Naha, Okinawa Pref., Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)–Public prosecutors in Okinawa Prefecture indicted U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, on Sunday on robbery and murder charges after a 39-year-old woman was found dead in the southwestern Japan prefecture earlier this month. According to the indictment and other sources, Ballard allegedly strangled the woman with a telephone cord in a hotel room in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, approximately between 2:10 a.m. and 4:15 a.m. on Oct. 3 and took a backpack containing her wallet and other belongings. The woman checked in with a man around 2:10 a.m. that day, but she did not leave by checkout time. Around 4:15 a.m., a hotel employee entered the room and found her body, investigative sources said. Security camera footage showed a man with a backpack and features similar to Ballard’s, including tattoos on both arms, leaving the hotel. The backpack was found near the hotel. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
