L.A. officer gives grisly evidence in Oki case

JAKARTA (JP): A United States' police detective testifying in the trial of an Indonesian charged over a Los Angeles triple murder said yesterday he believed the suspect was guilty.

Ted Ball, 46, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective, said the bodies, found in a warehouse, had been treated "very badly" by suspect Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki.

Ball, who has worked on the LAPD's homicide squad for 24 years said he saw the three boxes containing the bodies opened in a Los Angeles warehouse.

"The boxes contained three corpses, which were already stored for some time," he said.

Detective Ball said he could not determine how long the corpses had been stored in the warehouse.

He said the three people were killed at different times.

Ball said Oki's business partner Suresh Mirchandani was reported missing on Aug. 18, 1991. Oki's younger brother Tri Harto Darmawan, alias Eri, was reported missing in March 1992. Gina Sutan Aswar, also Oki's business partner, was killed on Nov. 2, 1992.

Ball said the corpses were so badly decomposed that even the strong bacteria which cause decomposition had died.

He said the remains were the "absolute worst" he had seen.

Eri and Gina died of severe wounds from being beaten on the back of their heads with a hard stick, he said.

The Indian businessman's remains were the worst, he said.

"Mirchandani wore only socks and underwear. His chest's skin was removed. According to autopsy analyst, he was bleeding when his lung and heart were torn off," Ball said.

He said Mirchandani was shot dead with a 38-caliber Taurus rifle. He was shot from the front and the bullet entered his spinal column, Ball said.

He said he was sure the suspect also killed Mirchandani in Los Angeles in a car which carried an unidentified third person.

Ball said there were blood stains in the back of the car.

In previous sessions, Oki admitted killing his brother in self-defense.

Previously Oki also said he wrapped Gina's corpse in a plastic bag and stored the bodies in the U-Haul storage building in North Ridge, Los Angeles.

Ball said he drew his conclusions after hearing Oki's admission to Jakarta police during an interrogation.

Oki was accompanied by his former lawyer Amir Syamsuddin during the interrogation.

Ball said he was present during the interrogation but was not allowed to interrogate Oki.

He said Oki's case was extremely rare even by the standards of U.S. murder cases.

He said he compared Oki's case with the O.J. Simpson case in the United States.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday to hear detective Ramirez testimony. (07)