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)