Alleged killer of Hutagalung's family arrested
Alleged killer of Hutagalung's family arrested
BEKASI (JP): City police have arrested a man strongly believed
to be the country's long-wanted suspect in the brutal killing of
six members of Herbin Hutagalung's family here early last year,
reliable sources said.
The suspect, identified as Suyono, alias Gendut (Fatso), is
believed to have slain Hutagalung's wife, sister-in-law and four
children, was arrested at an unidentified city in Malaysia early
this week, the sources, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta
Post yesterday.
A number of senior detectives, including head of Crime
Investigation Directorate of the Greater Jakarta Police, Col.
Nurfauzi, are now in Malaysia to question the suspect.
However, Deputy chief to the Greater Jakarta Police, Brig.
Gen. Hamami Nata said he had no idea about the arrest of Gendut.
"I hope there will be big news over the next few days," he told
the Post.
Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia M. Jacob Dasto and other
officials at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur could not be reached for
confirmation.
"The ambassador is still staying at a hotel in town and we're
not allowed to tell you the hotel's address," Robert, an employee
at the ambassador's residence, said by phone yesterday evening.
According to the sources, police have collected a number of
documents from the suspect's hometown in East Java to help
confirm the identity of the man.
"Everything matches, so far," another source said.
However, it remains unknown whether the police have checked
the man's fingerprints.
The sources strongly hope that this time the city police have
the real culprit after an almost 22-month search.
Dozens of people, including the suspect's relatives have been
questioned and a large number of towns and villages in Java, Bali
and Sumatra have been combed in vain.
The police once arrested the wrong man, a construction worker
whose physical characteristics were similar to those of Gendut.
The man, later identified as Sutrisno, was released a few days
later after the police found that his fingerprints did not match
those of the suspect.
Since the killing on Jan. 5 last year, police have named
Gendut as the only suspect in the murder of the two elderly women
and the four youngsters, aged between three and 18 years old.
The six victims were brutally clubbed to death with blunt
objects at the family's house in Kampung Sawah, Jatiwarna
village, Pondok Gede, 30 kilometers east of Jakarta.
Another Hutagalung daughter, who is under five years old,
survived the attack and is expected to become the key witness in
the case.
Several weeks after the murder, which became headline news at
the time, National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman Astrosemitro
ordered all his personnel throughout the country to help bring in
the suspect, dead or alive.
Banurusman told reporters many times that Gendut was living
and working somewhere in Malaysia. He said that due to lack of
information it was not easy to locate him.
The public has viewed the police's failure to find the suspect
negatively.(bsr)