U.S. Marine Held in Philippines After Transgender Murder
A U.S. Marine was in custody aboard the USS Peleliu in the Philippines after the murder of a transgender individual, the Marine Corps Times reported, citing an internal Navy memo.
The victim was found strangled to death on Oct. 11 in a motel where she had gone with a foreigner whom she had met at a night club in Olongapo City, north of Manila, the Marine Corps Times reported today. A friend of the victim told police that her friend became uneasy because the man hadn’t realized they were transgender.
Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, ordered the ship to remain in port at Subic Bay pending an investigation, Philippine Defense Department spokesman Peter Paul Galvez told reporters in Manila today. The Peleliu was in the Philippines for a joint training mission that finished on Oct. 10.
U.S. authorities will cooperate with Philippine police in their investigation, the U.S. Embassy in Manila said in an e-mailed statement.
Locklear is in the country for a meeting on mutual security issues with his Filipino counterparts as part of the 63-year-old mutual defense treaty between the countries.
The marine belongs to a unit based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the newspaper said. Three other marines from the same unit considered possible witnesses have also been detained aboard the ship, the paper reported.