A US marine has been indicted in Okinawa prefecture in Japan on charges of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman.

Lance corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, was accused of killing Anna Yagi, 39 , in a hotel in the prefecture ’s capital Naha and taking her wallet and backpack earlier this month. Ballard denied the allegations.

Ballard, who was stationed at Futenma Air Base, was found walking alone in Okinawa city later that day and was arrested the following day on suspicion of robbery and murder.

He was indicted on Sunday amid growing anger among Okinawa residents over the incident and the presence of US military installations.

He allegedly strangled the woman with the cord of a telephone in a hotel room between 2.10 and 4.15am on 3 October and stole her backpack that contained her wallet and other belongings, according to the indictment.

The woman had checked into the hotel with a man around 2.10am that day. Hotel employees entered the room at 4.15am after she did not check out on time.…