Car showroom owners slain

BOGOR (JP): A middle-aged couple was found murdered in their Kijang van in a quiet valley where rice and bananas are grown in Pasirmuncang village, Caringin, on Friday morning.

Local police identified the victims as Didi Sasmita, 59, and wife Susanti, 51. Both were the owners of car showroom Andrian Motor in Cibinong.

Medical staff at Bogor's Red Cross Hospital revealed that the couple suffered serious injuries.

Didi's throat had been slashed while his wife sustained head injuries and burns to her back.

The couple's relatives are convinced that the motive of the killing was vengeance, especially considering that personnel belongings were not removed from the bodies.

Melianti, the couple's second child, told reporters that many of her parents' belongings, such as a handbag, a wallet containing Rp 1 million, two mobile phones, luxury watches, a gold ring, a necklace and earrings were still with the bodies.

According to the 26-year-old woman, she and her three sisters and a brother were with their parents at the showroom on Thursday.

After her father closed the business at 7 p.m., they were all ready to return to their home on Jl. Batutulis.

"But father then invited us to have bakso (meatball soup) in downtown Bogor," she recalled.

The family left the showroom in two cars: the couple's five children in a Suzuki Esteem sedan followed by their parents in the Kijang.

"We first drove in a line before getting onto Jagorawi toll road from the Cibinong tollgate," Melianti said.

A few minutes after entering the toll road, those in the Esteem lost sight of their parent's van.

"We thought that the Kijang must have been stuck in a line or something ... we just went ahead to find bakso," she added.

When the children reached home, they nervously waited the whole night for their parents and tried contacting them on their mobile phones, but received no answer.

"Only in the morning were we informed by the police that our parents had been killed," she said.

The murder is being investigated by the Bogor Police. (24/ylt)