A Japanese woman has allegedly stabbed an American soldier stationed at a US airbase near Tokyo. The victim was the woman’s boyfriend whose last decision to break up with her turned lethal.
Master Sgt. Nicholas Vollweiler, 35, was found unconscious with stab wounds in his apartment in the Japanese capital on Friday. The serviceman, who was assigned to Yokota Air Base, succumbed to his wounds later in hospital, the US Air Force confirmed.
The story later took an unexpected turn after police arrested a 27-year-old Japanese woman who is said to have been Vollweiler’s girlfriend for several months.
Aria Saito, a resident of Koto Ward, allegedly stabbed her boyfriend with a knife right in the neck. The heavy loss of blood led to the man’s death.
She was arrested on Saturday and reportedly admitted to murdering Vollweiler because he wanted to end their relationship. “Because I did not want to break up, I killed him and I also wanted to die,” she is said to have told investigators. The pair reportedly had a dispute days before.
While the incident is unusual for Japan, there have been many cases of US personnel involved in serious criminality. In 2017, a US civilian contractor was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of an Okinawan woman. Residents in Okinawa, home to more than half of about 50,000 US troops based in Japan, have been sensitive to such incidents, particularly after the infamous gang rape of a 12-year-old child by US servicemen in 1995.
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