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Very strange
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – The commander of the largest U.S. military base in Tokyo has moved to assure residents they are safe after the body of a man who had been missing for 16 days was found in his own apartment building on the installation.

“Over the past 12 months our base has experienced the deaths of six members,” Col. Andrew Campbell, who leads Yokota’s 374th Airlift Wing, said in a video message posted on the base’s official Facebook page Thursday evening.

The most recent reported death was that of Trevor Balint, 34, of Hubbard, Ohio. Balint, the spouse of Defense Department computer programmer and analyst Britni Balint, disappeared Feb. 1, prompting a search of the base from the ground and the air. His body was found Tuesday morning in the eastside housing tower where the couple lived.

On Feb. 9, while the search for Balint was still underway, the base announced the death of a Defense Department dependent identified a week later as Kayla Ash, wife of a 374th Logistics Readiness Squadron member.

Campbell, in his video message Thursday, offered condolences to the families and friends of those who lost loved ones.

“I also want to reassure our community that these deaths, while each tragic, reflect no known danger to our community at large … any danger to the community that an investigation might discover would have been or will be appropriately addressed.”

Some base residents have taken to social media, including the comment sections of posts made on Yokota’s official Facebook page, to express their concerns about safety amid the search for Balint and the recent deaths. Others have been critical of the base’s efforts to find the missing man and the sharing of information.

Balint’s mother-in-law, Denise Simion Mott, 56, of Brookfield, Ohio, told Stars and Stripes in a Facebook message Wednesday that the base’s efforts to find her son-in-law fell short.

“They assured my daughter that all buildings and storage units had been searched,” said Mott, who arrived at Yokota on Feb 12. “To be found in his own building 16 days after disappearing is severely troubling.”

Campbell asked the community to keep faith with law enforcement teams.

“Day and night, they embody service before self as they vigilantly provide for our community safety and security,” he said in the video.

The Air Force is still investigating the deaths of both Balint and Ash.