Police released Friday a Marine Corps sergeant who was arrested in connection with the killing of an Oregon woman last month, pending further investigation.
Master Sgt. Nathaniel L. Cosby, 38, was arrested Wednesday at Honolulu Airport on suspicion of murder in the death of Ivanice "Ivy" Harris, whose body was found near Yokohama Bay.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office, which is waiting for additional test results, has not determined the cause of death.
Any charges would be pending the results of tests, the city prosecutor’s office said.
Harris, who grew up in Portland, Ore., and was living in Las Vegas, was vacationing in Hawaii with her boyfriend and a friend to celebrate her 29th birthday, said Andre Miller, a childhood friend acting as her family’s spokesman who maintains a Facebook page under the title "BRING Ivanice HOME."
Harris was last seen outside a Waikiki bar at 2:15 a.m. May 16, police said. Her body was found four days later on the Leeward Coast.
The Marine Corps said Cosby, of Jefferson, Ala., is an explosive ordnance disposal specialist who was in Hawaii on temporary duty. Navy officials said he was assigned to Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command at Hickam.
The Marine Corps in Okinawa said in a written statement that Cosby will remain in Hawaii and be assigned to Kaneohe Bay during the criminal investigation. He was stationed at Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Japan, where he is assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron-171, which is a part of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service also is investigating the murder.
Lt. Col. David Griesmer, a spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, said in an email Thursday that the Marine Corps takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and is fully cooperating with the investigation.
Griesmer said Cosby enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1998.
