By This is not good news for US servicemembers stationed in Japan:
Authorities are searching for a US sailor in Japan after his credit card was reportedly found in the car of a taxi driver who was stabbed to death.
The case comes with relations between Japan and the US military tense, following a series of high-profile crimes linked to servicemen, including the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by a US Marine.
Masaaki Takahashi, a 61-year-old taxi driver, was found dead with a knife in his neck in his parked taxi late Wednesday on a road in Yokosuka, a military hub at the mouth of Tokyo Bay, police said.
"The US forces contacted me and informed me that a US soldier may have been involved in the murder case in Yokosuka," Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters. He declined to elaborate.
The US military pledged cooperation.
"We condemn this horrific crime in the strongest possible terms," the US Navy command in Japan said in a statement. [ABC News] [HT: Skippy]
The sailor had been AWOL for weeks before being linked to this murder. What I can’t figure out is that if you murder someone, why would you leave your credit card and other items in the cab for the police to find? Doesn’t make much sense to me. Anyway expect the typical protests from the usual suspects with no context of how few crimes USFJ personnel do commit in Japan.
9:02 am on March 23rd, 2008 1
Criminals do dumb things(besides the crime itself) all the time. Like using envelopes or paycheck stubs with their name and address on it for a bank holdup slip.
If the serviceman committed the crime, he left the card because of carelessness. He or she wouldn’t be the first murderer to do such a slipup.
11:23 am on March 23rd, 2008 2
This would certainly rank as being a stupid criminal which fortunately for us most criminals are just that, stupid. I’m sure that police will be able to check for fingerprint and DNA evidence to determine if the killer is in fact the AWOL sailor. If he was stupid enough to leave his credit card and other items in the cab then he would be stupid enough leave fingerprints as well as hairs in the cab as well.
12:41 pm on March 23rd, 2008 3
he was AWOL and took the cab then tried to pay with his credit card which was probably declined because it was maxed out. the driver probably demanded money the sailor reacted with the knife and the card was the last thing on his mind when he ran away
i would say if you are gonna go AWOL dont choose Japan unless you have some serious cash put away
its to damn expensive
8:28 pm on March 23rd, 2008 4
I have my own theory, but I have nothing to support it.
Some guy killed the US Soldier and took his credit card and maxed it out. It got declined when he tried to use it in the taxi so he just killed the driver and left. If he’s been missing for a while, it’s not impossible.
But that’s probably just the American in Japan in me wanting to believe that the people entrusted with defending us all from the evils of the world would 1) kill a cab driver over a fair, 2) be stupid enough to leave their credit card at the scene of the crime if they actually did.
But again, I have no evidence to support my theory either way.
9:03 pm on March 23rd, 2008 5
Peter Pan, there are plenty of douchebags in the military and some even willing to kill people as is evident by murderers sitting in the Ft. Leavenworth prison right now. The military just works hard to keep its percentage of crime below the level of the general population as I have shown is true for Okinawa in prior postings.
If this AWOL soldier did kill the cabbie you have to figure this guy was already a problem soldier by missing deployment and being AWOL. It will be interesting to see how this investigation turns out because you would at least think if he would be smart enough to not leave his credit card at the scene of the crime.
10:27 pm on March 23rd, 2008 6
I’ll be the first to volunteer to leave Korea if troops are sent packing from this God forsaken place.
10:30 pm on March 23rd, 2008 7
1- I forgot my cellphone in a cab once – glad the next guy didn’t kill the driver.
2- The card may not have nothing to do with the death.
3- If Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines were not overseas, the people would complain about something else American.
4- This is just someting that goes hand in hand with forward deployed troops.
8:23 am on March 24th, 2008 8
[...] AWOL US sailor who’s credit card was found left in the taxi of a murdered cab driver is now in the custody of US Naval [...]
9:07 pm on April 3rd, 2008 9
[...] http://www.technorati.com/tag/taxicab [Found on Yahoo! Search] 10. US Sailor Linked to Cab Driver Murder in Japan Mar 23, 2008 … AWOL US sailor who?s credit card was found left in the taxi of a murdered cab [...]