U.S. soldier arrested, slanderous victim slandered; Okinawa Prefectural Police requests deletion, malicious posts will be investigated

The body of a 39-year-old woman was found in a hotel in Naha City, and a 20-year-old Marine Corps private assigned to the U.S. military's Futenma Air Base (Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture) was arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder.The victim has been slandered on social media one after another. Tetsuya Shimajiri, chief of detectives at the prefectural police, revealed at the prefectural assembly special committee on U.S. military bases on the 16th that they ask social media management companies to delete posts that violate the law, adding, ``Posts with malicious content will be investigated based on the law and evidence.''

After the incident, a series of posts degrading the woman appeared on social media, and on the 13th, her family issued a comment through their lawyer saying, ``Not only has her life been taken away, but even after her death, her dignity has been violated.We feel a very deep pain, as if she had been murdered twice.''

The incident occurred in the early hours of October 3rd. The body of a woman was found in a hotel in Naha City, and prefectural police on the 4th urgently arrested Devin Jacob Ballard on suspicion of robbery and murder for killing the woman and stealing her wallet and other belongings. The suspect denies the incident, saying, "I don't know."

Detective Chief Inspector Shimajiri revealed at the committee meeting on the 16th that the suspect was ``living on a US military base.''