The Crime Ledger: October 4, 2026

Naha: U.S. Marine Held in Okinawa Hotel Killing

Okinawa prefectural police arrested a 20-year-old U.S. Marine early Sunday on suspicion of robbery-murder after Anna Yagi, 39, was found dead at a hotel in Naha on Saturday. Police identified him as Devin Jacob Ballard, who is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and said he is suspected of killing her and taking her wallet and backpack, Kyodo News and NBC News report. Police say she died of suffocation, and that he was seen entering the hotel with her. He has denied the allegations. TV Asahi reports that he told investigators, “I don’t know.”

The arrest set off a diplomatic protest. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned U.S. Ambassador George Glass and lodged a “strong protest,” Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi protested to Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost, commander of U.S. Forces Japan, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the case “extremely regrettable,” according to Kyodo. Glass pledged full cooperation with the investigation. “It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged,” Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja told reporters, in remarks reported by AP and carried by CBS News. Kyodo says more than 160 people protested outside the prefectural government building on Sunday.

The Marine Corps says it is cooperating with Japanese authorities and that “the Marine is in custody of local authorities while investigations proceed,” NBC News reports. Under the Status of Forces Agreement, Japan has the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over offences committed by off-duty U.S. personnel, Kyodo notes. No indictment has been reported. Ballard is presumed innocent.

Nashville: Prisons Chief Quits After Pike’s Failed Execution

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, is resigning three days after his agency failed to execute Christa Pike. Gov. Bill Lee announced the decision Saturday in a joint statement with Strada, the BBC reports, and the Tennessee Lookout says he’ll leave the job this month. This case continues from The Crime Ledger: October 3, 2026.

“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Lee said. Pike’s legal team called the resignation “justified” but said “it does nothing to help Christa now,” according to the BBC. Pike’s was the second failed lethal injection in Tennessee this year, the Lookout and People report.

Lee has ordered an independent review of the attempt and halted executions in the state through the end of the year. AP reports that former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton is conducting the independent investigation. The Lookout reported Saturday that Pike was in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Asked on CNN on Sunday whether she had regained consciousness since the attempt, her lawyer, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, said, “Not that I am aware of,” AP reports. Her lawyers say they may not know for several more days whether she can recover, and they have asked the governor to commute her punishment to a life sentence, according to AP. No new execution date has been reported. She was convicted of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, 19, and remains under a sentence of death.

Tabuk: Australian Counterterrorism Team Examines Co-Pilot’s Past

Investigators in Australia have opened their own line of inquiry into the flydubai co-pilot accused of attacking his captain on flight FZ1073. “The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (VIC JCTT), comprising the AFP, Victoria Police and ASIO, can confirm it is investigating the man’s links to Australia,” an Australian Federal Police spokesperson said Sunday, Guardian Australia reports. The story continues from The Crime Ledger: October 3, 2026.

A source cited by Guardian Australia said he was granted an Australian student visa in 2014, began a university course the following year, left the country in 2017 and had the visa cancelled in 2019. SBS News says the ABC reported the same timeline, and that investigators will reportedly try to establish whether he was radicalised while studying in Australia. The UAE, which leads the investigation, still hasn’t released the co-pilot’s name.

Capt. Smit Machchhar described the attack to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call on Saturday. He said the co-pilot told him he wanted to pray, that he turned away out of respect, and that a few minutes later he felt a blow to the back of his head, according to AP reporting carried by SBS News. A flydubai spokesperson said Saturday that the airline was not in a position to comment further, the Guardian reports. No formal charge has been reported, and the co-pilot is presumed innocent.

Halden: Father and Son Killed as Hunting Party Gathered

A man in his 70s and his son in his 40s were shot dead Sunday morning on a farm east of Halden, in southeastern Norway, as a hunting party waited to be sent out, police say. A third man, also in his 40s, was seriously hurt and was taken to hospital by air ambulance, Dagbladet reports. “They were standing in a farmyard and were about to be told which posts they would take when the perpetrator started firing at the hunting party,” police attorney Anders Svarholt told the Norwegian news agency NTB.

