Man, wife and son slain in S. Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): A man, his wife and one of their children were murdered at their home in the southern outskirts of Jagakarsa early yesterday, police said.

South Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Yudi Susharianto identified the victims as Sukarman, 39, Siti Chotijah, 35 and their two-year-old son Azis Nugroho.

The couple's other two sons, Aditya Riyanto, 12, and Aji Yudanto, 10, survived the massacre, which took place about 3 a.m.

Yudi said police were still searching for the murderers and declined to speculate on the motive behind the killing.

He said the victims' bodies were found by the two surviving sons about 6 a.m.

"We categorize this as a brutal murder," he said. "None of the victims' belongings were missing, indicating that it was not a robbery."

Siti's brother, Prawoto, said the two boys survived the killing because they were asleep in a separate room which had been locked from the outside. The parents had the key to the door.

"At dawn, they heard their parents scream. They also heard their mother cry Allahu Akbar (Allah is great) but they could not open the door," Prawoto told reporters yesterday.

The intruders also tried to enter the boys' bedroom, he said.

About 6 a.m., Aditya was able to break out of the bedroom only to find his parents lying in a pool of blood in the living room and their brother in his bedroom.

Prawoto said Azis may have been murdered after he woke up and started crying after hearing his parents' screams.

The murderers apparently entered the house through the garage roof, where police found a large hole. All doors were properly locked.

Police also found cigarette butts in the garage and the roof.

"No one in the family smoked," Prawoto said.

The two surviving children and a neighbor, Widodo, will be questioned at the local police station.

Widodo claimed he heard screams about 3.00 a.m. but ignored them because he knew Siti liked screaming upon finding little surprises.

"A few minutes later I heard some noises. Then I checked it out, but I found nothing out there."

Neighbors speculated that someone might have contracted professional killers to commit the murderers after finding out that Sukarman, an employee of South Jakarta Tourism Office, had just received an inheritance from his parents.

"The victim had just bought a new Toyota Kijang van. He used to have a less expensive minibus. Maybe the killers knew all about this," a neighbor, who asked for anonymity, said.

Neighbors said they believed the killers may have known the victims because they accomplished their mission without messing things up.

"When we came in (after the murder), the place was neat," a neighbor said.

The three bodies were sent to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Abdul Mun'im Idries, forensic expert at the hospital, said that Sukarman and Siti died from neck wounds while the toddler died from slash wounds to his head.

"The parents apparently resisted the attack," he said, adding that they had been killed with a sickle or sword. (edt/ivy)