A US Marine allegedly strangled a Japanese woman to death inside a hotel room, according to local officials.
Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, was arrested around 1am local time on Sunday after he allegedly robbed and killed Anna Yagi, a local 39-year-old woman, on the island of Okinawa, the Okinawa prefectural police said.
Ballard, who had denied the allegations, was nabbed after police said he allegedly stole the woman’s wallet and backpack before suffocating her at a hotel in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, according to Kyodo News agency.
Her body was found inside a room after Yagi failed to leave the room at the hotel’s designated checkout time, local police said.
A concerned hotel employee unlocked the door and entered the room, where Yagi was found unconscious. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The disturbing crime has left locals and politicians terrified, with Japan lodging a formal protest against the US.
A formal protest is a strong diplomatic message that expresses strong disapproval of a policy, action, or violation of international law.
Security footage captured a man, believed to be Ballard, entering the hotel with the victim before walking outside alone.
Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, allegedly robbed and murdered Anna Yagi, a local 39-year-old woman, on Japan’s Okinawa island, police said. He is stationed at Futenma Air Station (pictured)
Ballard was nabbed after police said he allegedly stole the woman’s wallet and backpack before suffocating her at a hotel in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, a local outlet stated
According to the police, security camera footage showed the suspect leaving the hotel entrance with the woman’s belongings in his hand.
He had a shaved head, was wearing a black tank top and three-quarter-length pants with white sneakers. The belongings were later found around the hotel, police said.
Ballard was arrested after an officer saw him walking alone on a street in Naha’s entertainment district late Saturday.
The service member is stationed at Futenma Air Station on the island, authorities said.
Japanese government officials quickly responded to the ‘brutal and heinous’ killing.
‘The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,’ newly elected Okinawa Governor Genta Koja told reporters.
‘It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.
‘I must say, discipline and troop education are not working at all,’ she added, slamming the measures America has taken in response to past criminal cases in the country.
Security footage captured a man, believed to be Ballard, entering the hotel with the victim before walking outside alone
Around 500,000 US troops are deployed in Japan, and half of them are stationed in Okinawa. Their deployment is part of a mutual security alliance that is key to the Japan-US alliance amid growing tensions with China.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also spoke out after the woman was found dead.
‘The occurrence of the heinous crime is extremely regrettable,’ she posted on X.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also summoned George Glass, the US Ambassador to Japan, to his office amid the ‘outrage.’
Glass took to X, sharing condolences with the victim’s family. He said the US is cooperating with the Japanese nation and local governments in the case.
Ballard is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force on the island and said that the agency is also cooperating with the investigation.
‘The Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior,’ the Marines said, according to the Associated Press.
This is not the first time that US troops have caused a stir on Okinawa, as a 12-year-old girl was raped by three American service members in 1995.
The servicemen: Marcus Dion Gill, 22, Rodrico Harp, 21, and Kendrick Ledet, 20, rented a van and kidnapped the girl, taped her eyes and mouth shut, bound her feet, and then raped her on an isolated beach.
Gill, a Navy Seaman, pleaded guilty to rape, but Harp and Ledet said they only helped with the plan and did not rape the child. Harp also confessed to hitting the girl.
All of them were convicted. Gill and Harp were sentenced to seven years in a Japanese prison.
Ledet was convicted of abduction and violence, but acquitted of the rape charge. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
