Japanese prosecutors have filed formal charges against a U.S. marine suspected of murdering and robbing a woman while stationed on the island of Okinawa, according to Japanese media.
Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old lance corporal assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, is accused of fatally strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the city and stealing a backpack containing a wallet from her, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Ballard was initially arrested in Yagi’s killing on Oct. 4, about a day after she was found dead in Naha, Okinawa’s capital. Prosecutors indicted him on Sunday and he reportedly denied the accusations.
NHK and other Japanese media previously reported that Ballard was arrested after surveillance camera footage taken near the scene of Yagi’s murder showed a man entering a room with a woman and then leaving the scene with his belongings.
Ballard clearly matched the description of the suspect seen in the footage, was confronted and agreed to voluntarily accompany investigators to a local police station, Japanese media reported.
When questioned by police, Ballard denied involvement in Yagi’s murder, saying, “I don’t know anything about it,” NHK reported. But during subsequent questioning, Ballard allegedly “made statements that partially alluded to his involvement,” the outlet reported.
A statement reported by NHK and delivered to Yagi’s family on Sunday expressed hope that Ballard “will face what he did and make amends commensurate with what he did.”
“She lost her life at the age of 39,” adds the statement from Yagi’s family. “She… wanted to live much, much longer. »
Yagi’s killing sparked protests in Okinawa and the Japanese capital Tokyo, with political leaders publicly condemning his killing. It also triggered a curfew and alcohol ban for U.S. military personnel stationed in Okinawa, where most of the 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan are based.
Crimes committed by U.S. troops in Japan — including rapes, assaults, hit-and-runs and drunk driving — have long strained relations between the two countries, which are close military allies.
In June 2025, a Japanese court sentenced U.S. Marine Jamel Clayton, then 22, to seven years in prison after he was convicted of choking and sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s.
In 2017, Kenneth Shinzato, a former U.S. Navy and civilian military base employee, was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local Okinawan woman.
The same year, U.S. military forces in Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after an intoxicated U.S. Marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing a 61-year-old local driver.
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that about 6,000 U.S. military personnel had been arrested since the United States returned Okinawa to Japan after World War II in 1972.
There were 80 such arrests in 2024, which is a 20-year record.
After Ballard’s arrest, Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s defense minister, said: “Incidents and accidents involving U.S. military personnel cause great anxiety in the local community and must not occur.” »
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
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