Businessman sought over wife's murder

TANGERANG (JP): Police detectives here are looking for a 33- year-old businessman in connection with the murder of his wife and her sister, both of whom were found dead floating in a river in Serang on Tuesday.

"After preliminary investigations and interviewing the family's two servants, we believe that Aryani, who runs a cafe and owns a fish pond, killed his wife Yulianti, 32, and sister-in-law Aliuh, 30, and dumped their bodies," Tangerang Police Detectives chief Capt. Krisnadi said on Friday.

Krisnadi said the motive and chronology of events surrounding the killing remained a mystery, as did Aryani's whereabouts.

But police believe that the suspect murdered the two women in front of his five-month old child at the family's house on Jl. Prabu Siliwangi Raya, Perumnas, on Tuesday.

"It appeared that Aryani then took the child to his parents house, who live nearby, before disappearing," the officer said.

The swollen bodies of Yulianti and her younger sister Aliuh were found by residents of Teratai village in Serang, about 65 kilometers west of here.

Krisnadi said it was difficult to identify the two bodies because they had no documents on their presence. It was only after the dead women's parents read of the discovery and went to Serang general hospital that the identity of two women was finally revealed.

Blood stains

Police found blood stains at several places in the family's home. A knife, dumbbell, bedsheet and Yulianti's nightgown were taken away as evidence. All the items were bloodstained, he said.

After identifying the bodies, Tangerang detectives summoned the family's housemaid Yumi and servant Jayadi for questioning.

Yumi told ANteve on Thursday that Aryani had asked her to help carry the bodies to his car after the killing and warned her not to tell anybody about what had just taken place.

Jayadi told police investigators that Aryani had asked him to kill Yulianti last Saturday.

"I refused because I was scared to commit a crime," Jayadi said as quoted by Krisnadi.

The next morning, Aryani asked Jayadi to accompany him to his fish pond in Serang.

The servant again refused, saying that he was helping to prepare for a family party, Krisnadi said.

On Tuesday, Jayadi went to the house but found it locked and deserted. "The house was locked so I just went back to my home," he recalled.

Krisnadi did not disclose Aliuh's marital status and whether or not she lived together with her sister and Aryani. (41/bsr)