattress at about 3 a.m. "because they were crying so hard."

The man, who is not the biological father of the twins, initially told police he woke up to find them dead after placing them face down on the bed. But later, he admitted his wife was behind their deaths.

The couple had been visiting Incheon from the central city of Daejeon for a trip since Wednesday and checked in to the motel at 12 a.m. on Thursday, officials said.

The mother is known to be unemployed, and the stepfather a delivery man.

By law, child abuse resulting in death is applied when the death is found to be unintentional and is punishable by five years or more in prison, up to a life sentence.

Police plan to request the National Forensic Service carry out an autopsy on the twins' bodies and conduct digital forensics on the couple's phones.

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