The two daughters of a woman who suffocated in a gap in her couch at her University City apartment have been arrested on suspicion of murder and elder abuse, San Diego police said.
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Police received a 911 call around midnight on March 6 from family members who said they had found an 81-year-old woman unconscious and not breathing inside her apartment on Genesee Avenue near Governor Drive, said Lt. Christopher Leahy.
Officers found the woman, later identified as Kun-Ying Yang, on a pull-out couch, face-first in the gap between the couch and bed frame, Leahy said. She died at the scene.
Investigators learned that Yang had likely been in that position for at least 15 hours, Leahy said. The autopsy determined Yang died from positional asphyxia with contributing factors such as neglect, according to investigators.
“We don’t know how she got into awkward positioning,” Leahy said. “She clearly should not have been in that position, and efforts were not made to remove her or get her appropriate medical care.”
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Through their investigation, detectives said they learned the woman’s two daughters, Ingrid Wu, 52, and Rebecca Wu, 53, were their parents’ caretakers after Yang and her husband had lost the ability to care for themselves.
Leahy said that over the last few months, investigators compiled multiple previous complaints regarding concerns over the care the parents were receiving.
“The suspects endangered their parents’ health and failed to act as legally required, leading to the neglect of their 88-year-old father and the death of their mother,” Leahy said.
The sisters were arrested Thursday and booked into Los Colinas Women’s Detention Facility. They are not eligible for bail release, according to online booking logs.
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