A 9-year-old girl was fatally stabbed in Nijo, Fukuoka Prefecture, during a hostage standoff Monday after more than a day of negotiations between police and her uncle went awry.
Shiho Nakata was fatally stabbed in the abdomen about 20 minutes before police stormed the house at 12:26 a.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy performed Monday showed that girl bled to death.
Nakata's uncle, Tadashi Kawamura, 36, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder and confinement.
The ordeal, which lasted nearly 38 hours, began at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday when an agitated Kawamura took the girl and his mother-in-law, Hatsue Nakata, 64, hostage at knifepoint at the home of his brother-in-law, Yasuhiko Nakata, 37.