Police say the gunman put down his hunting rifle after firing, and members of the hunting party held him until officers arrived. On Sunday afternoon police said the man, in his 20s, has been charged with two counts of murder and with the attempted murder of one or more people, VG and Dagbladet report. His lawyer, Ole Richard Holm-Olsen, told NTB and Dagbladet that he admits criminal guilt and has agreed to be held in custody, and he has given a written admission of guilt for the two killings. “He has admitted causing injury, not attempted murder,” Holm-Olsen told NTB, in remarks carried by VG.

Police say he is being held at the Grålum central jail and that they have ordered a preliminary forensic psychiatric examination. VG reports that the custody question will be decided on Monday on the papers, without a court hearing. Svarholt said the working theory is that the man had some connection to the group: “We don’t believe this is a completely random person who started firing at a hunting party.” Police say their main hypothesis is that the shooting stemmed from a conflict, and that he isn’t related to the victims. Kripos, Norway’s national criminal investigation service, is helping with the inquiry.

Police haven’t released any names. The case still has to go through the courts, and the accused man is presumed innocent.

Plovdiv: Court Keeps Megerov in Custody Over Filipov Killing

Plovdiv District Court on Sunday ordered Slavcho Megerov, 51, held in custody, the most severe measure it could impose, while he is prosecuted for the premeditated murder of Iliyan Filipov, owner of the football club Botev Plovdiv. Bgonair and BNR report the ruling. The case first ran in The Crime Ledger: October 1, 2026.

The hearing, before Judge Petko Minev, started an hour late and was held behind closed doors at the joint request of prosecutor Dimitar Molev and defence lawyer Dilyana Agova, who cited “intimate details” in the case file. Megerov was brought in shackled and said nothing, BNR and Mediapool report. Agova argued there was no direct evidence against him, saying no weapon had been found and there were no witnesses.

According to BNR, Minev accepted that the weapon hadn’t been found but ruled that the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence, including camera footage tracing Megerov’s movements, formed a logical chain. Bgonair reports the court found a reasonable assumption that he is the perpetrator. BNR also reports that the judge pointed to unsettled debts from illegal betting as the motive. Prosecutors say they are still checking whether anyone else was involved. Megerov hasn’t entered a plea and is presumed innocent.

Yong Peng: Boy, 16, Remanded Over Schoolgirl’s Death

A Batu Pahat magistrate on Sunday ordered a 16-year-old boy held for six days, until Oct. 9, as police in Malaysia’s Johor state investigate the killing of a 16-year-old girl at a school in Yong Peng. Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad said the boy was arrested at about 7 p.m. Saturday, after the girl was found unconscious and covered in blood in a school hall. She was confirmed dead at the scene.

Police seized a mobile phone, a set of clothing and a pair of slippers from the boy, The Star reports, and the case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code, the murder provision. A post-mortem examination was scheduled for Sunday at Sultanah Nora Ismail Hospital in Batu Pahat. The motive is still unknown, and police have asked the public not to speculate.

The boy hasn’t been charged; the remand order allows police to hold him while they investigate. Neither teenager is being named here.

Chicago: Third Murder Charge for Man Accused in Two Killings

Anthony Nunnally, 21, was already jailed on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of two young women, ages 17 and 19, who were killed in 2024 and 2025. Chicago police announced Saturday evening that he now faces a third first-degree murder charge, in the 2025 shooting death of a 17-year-old on South Baker Avenue. Officers and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Apprehension Task Force arrested him Friday, the Chicago Tribune and Patch report.

The Tribune reports that prosecutors noted at an August hearing that Nunnally was suspected in a third killing but hadn’t been charged with it. Authorities haven’t given a motive for the latest death. The 17-year-old victim isn’t being named here.

