US base worker indicted for murder in Okinawa

Japanese prosecutors have indicted a US base worker for murder and other charges over the killing of a 20-year-old Japanese woman in Okinawa.The written indictment says 32-year-old former Marine Kenneth Franklin Shinzato attacked the woman on the street of Uruma, a central Okinawan city, in April. He hit the woman with a club while attempting to rape her, stabbed and killed her. She was walking for exercise.Prosecutors haven’t commented on whether the defendant has admitted to the charges.Law enforcement officials say Shinzato hinted at committing the murder of the woman shortly after he was arrested on the charge of abandoning the woman’s body in a wooded area.Afterward, he reportedly has said nothing about the alleged crimes. Police have yet to find the knife used in the crime.An NHK correspondent says prosecutors apparently decided the defendant’s quick confession can be believed, supported by other evidence collected by investigators. Source and image:...

July 1, 2016

Japanese prosecutors have indicted a US base worker for murder and other charges over the killing of a 20-year-old Japanese woman in Okinawa.

The written indictment says 32-year-old former Marine Kenneth Franklin Shinzato attacked the woman on the street of Uruma, a central Okinawan city, in April.

He hit the woman with a club while attempting to rape her, stabbed and killed her. She was walking for exercise.

Prosecutors haven’t commented on whether the defendant has admitted to the charges.

Law enforcement officials say Shinzato hinted at committing the murder of the woman shortly after he was arrested on the charge of abandoning the woman’s body in a wooded area.

Afterward, he reportedly has said nothing about the alleged crimes. Police have yet to find the knife used in the crime.

An NHK correspondent says prosecutors apparently decided the defendant’s quick confession can be believed, supported by other evidence collected by investigators.