Airman Allegedly Stabbed to Death by Woman Who Didn't Want to Split: 'Break Up Talk Got Complicated'
A member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Japan has been killed — allegedly stabbed to death by a woman who said she was his girlfriend and didn’t want them to breakup, according to military officials and news reports.
Master Sgt. Nicholas Vollweiler, 35, was found unconscious and suffering from stab wounds in his Tokyo apartment on Friday, the Air Force said in a statement. He was transported from his off-base apartment to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Vollweiler was assigned to the 374th Security Forces Squadron and stationed out of the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo.
The Air Force said a suspect in Vollweiler’s death has been taken into custody but did not name the arrested. Tokyo police said 27-year-old Aria Saito was accused in the killing, the Air Force Times, Associated Press and the military newspaper Stars and Stripes report.
Originally held on suspicion of attempted murder, authorities were expected to charge Saito with murder, according to Stars and Stripes. It was unclear if she has appeared in court or retained an attorney who was commenting on her behalf.
Saito allegedly told police that she and Vollweiler were dating, according to Japanese news outlet TBS, Stars and Stripes reports.
“I stabbed a man I was dating with a knife, aiming at his right neck,” she allegedly confessed, saying that she stabbed him after their “break up talk got complicated.”
She planned to kill herself afterward, local media outlets quote her as allegedly saying, according to the AP.
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Vollweiler was working as a K-9 instructor and handler at the time of his death, according to Pennsylvania TV station WNEP.
Col. Otis Jones, 374th Airlift Wing Commander, called him a “truly valued” member of his team in the statement released by the Air Force.
“He will be dearly missed by our community,” Jones said. “His family, friends, fellow defenders, and all of the Yokota community are in our prayers during this heartbreaking time.”
Vollweiler, who graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in the Poconos, Pennsylvania, had family in the Chestnutville Township area, WNEP reports.
“To me he’s a hero. The first day he put on that uniform, he knew what he wanted to do,” Vollweiler’s cousin, Lou Romeo, told WNEP.
The Air Force is working with the Japanese National Police in the investigation.
