{"id":1508,"date":"2026-10-26T09:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2026-10-26T09:09:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:09:00","slug":"us-marine-indicted-in-alleged-okinawa-robbery-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=1508","title":{"rendered":"US Marine indicted in alleged Okinawa robbery homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2026-10-26\/GETTY_102526_HANDCUFFS_STOCK.jpg\" alt><figcaption>Getty Images\/Stock Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan, has been indicted on charges <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/International\/marines-identify-service-member-arrested-suspicion-murder-japan\/story?id=136995946\">stemming from the death last month<\/a> of a woman found strangled in a hotel, authorities said on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>LCpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, who is stationed at the Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, was indicted on charges of robbery and murder, according to NHK, Japan&#8217;s public broadcaster,\u00a0citing the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office and other sources,<\/p>\n<p>Ballard is accused of strangling a 39-year-old resident of Naha City by wrapping a telephone receiver cord around her neck at a hotel in Naha City on Oct. 3 and also allegedly stealing a backpack containing her wallet and other belongings, according to NHK.<\/p>\n<p>The incident has ignited protests on Okinawa and on the mainland of Japan in Tokyo. It also prompted the Japanese government to lodge a protest with the United States.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The 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,&#8221; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/takaichi_sanae\/status\/2106605676047077883?s=20\">social media statement<\/a> last month, in part.<\/p>\n<p>Police identified the victim as \u00a039-year-old Anna Yagi, according to NHK.<\/p>\n<p>Ballard is assigned to the III Marine Expeditionary Force, a spokesperson previously told ABC News, adding that the force would not release further personal or administrative details &#8220;to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation and adhere to privacy regulations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Security footage allegedly places Ballard at the hotel around the time of the homicide. The security footage showed a person who &#8220;appeared to be foreign entering the hotel with a woman and later leaving with her belongings,&#8221; investigators said, according to NHK.<\/p>\n<p>The man seen in the security videos resembled Ballard, including having a similar hairstyle and tattoos, police said, <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/International\/us-marine-detained-connection-death-japan-us-officials\/story?id=136982210\">according to NHK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the victim&#8217;s belongings were found abandoned near the hotel, NHK further reported, citing local police.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution has not disclosed whether the suspect has made incriminating statements in the case.<\/p>\n<p>According to the police, Ballard denied the allegations during questioning at the time of his arrest, allegedly saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know anything about it,&#8221; NHK has reported. During subsequent questioning, Ballard made statements that partially hinted at his involvement in the incident, investigators said, according to NHK.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Images\/Stock Photo A 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan, has been indicted on charges stemming from the death last month of a woman found strangled in a hotel, authorities said on Sunday. LCpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, who is stationed at the Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, was indicted on charges of robbery and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}