Japanese Arrest U.S. Sailor on Murder Charge

TOKYO, April 3, 2008 — -- Japanese police arrested a 22-year-old U.S. sailor today on suspicion of robbing and killing a Tokyo cabdriver.

The Kanagawa Prefectural Police told ABC News Olatunbosun Ugbogu confessed to killing 61-year-old Masaaki Takahashi.

Ugbogu, a crew member of the USS Cowpens and a Nigerian national, reportedly stabbed Takahashi at the base of the neck with a kitchen knife. The knife then speared a major blood vessel that caused Takahashi to bleed to death.

Ugbogu was stationed at the Naval Base in Yokosuka City, south of Tokyo. A credit card belonging to Ugbogu was found in the taxi and that led to the police's search for the sailor, police said.

The arrest came more than two weeks after the March 19 killing.

The police requested an arrest warrant on suspicion of robbery and murder -- suspecting Ugbogu of killing the taxi driver and fleeing without paying the fare of roughly $200.

The serviceman's whereabouts had been unaccounted for before the murder, police said. U.S. Navy authorities detained the sailor in Tokyo on charges of desertion three days after the murder.

Under the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, the U.S. authorities are not required to report on a missing member of the military while he or she remains stationed in Japan.

Japanese media reported that the suspect told the police he heard a voice telling him to kill someone.

The money belonging to the cabdriver was untouched. The police plan to question Ugbogu about the case.

U.S. authorities turned over the suspect to their Japanese counterparts after his arrest warrant was issued. U.S. ambassador Thomas Schieffer said the two governments worked closely to bring justice to the case.

"What we have tried to do in this whole process is to ensure that the investigation would be thorough and that justice could be done. It will be clear to both Japanese and Americans that we worked together on this and it so far worked," Schieffer told reporters.