PHOENIX>>Phoenix police have launched a homicide investigation after a 5-year-old girl from Hawaii was found dead in an apartment.

Police spokesman officer Luis Samudio says officers found that the little girl had been dead for several days when they were called to an apartment complex in east Phoenix yesterday.

Her uncle was arrested on a first-degree murder charge, and Samudio says he's suspected of deliberately withholding medication and food from the child.

The girl had a disease called Rett Syndrome, a developmental disorder with symptoms that are often similar to autism.

The uncle was identified as 47-year-old Leonard Raymond Otra. He had been caring for the girl since August because the treatment she needed was not available in Hawaii.