A 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Japan has been indicted in a woman’s death after he was accused of strangling her to death at a hotel and stealing her personal items, according to reports.
Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, who’s assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force at Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, is suspected of killing a 39-year-old woman inside her hotel room in Naha on October 3, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the Naha Public Prosecutors Office and additional sources.
Ballard allegedly strangled the woman, a Naha resident, with a telephone cord and stole her backpack with her wallet and other items inside after they had visited the city’s entertainment district, per NHK. Naha is Okinawa’s capital.
Japanese prosecutors charged Ballard on Sunday, October 25, with robbery causing death in connection with the alleged murder of Anna Yagi, according to Ballard’s indictment obtained by Stars and Stripes, an American military newspaper.
The Naha Public Prosecutors Office alleges Ballard wrapped the telephone cord around Yagi’s neck “with intent to kill” before robbing her, per the newspaper.
Ballard was reportedly taken into custody a day later, on October 4, according to Okinawa police.
When police initially questioned him about Yagi’s death, he made statements saying “I don’t know anything about it,” per NHK.
He later made comments that “partially hinted at his involvement,” the public broadcaster reported.
Police discovered Yagi unresponsive and declared her dead inside her hotel room the morning of October 3, Okinawa police confirmed to CNN. Investigators determined she died from suffocation.
In a statement to the news outlet, a III Marine Expeditionary Force spokesperson said the U.S. military acknowledges “the seriousness of the charges and will continue to cooperate fully with Japanese authorities in their ongoing investigation as the legal process moves forward.”
It isn’t immediately clear whether Ballard has retained legal counsel, based on current reports.
According to NHK, Yagi’s family said in a statement through their lawyer, “We hope that he will confront what he has done and make amends commensurate with what he has done. She lost her life at the young age of 39. She must have wanted to live much, much longer. We will follow the trial to the very end.”
The statement was translated from Japanese to English by Google.
If Ballard is found guilty, he’d face death or life in prison in Japan, per Stars and Stripes.
U.S. military presence in Okinawa is facing increased scrutiny in the wake of Yagi’s death, the newspaper reported. Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja has called for the agreement relating to U.S. military affiliated personnel in Japan to be reviewed.
The killing led to protests throughout Okinawa and Tokyo and a ban on alcohol for U.S. servicemembers in Okinawa, where personnel are also now under a curfew, according to Reuters.
