A U.S. Marine accused of killing a woman while stationed on Japan’s Okinawa island has been identified and pictured.
Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, is based at Futenma Air Station. Japanese authorities detained him Saturday on suspicion of strangling 39-year-old Anna Yagi in a hotel before taking her wallet and backpack.
Yagi was discovered inside a hotel room in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, after staff realized she had not checked out by the scheduled departure time.
A hotel employee became concerned, unlocked the room and found Yagi unconscious inside.
Emergency responders were called at about 4:20 a.m., but Yagi was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators believe the attack occurred sometime between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Police later reviewed surveillance footage that they say showed Ballard leaving the hotel carrying Yagi’s belongings. Officers said the wallet and backpack were subsequently recovered in the area around the hotel.
Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, was arrested by Japanese authorities Saturday over the alleged strangling death of a 39-year-old woman
Japanese police cordon off a section of Naha, Okinawa, while investigating the death of Anna Yagi, who was found in a hotel room
Later that night, an officer searching Naha’s entertainment district found Ballard. Police said his shaved head and tattoos appeared to match the description of the man seen in the security video.
Ballard has denied the allegations.
Japanese prosecutors are reviewing the evidence as they decide whether to file formal charges, CBS News reports.
A conviction could result in a life sentence or, in the most serious circumstance, the death penalty.
The killing has shaken residents and officials. Japan has also submitted a formal protest to the United States, a diplomatic expression of strong opposition to an action or alleged violation of international law.
“The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,” newly elected Okinawa Governor Genta Koja told reporters afterward.
“It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.”
“I must say, discipline and troop education are not working at all,” she added, criticizing the measures taken by the United States after previous criminal cases in Japan.
Okinawa residents protest the U.S. military presence following Ballard’s arrest
Residents have become increasingly frustrated in recent years over crimes linked to the U.S. military presence on Okinawa
A woman protests the U.S. military presence outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Monday
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also spoke out after the woman was found dead.
‘The occurrence of the heinous crime is extremely regrettable,’ she posted on X.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi also summoned George Glass, the US Ambassador to Japan, to his office amid the ‘outrage.’
Glass took to X, sharing condolences with the victim’s family. He said the US is cooperating with the Japanese nation and local governments in the case.
Around 500,000 US troops are deployed in Japan, and half of them are stationed in Okinawa – which had been under US occupation from World War II until 1972.
But in recent years, locals have grown irate over the increasing number of crimes linked to the US military presence on the island – including the heinous gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in 1995.
The number of US military-related criminal cases rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to prefectural police.
Many now argue that the 1960 Japan Status of Forces Agreement left US military bases in the country virtually immune to Japan’s domestic laws.
Under the agreement, Japanese authorities are hard-pressed to conduct an on-site probe into alleged environmental pollution inside the bases and regulate low-altitude flights.
Among the most contentious of the issues is Japan’s lack of primary jurisdiction over crimes committed by US military personnel while on duty.
Even when crimes are committed off-duty, as long as the individual responsible remains on base, their custody won’t be handed over to Japan until they are indicted, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, right, hands a letter of protest to U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson at Okinawa prefectural office on Monday
Amid the outrage, the US military announced on Tuesday it will halt normal operations and ban alcohol at its bases on Okinawa for a 48-hour-long period beginning at noon on Wednesday and ending at noon on Friday.
During that period, service members will participate in ‘discussions on liberty policy, enforcement mechanisms, alcohol awareness, Okinawan culture and alliance responsibilities,’ said Lt Gen Benjamin Watson, III Marine Expeditionary Force Commander.
Alcohol consumption will also be prohibited on and off US military installations for 30 days, during which the military will institute ‘enhanced supervision at the gates across all installations on Okinawa.’
Military leaders will use that time to ‘conduct a more deliberate review of our liberty policies and procedures and make recommendations to the Okinawa Area Coordinating Committee,’ Watson wrote in a memo obtained by Stars and Stripes.
‘Liberty is a mission, and like any other mission it requires discipline, trust and teamwork to complete it successfully,’ he wrote before urging service members to ‘live up to the high standards that come with the uniform you wear.’
Ballard was stationed at the US Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station (pictured)
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Ballard had enlisted on August 8, 2024 and completed recruit training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He then went on to attend the School of Infantry – East at Camp Geiger in North Carolina and the Marine Corps Engineer School at Camp Lejeune before being assigned to Okinawa.
He was promoted to lance corporal on October 1, 2025.
Ballard’s awards include the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, a Letter of Appreciation and a Meritorious Mast.
His current duty status is listed as ‘confined foreign civil authority/IHFA,’ an abbreviation for ‘in hands of foreign authorities,’ according to Stars and Stripes.