Body of eight-year-old removed from river

JAKARTA (JP): The body of an eight-year-old boy, Taufik Hidayat, was discovered on Thursday in Pesangrahan river in West Jakarta, the same area where the bodies of the boy's mother and elder brother were pulled a day earlier.

The boy, who attended second grade at an elementary school, was removed from the nearly dry river early on Thursday morning.

The bodies of his 27-year-old mother, Yeye Muhiya, and three- year-old brother, Dede Ridwan, were extracted out of the same area a day earlier at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively, West Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja said.

He said police were still building a case but initial speculation was that Yeye, who was divorced, killed her two sons and then herself over family and financial problems.

"We found a note at Yeye's parents home in the Kelapa Dua area on Wednesday. It's written by Yeye and addressed to her parents," Adjie said.

After her divorce with her husband, who is now living in Surakarta, Yeye, who was often hired by neighbors to wash clothes for Rp 5,000 (US 75 cents), lived with her sons at her parents' house, which was about 50 meters away from where her and her sons' bodies were found.

In the letter, Yeye wrote that her heart had been broken ever since her husband, Mulyadi, divorced her three years ago. She felt ashamed to return to her parents' home and she was broke.

"Her parents didn't help. She decided that she and her children should not be a burden to her parents any longer," officer Adjie said.

At the house on the narrow, steep road of Jl. H. Taha II, Yeye's father, Muselih, 54, was seen sitting outside on the porch of his home on Thursday, smiling at guests who came to give their condolences.

His wife, Marfuah, dressed in a black kebaya (traditional women's wear) with gold embroidery, laid on the floor of her living room, absently playing with a straw in her mouth. She was weeping silently.

Muselih, who grows and sells jasmine flowers, said Yeye, the second of the couple's 10 children, left the house at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

"Marfuah told me that Yeye walked out of the back of our house carrying her sick son Hidayat in her arms and was followed by Dede. Hidayat was very sick for the past two weeks. Yeye said she was bringing Hidayat to Eni, a midwife who lives nearby," he said.

But Marfuah told another version. On Monday night, she said, Yeye asked her father for Rp 5,000 to pay the midwife for seeing her ill son.

"But Muselih answered that he had no money because he was unable to sell enough flowers that day," she said.

At Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Muselih told reporters that he gave Yeye Rp 5,000.

He said when Yeye brought her two sons to the midwife, he was selling flowers at Rawabelong market.

"I did not see them since then. I was taking a nap when police and neighbors told me they were found floating dead in the river," he said.

A hospital postmortem report disclosed that there was a bruise on Yeye's chin and a blood stain in her mouth.

Marfuah recalled that she did see Yeye and her two sons leave the house that morning.

"Dede was at first not wearing slippers until I asked him to," she added.

On Wednesday night, police also found an overturned slipper belonging to Dede on the muddy banks of the Pesanggrahan river. The back of the slipper was spotless.

Police also found a wallet containing Rp 16,000 in the clothes on Yeye's body.

A local woman, who requested anonymity, told reporters on Thursday that Yeye approached Nurhayati, the victim's best friend and neighbor, that morning.

"When Nurhayati asked her where she was going so early, Yeye just cried and walked off with her children toward the river," the woman said. (ylt/01)