A detention hearing was scheduled for Sunday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, the Tribune reported. No outcome had been reported by late Sunday afternoon. Nunnally hasn’t been convicted of any of the three killings.

Roubaix: Two Teens Held Over Café Shooting Death

Two young men, aged 17 and 18, were placed under formal investigation and remanded in custody on Saturday over the shooting death of a young man in a café near the Roubaix velodrome on Tuesday afternoon, Lille prosecutor Samuel Finielz said. The younger one turns 18 “in a few days,” according to the prosecutor.

They are under investigation for murder by an organised gang, criminal conspiracy, and acquiring and transporting category B weapons, BFMTV and 20 Minutes report. They also face a count of damage by dangerous means, which BFMTV reports concerns the car that took them to the scene and was later set on fire. One of them “admitted being the shooter,” Finielz said. An investigating judge at the specialised interregional court in Lille (JIRS) is leading the inquiry.

Neither has been named, and one is still a minor. Being placed under formal investigation in France isn’t a conviction, and both are presumed innocent.

Dallas: Blood on a Wall Leads to 1993 Murder Arrest

Tommie Davis, 55, was found dead in her home on Haskell Avenue on May 18, 1993. Police said she had been beaten with a board and slashed with a knife, and the case went cold. On Friday, Dallas police arrested Gary Len Ross, 56, on a capital murder charge in her killing, and the department announced the arrest Saturday.

Detective Andrea Isom reopened the case and sent evidence for new forensic testing, which showed that blood on a wall inside the home did not belong to Davis. A DNA profile entered into the national CODIS database matched Tommy Lynn Jones, a name police say Ross used as an alias. FOX 4 reports that, according to an arrest affidavit, Ross told detectives he had been to Davis’s home a few days before her death but denied any involvement.

“The Dallas Police Department is committed to pursuing justice in every case, no matter how much time has passed,” said Maj. Bobbie Epperson of the department’s CAPERS unit. The investigation continues. Ross is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Dhaka: Chamber Judge Stays Bail for Mitford Killing Accused

The bail granted to Mahmudul Hasan Mohin, the prime accused in the killing of scrap trader Lal Chand, known as Sohag, is on hold. On Sunday, Justice Md Rezaul Haque, chamber judge of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, stayed the High Court’s Sept. 28 order granting Mohin six months’ ad-interim bail, The Daily Star and The Financial Express report. Earlier coverage is in The Crime Ledger: October 1, 2026.

The order came on a petition filed by the state, Deputy Attorney General Syeda Shajia Sharmin told The Daily Star, which reports that Attorney General Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal moved it. Sohag was hacked and struck with stones near Mitford Hospital in Old Dhaka on July 9, 2025, and video of the attack spread on social media. A Dhaka court framed charges against 21 people in the case on July 12 this year, the Daily Star reports, and The Financial Express says the charge sheet names Mohin as the main planner.

Mohin is presumed innocent.

Gwangju: Prosecutors Appeal Life Term in Schoolgirl’s Murder

Prosecutors in Gwangju, South Korea, have appealed the life sentence given to Jang Yoon-gi, arguing that the punishment is too light, Herald Economy and Namdo Ilbo report. The Gwangju District Court’s 13th Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Lee Jeong-ho, sentenced him on Sept. 30 and also ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device. The case first ran in The Crime Ledger: September 30, 2026.

Jang was convicted of killing a 16-year-old high school student who was walking home in Wolgye-dong, in Gwangsan-gu, at about 12:10 a.m. on May 5, in a sexually motivated attack, and of attacking a male student who ran toward her screams. The court said he should be kept from society permanently but stopped short of the death penalty, and Herald Economy reports that it cited South Korea’s status as a country that has effectively abolished executions. In its judgment, it wrote that he should never be granted parole while he is alive.

The sentence isn’t final while the appeal is pending. We aren’t naming the girl.

