More trouble… possible murder on the mainland?
The second story of today comes from Japan Today, and could be a pretty serious one. For those of you who are not aware, Yokosuka is a town and a place in mainland Japan with a huge US Navy base. Right - background info out of the way. Onto the story…
Personal belongings of missing U.S. serviceman found in slain driver’s taxi at Yokosuka
Friday, March 21, 2008 at 06:11 EST
YOKOHAMA: The U.S. military in Japan have found items which apparently belong to a missing U.S. serviceman in the taxi of a driver who was fatally stabbed in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Wednesday night, U.S. Navy sources said Thursday.
Masaaki Takahashi, 61, was found dead on the driver’s seat with stab wounds to his neck in a parked taxi on a road in Yokosuka, police said.
The owner of the personal belongings is believed to be a crew member of the U.S. 7th Fleet’s warship based in Yokosuka, the sources told Kyodo News, and criminal investigators of the U.S. Navy are looking for the serviceman as a deserter.
Takahashi, an employee at the Shinagawa office of Tokyo-based taxi operator Anzen Group, was found slain with a 20-cm-long kitchen knife stuck deeply in his neck in the taxi parked on a road in Yokosuka’s town of Shioiri around 9:20 p.m.
An autopsy shows he died from blood loss.
Police found about 62,000 yen in cash in a bag left on the driver’s seat and tens of thousands of yen in a pocket of Takahashi’s clothes, according to investigations.
Police suspect the last passenger of Takahashi’s taxi stabbed him and fled after a payment dispute.
The scene is in a residential area about 1 kilometer from the main gate of the Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base.
*****************************
Well I really hope these suspicions about who has murdered this driver is wrong, for a number of reasons. Not least because it shows the US Military in Japan, and therefore all foreigners in a very bad light once again. My usual sceptical self comes to the fore again with a few comments about this story. Firstly, if you had deserted the US military (a very serious offence), would you firstly stay within 1km of the main entrance to the Yokosuka base? Possible if you’re a couple of sticks short of a bundle, but a little strange. Secondly, if you had deserted the military, would you do something like this which you know is going to draw a huge amount of media and police attention, especially with recent events involving the military in Japan. One possible story of what has happened could go like this: Suspect gets taxi from Tokyo to Yokosuka. Taxi reaches destination and finds that suspect doesn’t have enough case. It’s at night so the ATMs are closed. Suspect wants to pay with credit card but taxi driver doesn’t accept it. Argument ensues and victim gets stabbed while suspect escapes. It is definitely not a robbery gone wrong as a large amount of money was left in the car. So what has happened?
I mentioned a credit card in my view of possible events as there are couple of rumours regarding what was found in the taxi of the victim. One says a credit card with this guy’s name was found, and another says his wallet was found. If they found his credit card, I am very surprised that a name hasn’t been put out to the public straight away (as it was in the Hadnott alleged rape case). He may very well have left his credit card/wallet in the taxi, but surely people have watched America’s Dumbest Criminals to know not to do that by now! Next thing is the weapon of choice. The taxi driver died after being attacked with a kitchen knife. Why the hell would anyone at all be wandering around with a kitchen knife in the possession? Are they concerned they might get pulled into a restaurant and asked to carve up a steak?! Seems very strange.
Also, it says that the main suspect is this American guy, although let’s realise that the only evidence so far is that his credit card/wallet was found in the same taxi, which could mean anything. If it is this guy, I sincerely hope he’s caught and sentenced to the fullest extreme if the case is as clear-cut as it initially seems.
EDIT: Another report is stating that the taxi driver was stabbed so deeply and hard into his neck that it ended up puncturing one of his lungs. Just for a second, imagine the force that it would take to do that, and then imagine the space inside a taxi. Something doesn’t seem to add up. If the suspect got out of the car, then surely he would have just run rather than turn, get a kitchen knife out and stab the driver who was in the taxi at the time. Think there is more to come out of the story than we know at the moment.
or Discuss this Article
