Sailor fingerprints given to Japanese policeKyodo News Service
Posted : Thursday Mar 27, 2008 7:40:27 EDT
YOKOHAMA, Japan — The Navy has provided Japanese police with fingerprints and an oral mucosal tissue sample of one of its sailors in connection with the case of a cabdriver found murdered in his taxi in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.
The sailor's credit card was found inside the taxi. The sailor, a 22-year-old seaman on the 7th Fleet's Aegis-equipped cruiser Cowpens, which is based at Yokosuka, has reportedly denied involvement in the case.
The sailor is in custody for desertion, according to the U.S. military in Japan.
Masaaki Takahashi, 61, was found dead with a kitchen knife in his neck in the driver's seat of his cab on a road in Yokosuka, near the U.S. naval base, on the evening of March 19.
The Kanagawa prefectural police have begun checking whether fingerprints found in the taxi are identical to those provided by the U.S. Navy in an effort to identify the last passenger to leave the cab.
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