Peruvian man held in Japan over suspected serial killings

TOKYO (AFP) - A Peruvian man was being held in custody in Japan over a suspected killing spree after six people were found stabbed to death in a residential neighbourhood near Tokyo, police said on Thursday (Sept 17).

The man, identified as 30-year-old Nakada Ludena Vayron Jonathan, is unconscious in hospital with a broken skull after falling from the second floor of a house while being pursued by police, local media reported.

Police suspect Nakada killed 41-year-old Miwako Kato and her two daughters, aged 10 and seven, after their brutalised bodies were found stuffed into two closets in their home in the usually quiet suburb of Kumagaya, northeast of Tokyo.

They also fear he was responsible for the death of 84-year-old Kazuyo Shiraishi, whose body was reportedly found in a bathtub in her home around 100m away hours earlier.

On Monday, police had found a couple in their 50s, Minoru and Misae Tasaki, stabbed to death at their house in the same neighbourhood.

Nakada is believed to have killed the people randomly after he fled from a police station where he was being questioned on Sunday, after being found in an incoherent state in a fire station, local media reported.

Police issued had issued an arrest warrant against him on charges of trespassing after he ran into the residential neighbourhood, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper and other media reports said.

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