A United States marine is currently embroiled in a murder investigation in the Philippines. The marine is accused of killing a Filipina transgender woman after meeting her at a club and taking her to a hotel. Her body was discovered later that night. U.S. military officials are holding the marine aboard an American ship as the investigation progresses.

The marine, identified as Marine private first class Joseph Scott Pemberton, has been charged with the murder of 26-year-old Jennifer Laude, who was also known as Jeffrey, by the Philippines National Police, according to the Washington Post. The marine is currently being held aboard the amphibious landing ship USS Peleliu.

Marine Corps Times reported the incident happened on Saturday, when Laude and a friend met Pemberton at a dance club in the Olongapo City and then took them to a room at the Celzone Lodge.

Laude told her friend she felt uneasy and she wanted to leave before "the foreigner could discover that they were transgenders." Laude was found later that night strangled and lumped over a toilet, according to Filipino social media news site the Rappler. Two used condoms were found at the scene of the crime the city's mayor said.

The marine is currently being held aboard the Peleliu as the investigation progresses per the Visiting Forces Agreement, reports Reuters.

"Under the Visiting Forces Agreement, the custody of the erring soldier stays with the Americans," General Gregorio Catapang said after he met with U.S. Pacific commander, Admiral Samuel Locklear.

Catapang added that Pemberton would be tried in a Filipino court; however, according to the Washington Post, the U.S. could decline the Philippines request to hand over the marine and instead try them by a U.S. court. Nonetheless, U.S. military officials, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), have been working alongside Filipino police.

Fear that the U.S. would not hand over the marine has led to protests in the Philippines as well as calls for the U.S. military to leave the island nation, one of its oldest allies in the Pacific, according to the Associated Press.

Pemberton was part of an exercise called PHIBLEX 15 and was based in Subic Bay, where the Peleliu is currently harbored.