Photo: Master Sgt. Cohen A. Young/U.S. Air Force
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,theAir Force Times,Associated Pressand themilitary newspaperStars and Stripesreport.
Originally held on suspicion of attempted murder, authorities were expected to charge Saito with murder, according toStars 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 Stripesreports.
“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.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Nicholas Vollweiler.Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Diana Quinlan/U.S. Navy
• Read the shocking tales of people lured into cults and controversial groups in PEOPLE’sTrue Crime Stories: Cults, available nowon Amazonand wherever magazines are sold
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.
source: people.com
