{"id":226571,"date":"2026-10-05T04:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-marine-arrested-on-suspicion-of-killing-japanese-woman-in-okinawa-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T04:54:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:54:47","slug":"u-s-marine-arrested-on-suspicion-of-killing-japanese-woman-in-okinawa-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-marine-arrested-on-suspicion-of-killing-japanese-woman-in-okinawa-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Marine arrested on suspicion of killing Japanese woman in Okinawa – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

For You
Settings
news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
A U.S. service member is in custody on suspicion of killing a Japanese national on the island of Okinawa.
Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southernmost prefecture, on Saturday and taking her wallet and backpack, \u200blocal police told the Reuters news agency. Ballard denied the allegations, police said.
The Marine was stationed at Futenma Air Station on Okinawa Island, police said, adding that he was arrested at 1 a.m. local time Sunday.
\u201cAn investigation is underway to determine the facts of the case, the United States is communicating and cooperating with the Government of Japan and local authorities,\u201d the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Sunday on X.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/a> described the death as an alleged robbery and murder.
\u201cThe occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret, and as the Government of Japan, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side,\u201d she said on social media.
Japan\u2019s Defense Ministry said it was \u201cdeeply outraged by the extremely brutal and heinous crime committed by a U.S. Marine.\u201d
It said on X that it had made \u201ca firm demand for stricter discipline, thorough measures to prevent recurrence.\u201d
The III Marine Expeditionary Force, a combat force of the U.S. Marine Corps headquartered in Okinawa, said it was cooperating with Japanese authorities in response to \u201callegations of serious criminal actions by a Marine.\u201d
\u201cThe Marine Corps takes these allegations very seriously and expects every Marine to adhere to the highest standards of behavior,\u201d it posted on X. \u201cThe Marine is in custody of local authorities while investigations proceed.\u201d
Approached for further comment, the Pentagon referred NBC News to the Marines\u2019 statement.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said he had spoken with Japan\u2019s Foreign Affairs Ministry and Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, \u201cpledging full cooperation as the investigation continues.\u201d
There are 18,000 U.S. Marines based in Japan, the majority of them stationed in Okinawa, just 60 miles from Taiwan at its closest point. The U.S. held the island from the end of World War II until 1972, and the presence of the U.S. military has often stirred resentment among residents.<\/a>
The 1995 abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. servicemen sparked mass protests, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets, forcing Washington and Tokyo to discuss ways to reduce the U.S. military presence on the island.
Freddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA U.S. service member is in custody on suspicion of killing a Japanese national on the island of Okinawa.Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is suspected of killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southernmost prefecture, on Saturday and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}