Şavşat: Turkey Lists Wife’s Killing Among Solved Cold Cases

Turkey’s Justice Minister Akın Gürlek on Saturday listed the case of Nigar Bilgin, from Şavşat in Artvin province, among eight killings that investigators had cleared in seven unsolved files. In his statement, quoted by Hürriyet, Gürlek said new statements and a site identification led to a dig that turned up bone remains, and that one suspect, Z.B., was jailed pending trial while another, M.B., was placed under house arrest. The case first ran in The Crime Ledger: September 30, 2026.

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, who announced the arrest on Sept. 30, identified Z.B. as her husband, Hürriyet and Cumhuriyet report. According to Çiftçi, the inquiry began with local checks after she never applied for Turkey’s new identity card. Officials have given different figures for how long she had been missing, so the timeline is left out here.

Neither suspect has been tried, and both are presumed innocent.

Valparaíso: Pretrial Detention in Deadly Rodelillo Drive-By

Four months after a drive-by shooting on Avenida Rodelillo, in the hills of Valparaíso, Chile, killed two young women and wounded seven other people, a first suspect is behind bars. Detectives from Chile’s PDI arrested a 24-year-old man on Friday, 24horas reports. On Saturday, prosecutors charged him with two counts of aggravated homicide and seven of attempted aggravated homicide, and the Valparaíso Guarantee Court ordered him held in pretrial detention, Cooperativa reports.

Prosecutors allege that he fired from a moving vehicle on the night of June 3. Cooperativa says the evidence they cited includes analysis of an Instagram account, a protected witness, and a .40-calibre pistol and a bulletproof vest found at his home. Detectives are still looking for two other suspects, and the PDI and prosecutors plan to give more details on Monday, according to 24horas.

He hasn’t been named and is presumed innocent.

Posadas: Ex-Gendarme Detained on Eve of 2001 Murder Trial

Police in Posadas, Argentina, detained former gendarme Carlos Ramón Gómez on Saturday on the order of Criminal Court No. 2, which is due to try him from Monday, Oct. 5, for the aggravated homicide of his wife in December 2001. According to the accusation, she was shot four times with his service weapon on Dec. 9, 2001, at a home in Posadas’ San Lucas neighbourhood.

The case has crawled through two decades of legal challenges. El Territorio reports that a trial set for Sept. 16 was suspended after Gómez changed lawyers at the last minute, and that hearings are now scheduled for Oct. 5, 6 and 7. Primera Edición reports that prosecutor Vladimir Glinka asked for the arrest on Friday. It says police stopped a vehicle in which Gómez’s lawyer was driving him, and that the lawyer said they were on their way to a provincial prison so Gómez could surrender.

Gómez is presumed innocent. Local outlets spell the victim’s surname differently, so it’s left out here.

Ibadan: Three Held Over Woman’s Death in Robbery

Oyo State police say they’ve arrested three men over an armed robbery on Aug. 4 at a home in the Wofun Olodo area of Ibadan, Nigeria, in which Wahab Rukayat, 44, was killed and other people in the house were seriously injured. Police named the three as Akinrinola Oluwatobi, Okunola Mathew and Ibrahim Rabiu.

In a statement Saturday, police spokesperson Olayinka Ayanlade said officers recovered an iPhone 7 Plus belonging to one of the robbery victims. The Guardian Nigeria reports that the men were arrested in a raid on a suspected hideout in the Sabo area of Ibadan at about 9 p.m. on Oct. 2, that survivors picked them out at an identification parade, and that police say they confessed. The robbers took phones, wristwatches, $400 and other valuables, according to police.

The confessions are police claims and haven’t been tested in court. All three are presumed innocent, and police say they are still looking for other members of the gang.

