Consecutive infanticides in Japan.

A 34-year-old housewife who was arrested for patricide confessed that she had also killed six newborn infants between 1975 to 1983. She is the mother of four other children, and her husband frequently works away from home. Her motive seemed to be economic. In addition to this case, 11 other cases of three or more consecutive infanticides are recorded for the 8-year period between 1979 and 1986 in Japan. All of the suspects were the natural mothers of the murdered infants, and most of them were married. The infants were killed immediately after delivery by various methods of asphyxia, such as strangulation, throttling, smothering, or suffocation.