A Nigerian man serving in the U.S. Navy was arrested on April 3 on suspicion of stabbing to death a taxi driver on March 19 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. The crew member of the Aegis cruiser Cowpens reportedly has admitted to the crime.
This incident, which follows the February arrest of a U.S. Marine in Okinawa on suspicion of raping a junior high school girl, underlines the need for U.S. Forces in Japan to implement stronger measures to prevent crimes by its service members. Past crimes in Yokosuka, the location of the United States' key naval base in the Far East, include the murder of a woman by an aircraft carrier crew member in January 2006, and the attempted murder of a teenage girl and a woman by a destroyer crew member in July 2007.
The U.S. Navy seaman suspected of killing the taxi driver had been away without leave (AWOL) since March 8 and was wanted for desertion. He was apprehended by U.S. personnel in Tokyo on March 22. Since then the U.S. has fully cooperated in the Japanese murder investigation. U.S. Navy officials gave the Kanagawa police their investigation record, the suspect's fingerprints and DNA samples for testing. The Japanese police were able to question the suspect inside the base and the U.S. handed him over to the police before indictment.