Murder case takes new twist

Murder case takes new twist

JAKARTA (JP): The blood found in the house of the main murder suspect, Philipus, matches the three murder victims' blood types, a court was told yesterday.

Forensic experts who took blood samples in the victims' house in the Bambu Apus subdistrict of East Jakarta, told the court that the blood types matched the blood found in Philipus' house.

Philipus is suspected of having murdered a woman and her three children on Oct. 2 last year.

"From our tests we found out that the reddish splotches found were human's blood of mainly O and B type, identical to the victims'," Herlina, an officer from the police laboratory, told the court.

The tests were conducted to locate microscopic blood stains and to determine the hemoglobin composition and ensure the blood stains belong to a human.

Blood stains were also found around the victims' house, and along the 200-meter path from the victims's house to the suspect's house, Herlina and five other witnesses told the court.

"Blood samples were also taken from splashes on the ground, on leaves and on some twigs, some even from beyond the cordoned-off area," said Maj. Sunggono, the laboratory and forensic team leader.

The suspect's thumbprint was also found on an exam sheet taken from a briefcase in the house.

"The left thumbprint on a school exam sheet matches Philipus' left thumb," Jusmanto, another police personnel testified.

According to Jusmanto, for fingerprints to be eligible as evidence there must be at least 12 similarities. They found 19 similarities on the exam sheet.

Simultaneously, two other hearings were held to try Philipus' wife, Suparmi, and the three children suspected to be involved in the murder.

Meanwhile, a police dog trainer said domestic animals had interfered with his dogs' tracking.

"Two of our dogs were leading the way when a neighborhood dog and a cat attacked and scared our dogs away," Sutidjo, the dog trainer, said.

The court hearing was adjourned until next Monday. (14)