L.A. officer gives grisly evidence in Oki case

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)