Japanese Prosecutors Charge US Marine in Okinawa Woman's Death

Japanese prosecutors indicted a US marine on Sunday in the strangling and robbery of a 39-year-old woman at an Okinawa hotel, charging lance corporal Devin Jacob Ballard with fatally strangling Anna Yagi and taking a backpack that held her wallet. Ballard, 20, is assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. He has denied the charges.

The case began on 5 October, when Yagi's body was found in Naha, Okinawa's capital. Ballard was arrested the next day in connection with her death. Investigators had pulled surveillance footage from near the scene that showed a man entering a room with a woman and later leaving with her belongings. Japanese media reported that Ballard matched the description in the footage, and he agreed to accompany investigators to a local police station.

During questioning, Ballard said, "I don't know anything about it," according to NHK. The broadcaster reported that in later questioning he "made statements that partially hinted at his involvement." A statement reported by NHK and delivered to Yagi's family on Sunday said the family hopes Ballard "will confront what he has done and make amends commensurate with what he has done." The statement added, "She lost her life at the young age of 39," and that she "wanted to live much, much longer."

Yagi's killing drew protests in Okinawa and Tokyo and prompted political leaders in Japan to condemn it. It also led to a curfew and alcohol ban for US military personnel in Okinawa, where most of the 54,000 US troops in Japan are based. Japan's defense minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, said, "Incidents and accidents involving US military personnel cause great anxiety among the local community and must not be allowed to happen."

Cases involving US service members have a long record in Japan. A Japanese court sentenced US marine Jamel Clayton, then 22, to seven years in prison in June 2025 after he was convicted of choking and sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s. In 2017, former US marine and civilian base worker Kenneth Shinzato received a life sentence for the rape and murder of an Okinawa woman. That same year, US forces in Japan barred personnel from drinking alcohol after an intoxicated marine crashed into a mini-truck and killed the 61-year-old driver.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that about 6,000 US military personnel have been arrested since the US returned Okinawa to Japan in 1972. The newspaper counted 80 such arrests in 2024, the highest total in 20 years.

Ballard's next court appearance was not listed in the reports.