National / Crime & Legal May 15, 2018
Man in custody admits he killed Niigata girl, investigative sources say
Police believe Haruka Kobayashi strangled the 7-year-old victim to death and abandoned the body after transporting it by car.
National / Crime & Legal May 9, 2018
7-year-old Niigata girl was approached by a stranger the morning of her death
A 7-year-old girl who was found dead on a railroad track in the city of Niigata on Monday had told classmates that a stranger talked to her on her way to school that morning, investigative sources said Wednesday. Second-grade student Tamaki Omomo is likely to ...
National / Crime & Legal May 8, 2018
Young girl hit by train in central Japan in suspected murder
Police are investigating the incident as a possible murder due to the victim’s body showing signs of having been strangled.
National / Crime & Legal Mar 22, 2016
Prosecutors seek life for suspect in 2005 Tochigi girl murder
A life sentence is sought for the man accused of murdering a girl in Tochigi Prefecture in 2005 even as doubts emerge over his shifting confessions.
National / Crime & Legal Aug 18, 2015
Body found in Osaka parking lot confirmed as that of missing 13-year-old girl
The body of a girl found in a parking lot in Osaka Prefecture last week was confirmed Tuesday to be that of a 13-year-old who went missing with a boy from her school a day earlier, police said. Natsumi Hirata, a first-year junior high school ...
National / Crime & Legal Aug 17, 2015
The body of a girl — arms tied behind her back, her face nearly completely covered with duct tape and with over 30 knife wounds — was recently discovered in an Osaka Prefecture parking lot, and a security camera recorded two suspicious vehicles stopping ...
National / Crime & Legal Jul 6, 2015
A 26-year-old man arrested Sunday for allegedly confining an 11-year-old schoolgirl has admitted to kidnapping her, the Nara Prefectural Police said Monday. "I forced her into my car," the police quoted Masaru Ito as saying. Ito, of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, also allegedly said he saw the ...
National / Crime & Legal Apr 24, 2015
Four held in Chiba after teen's body found near Narita airport
Two men and two minors are held on suspicion of abducting a female teenager listed as missing in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.
World / Crime & Legal Mar 11, 2015
Frenchman gets three years for helping girl of 14 to go to Syria to marry Islamic State fighter
A French court sentenced a man on Tuesday to three years in jail for helping a 14-year-old girl who wanted to travel to Syria to marry an Islamic State fighter there. The sentencing underscored how French authorities are cracking down not only on volunteer jihadis ...
National / Crime & Legal Jan 16, 2015
Prosecutors on Friday handed the teenager suspected of murdering and dismembering her classmate last July to the Sasebo Police Station in Nagasaki Prefecture for safekeeping while she awaits her family court trial and potential criminal charges. Prosecutors have completed psychiatric tests on the 16-year-old, whose ...
National / Science & Health Nov 25, 2014
Osaka University Hospital says it has successfully transplanted the heart from a girl under the age of 6 into a boy aged under 10. The girl was declared brain dead on Sunday. Her liver and other organs were harvested for transplantation after her family gave ...
National / Crime & Legal Sep 24, 2014
Neighbors of slain Kobe girl express shock and anger; ID card led police to suspect
Residents here expressed shock and anger at the news that a missing 6-year-old girl had been found dead, her body hacked to pieces. Mirei Ikuta attended the local Nakura City Elementary School, where staff paid tribute. "I am overcome by extreme grief," said Masahiro Hirai, the ...