Anger in Japan grows after US Marine is arrested over the killing of a woman on Okinawa

TOKYO (AP) — The arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbing and killing a local woman on Okinawa has drawn condemnation from Japan's leaders and renewed protests against the heavy American military presence on the southern island.

The alleged killing could complicate Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen Japanese military defense on the island and to work more closely with the U.S. military to deter China in the region.

Okinawa prefectural police said they arrested Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Futenma Air Station, on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the island’s capital city of Naha early Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.

Security camera footage showed a man wearing a black top, trousers and white sneakers entering the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone.

Ballard was arrested when a patrolling officer saw him walking later Saturday in an entertainment district in Okinawa City, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Naha. His shaved head and the tattoos on his arms matched those of the man in security footage, Kyodo news agency reported.

“I’m outraged and flabbergasted to hear that a suspect came to the (entertainment area) after committing a murder,” Kenji Higa, who lives in Okinawa City, told the Okinawa Times.

People in Okinawa have long been wary of the U.S. presence on the island but many have come to see its strategic value due to what is widely viewed as a growing threat from China.

Okinawa was under U.S. occupation from World War II until 1972. Today it hosts 70% of America’s military facilities and most of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan today.

There has been anger over increasing crime linked to the U.S. military on the island. The number of U.S. military-related criminal cases rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to prefectural police.

After the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. service members, huge crowds protested the heavy U.S. troop presence on Okinawa. There was also anger over the rape of a teenage girl by a U.S. service member in 2024 and the delayed disclosure of the crime.

About 160 people gathered at a protest Sunday in Naha, condemning the crime and renewing demands that U.S. military bases be removed from the island.

One sign read: “We’ve had enough of this!”

“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 Gov. Genta Koja told reporters Sunday night in Naha. “It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.”

Koja said the case underscored the ineffectiveness of past disciplinary measures taken by the U.S. military following similar crimes.

“I’m enraged by the loss of a precious life of an Okinawan resident,” Koja told Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and U.S. Consul General in Naha, Andrew Ou on Monday when he summoned them to the prefectural government. He demanded that U.S. officials take effective preventive measures.

Watson replied: “I recognize the serious incident caused significant concern and anxiety among the residents of Okinawa, our neighbors” and that “we are committed to being good neighbors … and earning the trust of the Okinawan people.”

In Tokyo, Takaichi condemned the crime and demanded full cooperation and tougher disciplinary and preventive measures by the United States.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also summoned U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost to his ministry, while Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed his outrage to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, George Glass.

Glass, on X, expressed his condolences Sunday to the victim's family and said the United States is cooperating with Japanese authorities.

On Monday, he said he is telling U.S. military commanders of the need “to hold our American service members to the very highest levels of discipline and integrity" and that he and Watson discussed the “next steps in strengthening that bond of trust with our Japanese partners and base-hosting communities.”

Under a bilateral status of forces agreement, the case is being handled by the Japanese authorities because the suspect was not on duty and was arrested off base.

Japanese prosecutors started examining the suspect's case on Monday to determine whether to press formal charges in coming weeks.

If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, right, hands a letter of protest to U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson at Okinawa prefectural office in Naha, Okinawa Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, after Japanese police arrested a U.S. Marine accused of robbing and killing a woman. (Kotaro Ueda/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minsiter Sanae Takaichi mentions a murder in Okinawa at the outset of her policy speech in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP)

Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, left, speaks to the media at his prefectural building in Naha, Okinawa, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, after a U.S. Marine was arrested in alleged murder of a woman on Okinawa. (Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - U.S. MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft are parked at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, on the main island of the Okinawa archipelago, southern Japan, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

Devin Jacob Ballard, a U.S. Marine who has been in custody in an alleged robbery and murder of a woman on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, is sent over to the Naha prosecutors' office in Japan, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Kotaro Ueda/Kyodo News via AP)

TROY, Ohio (AP) — Former ‘American Idol’ contestant Caleb Flynn is sentenced to life in prison for wife’s murder.

THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP's earlier story is below.

A former music pastor in Ohio who appeared briefly on “American Idol” was set to be sentenced Monday after a jury convicted him of murdering his wife while he was having an affair.

Prosecutors said Caleb Flynn, 40, staged a home invasion in February after shooting his wife, Ashley Flynn, a 37-year-old schoolteacher and volleyball coach. Flynn claimed she was killed by a burglar at their house in Tipp City, a suburb north of Dayton.

He sent a text message to his lover the night before the shooting, saying, “I choose you. I’m free. Actions will come tomorrow,” prosecutors said.

Flynn faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the jury found him guilty last week of murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence.

Flynn appeared briefly on “American Idol” in 2013, telling TV viewers about how his wife had encouraged him to chase his dreams on the singing competition. He sang before judges Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson and Nicki Minaj but did not advance to the main competition in Hollywood.

During closing arguments, prosecutors told jurors that Flynn wanted out of his marriage when he shot his wife. The couple’s two daughters were home with their father when police arrived.

During the trial, Alleigha Botner testified she met Flynn in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at his church and had an affair with him for more than a year. She told jurors that Flynn said he hated his wife and had thoughts of killing her.

Jurors also heard AI-generated love songs that prosecutors said he made for Botner. Flynn didn’t testify on his own behalf, nor did anybody else.

The gun used to kill Ashley Flynn was not found at the scene, and his attorney told jurors that investigators found no evidence that Caleb Flynn fired a gun that day. Prosecutors said his fingerprints and DNA were at the scene and that his devices showed him moving around the house, even though he claimed he was asleep at the time of the shooting.

This image taken from pool court video shows 40-year-old Caleb Flynn listening to the judge reading out the jury's verdict at the Miami County Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Troy, Ohio. (Pool via AP)

Caleb Flynn listens to court proceedings inside the Miami County Court of Common Pleas on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Troy, Ohio. (AP Photo, Pool)