The media in the Philippines has identified Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton as the prime suspect in the killing of a transgender Filipino named Jennifer Laude on Saturday.
Pemberton - assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina - is being held in the San Diego-based USS Peleliu brig.
The Navy has ordered the Peleliu, along with USS Germantown, USNS Sacagawea, USNS Washington Chambers, and the JHSV WestPac Express to remain in the Philippine port of Subic Bay while the murder investigation is underway.
According to an email Marine Corps Forces Pacific spokesman Col. Brad Bartelt sent to Stars and Stripes:
“All ships even remotely related to this incident are being retained in port,” by order of Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, U.S. Pacific Command, and will remain in port until otherwise directed...
The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper reports that Laude checked into the Celzone Lodge hotel 11:30 p.m. Saturday with a man witnesses said had a “white complexion, with marine-style cut of hair":
A hotel employee saw the suspect leave the hotel room alone minutes later. The employee discovered Laude's dead body in the bathroom, slumped over the toilet.
GulfNews.com reports the autopsy conducted on Laude's body named "asphyxiation by drowning" as the cause of death.
For more background on the story, check out this video report from The Associated Press:
