Elderly couple murdered at home

Theresia Sufa, Bogor

An elderly couple were found dead on Wednesday at their home in the Agricultural Research housing compound, Pasir Mulya-Ciomas subdistrict, West Bogor district, with gashes to their heads and faces.

West Bogor Police are currently investigating the matter but have yet to name any suspect or motive behind the murder.

Sulaeman Effendi, 54, was found in bed, wearing only a shirt. His wounded face was covered by his underpants, with a long gash across his midriff.

His wife, Mamik Sutarmi, 54, was discovered sitting, leaning against a cupboard in their bedroom. Her severely wounded head was also covered by an undergarment.

Meliani Daud Yamani, the sister-in-law of Sulaeman, told the press at the Indonesian Red Cross Hospital that the couple's housemaid, Narti, arrived at the house at 6 a.m. but found the gate was still closed.

She knocked on the door for some time but nobody opened it. She later went to a neighbor's house to call her employers, but nobody answered the call.

Narti and some neighbors tried to call Sulaeman from outside the gate. They became suspicious when there was no reply after some time. Later, they broke into the house and found both victims already dead.

"Maybe the perpetrators were robbers. Some neighbors found my brother-in-law's radio behind his house. Whoever did it, they should not have brutally killed them," Meilani said, crying.

She regretted that the victims' children, Budi and Wulan, had refused to live with their parents as both were already married and lived with their respective families at the Vila Bogor Asri housing complex.

"I have repeatedly asked them to live with Sulaeman because he had suffered a stroke, but they always refused," she said. "They must now be regretting the tragedy."