Jatiluhur Reservoir Security Guard Found Dead After Confronting Vandalism

Police are still investigating the death of Sumarna (40), a security guard at Jatiluhur Reservoir whose body was found floating in the lake near the Ubrug Embankment area in Purwakarta Regency, West Java, with his hands bound in handcuffs. Before his death, Sumarna was known to have reprimanded a group of youths who intended to carry out an act of vandalism at the vital facility.

“Reportedly, he stopped people who wanted to scribble graffiti — which was only natural, as guarding the reservoir area was indeed his job. The graffiti incident happened on Wednesday night, and a day later the group was suspected to have returned,” said a resident named Warta at the scene, as reported by detikJabar on Saturday (25/7/2026).

Police are still investigating Sumarna’s death. They are currently exploring the possibility of a link between the dispute over the vandalism and the victim’s death.

“We have secured the victim’s belongings, such as the motorcycle he used for work and his handheld radio, but not his mobile phone yet. We have also questioned several witnesses,” said AKP I Made Purwanta, Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit at Purwakarta Police.

Before his body was found, Sumarna had been on night shift duty. He lost contact at around 03.00 West Indonesia Time in the early hours.

The victim’s colleagues subsequently launched a search. His body was eventually found floating at the edge of the lake at around 11.00 West Indonesia Time.

When found, Sumarna was still wearing his full security guard uniform. Both of his hands were bound with handcuffs.