An Akita Prefecture woman charged with murdering a neighbor boy was indicted Wednesday in the slaying of her daughter one month earlier.
Suzuka Hatakeyama, 33, told investigators she pushed her daughter, Ayaka, off the Osawa Bridge and into the Fujikoto River in the town of Fujisato on April 9 because she was annoyed by the 9-year-old's whining, sources said.
Hatakeyama was indicted last month for the May 17 murder of 7-year-old Goken Yoneyama, who lived two doors away from her.
She told police that before killing Yoneyama, she had been thinking about her daughter's death and that she felt her "heart would rip open," the sources said.
The Akita District Public Prosecutor's Office has had Hatakeyama undergo psychiatric testing as her statements have been incoherent. Prosecutors have concluded she might have a personality disorder, however, she is still fit to stand trial. They believe the murders were committed on impulse.
On April 10, Ayaka Hatakeyama's drowned body was found in the Fujikoto River, 4 km downstream of the Osawa Bridge. Her skull had been fractured.