A woman was arrested Thursday after confessing to strangling her two children.

Police had received an emergency call at around 12:15 a.m. from the children's father, Koji Shiota, 47, saying he found his children's bodies on a bed in their home in Hino, Tokyo.

The victims, Ryohei, 11, and Nanase, 9, were taken to a hospital but were later pronounced dead.

When the bodies were found, the 37-year-old mother was missing along with a car. Police found her at around 12:50 a.m., wandering along a road after causing an accident on the Chuo Expressway in the town of Fujino, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The mother, whose name was not provided, had a fractured hip but is not in serious condition. She had been depressed over child-rearing problems since around June, investigators said.