Francisco Beltrão: Femicide Suspect Arrested After Six Days on Run

Thais Lopatiuk was holding her 6-year-old daughter when she was stabbed in Francisco Beltrão, in southwestern Paraná, Brazil, on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 27. She was taken to the city’s emergency care unit (UPA) in serious condition and died there. The girl wasn’t hurt. The man suspected of attacking her, her partner, had been on the run since then. Police arrested him Saturday morning, G1 and Portal Tri report, and the case is being investigated as femicide.

G1 reports, citing the Civil Police, that the arrest was possible during Brazil’s pre-election period because his voter registration had been cancelled. Brazilian election law bars the arrest of voters from five days before until 48 hours after the vote, with exceptions.

Police haven’t announced a formal charge, and the suspect is presumed innocent.

Huntersville: Husband Charged With Murder After Wife Dies

Sandra Porter, 65, died Thursday, Oct. 1, more than a week after she was found unresponsive at her home in Huntersville, North Carolina. Police said Saturday that her husband, Cody Franklin Porter Jr., 66, is now charged with second-degree murder.

Officers went to the 12000 block of McGinnis Lane at about 6:37 p.m. on Sept. 22 to help paramedics and found her unresponsive. She had been assaulted, police say, and WSOC-TV reports that investigators determined her husband had allegedly strangled her. He was first charged with assault by strangulation, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and misdemeanor domestic violence. According to WSOC, police said the murder charge is based on her death, the original assault and additional medical and investigative findings.

Police say they won’t release more information for now. Cody Porter is presumed innocent.

Prayagraj: Wanted Umesh Pal Accused Found in Bihar Jail

For more than three years, Uttar Pradesh police treated one of the men accused in the killing of lawyer Umesh Pal as a fugitive, with a Rs 5 lakh reward for his arrest. It turns out he has been in jail in Gaya, Bihar, since surrendering in a separate firing case shortly after the killing, The Indian Express and Hindustan Times report. Police in Prayagraj said Sunday that a court in Gaya had approved their transit remand application and that he is expected to be produced before a court in Prayagraj on Monday or Tuesday, The Times of India reports.

Pal and his two police guards were shot dead in Prayagraj’s Dhoomanganj area on Feb. 24, 2023. Police allege that the man rode the motorcycle carrying another wanted accused, Guddu Muslim, during the attack. Hindustan Times reports that investigators are examining whether the surrender was meant to keep him out of reach of the UP manhunt, though there’s no conclusive evidence of that yet.

The Ledger isn’t naming him because reports spell his name differently. He is presumed innocent.

Pasuruan: Relative Named Suspect in Student’s Killing

Police in Pasuruan, East Java, have named a 24-year-old relative of a vocational school student as a suspect in the boy’s killing, saying the motive was to take the student’s Honda Beat motorcycle. Pasuruan police chief Irawan Setyono announced the case at a news conference, iNews and Akurat report.

According to police, the suspect asked the student to pick him up on Thursday, Oct. 1, and the two rode together to Jatiarjo village, in the Prigen district. There, Akurat reports, police say the suspect struck him from behind with a piece of wood, then covered the body with dry leaves and set it alight. The family found the motorcycle with another person on Friday and handed the suspect to police, and the body was found early Saturday, according to Akurat.

Akurat reports that he is being investigated under the criminal code and Indonesia’s child protection law. The student was a minor and isn’t named here, and neither is the suspect, who is presumed innocent.

Black Hawk County: Grandson Charged in Grandfather’s Death

Sheriff’s deputies in Black Hawk County, Iowa, were called to a home in the 100 block of S. Elk Run Road at about 8:40 p.m. Saturday for an unknown problem. Inside, they found signs of a struggle and Gale Anthony Mervin, 75, dead.

Deputies found Mervin’s grandson, Eric Paul O’Connell II, 21, hiding in another room. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation, and deputies say he confessed to killing Mervin. After his release from the hospital he was booked into the Black Hawk County Jail on a first-degree murder charge and is being held without bond, KWWL and KIMT report. Both men lived at the address.

O’Connell is presumed innocent.