Foreigner held over possible serial killings in Japan after 6 people in 3 homes found dead from stab wounds

Japanese police are investigating the murders of six people at three homes in a city north of Tokyo, suspecting the possible involvement of a 30-year-old Peruvian man they have taken into custody.

Jonathan Nakada, an unemployed man with no fixed abode, sustained a skull fracture and remains in critical condition after he cut his wrists and fell from the second floor of a home in the city of Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, which he had apparently broken into with a knife and ended up being cornered by the police.

In the home, a mother and her two daughters, both elementary school students, were found stabbed to death. The home was near two other houses where three other people have died in the past few days.

Before the murders occurred, the Saitama prefectural police questioned Nakada on a voluntary basis on Sunday following a tip about a man mumbling at a fire station. But the police lost track of him as he ran away while the police allowed him to smoke in a smoking area at the Kumagaya police station.

National Police Agency chief Masahito Kanetaka admitted the “grave consequence” that occurred over the man who the police lost track of. But he also said it was difficult to make him stay at the police station against his will at that time because there was no proof he was involved in crimes.

According to investigative sources, the same kinds of footmarks were found at the three homes and six of the victims all had stab wounds.