A US Navy officer accused of murder is facing death penalty, six months since his wife’s body was discovered in a Japanese hotel room.
Navy Officer’s Wife Jessica Olsen’s Body Found in Fukuoka Hotel
Lieutenant Commander Christopher Olsen was arraigned on Wednesday at a preliminary hearing held at Naval Base San Diego. His wife, 37-year-old Jessica “Jesse” Arguinzoni Olsen, was discovered strangled to death on October 27, 2023, within a room at Hotel SOL in Fukuoka. The hotel is roughly 130 km from the naval base where Olsen was stationed from November 2022 to December 2023.
Ms Jesse had blunt force trauma to the head. She also had jaw and hyoid bone damage (tongue bone). The evidence is consistent with strangulation. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has accused Olsen of brutally beating and strangling his wife within the hotel room.
Surveillance Footage and Initial Investigation
Hotel security cameras recorded the couple checking into the hotel on October 25, according to Stars and Stripes. Olsen was alone when she left two days later. Hotel employees found Jesse’s body and called police. The NCIS, in cooperation with Fukuoka police, opened an investigation, although Olsen was questioned at first but not arrested.
Olsen has now been officially charged with murder and obstruction of justice of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Court martial is on the cards, and if found guilty, he may be sentenced to confinement, dishonourable discharge, or even death.
Family Voices Frustration Over Delay
Ms Jesse’s family, still reeling from her death, has voiced frustration over the delay in justice. “LCDR Christopher Olsen has finally been charged-five months later. And still, we wait. No timeline, No answers to our questions about the next legal steps, No clear communication, No respect,” Ms Jesse’s sister Dominique Arguinzoni told Newsweek.
In a separate statement to Stars and Stripes, Ms Arguinzoni added, “We had no idea they ever had issues. None of her friends, even best friend, had an inkling. However, thinking back, my parents and I realised that she pulled away from us by reducing communications from every week to every other month or so.”
Ms Jesse and Christopher Olsen wedded in August 2009 at the State University of New York at Oswego where they first met. Olsen was commissioned to the Navy in 2014 and got promoted to surface warfare officer in July 2023.
