Ex-regent found dead in apartment

JAKARTA (JP): Nuberto de Araujo, 50, former Ainaro regent in East Timor, was found dead by his neighbors in his low-cost apartment in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, on Saturday.

A preliminary police report states that the decomposing body of Nuberto, who lived alone, had been in the room for at least four days before being found by neighbors at 12:30 p.m.

The cause of death has yet to be determined but the police believed it to be a heart attack.

But Alijanto, chairman of tenants' association of the apartment building located on Jl. Bendungan Hilir I, said that he saw blood stains at the side part of the corpse's stomach.

Nuberto's body was found by neighbors after Iwan, a housekeeper at the building, noticed a suspicious smell coming from Nuberto's room on the first floor.

"He (Iwan) placed his nose near the bottom of the door and smelled the air. He was then sure that something had happened," Alijanto said.

Alerted by Iwan's report, Alijanto rushed to the room and knock on the door.

Receiving no answer, both men then forced open a window and saw a swollen foot on the bed.

There were no signs of struggle and from the appearance of the body, it seems that the former regent had died in his sleep, Alijanto said.

For four days, his neighbors had complained repeatedly about a bad odor from Nuberto's room.

According to Alijanto, the fan was still on when the body was found.

Nuberto was known by his neighbors as a quiet man who seldom mingled with them. He almost never received visitors and had been living in his apartment for about six months.

His nephew, Barbosa, who lives in a separate room in the apartment, often visited him.

The former regent had come to Jakarta to study at the State Administration Institute and had just returned from East Timor after visiting his family there. (03)