Murder suspects arrested in less than 24 hours
Murder suspects arrested in less than 24 hours
JAKARTA (JP): Three suspects in the murder of a couple in Utan
Kayu, East Jakarta were arrested on Tuesday after police received
a tip from one of the suspects' friends.
One suspect, 22-year-old Fichri Richard Datulong, said in the
presence of police officers that he and his friends were offered
Rp 30 million from a relative of the victim to kill Konstantin
Akbar and his wife Umi Kalsum.
"We made a plan last Friday at a bookstore in Central
Jakarta," Fichri said.
Konstantin, 52, and Umi, 44, were found dead in the living
room of their house on Monday morning. The servants found their
bodies and a forensic examination stated strangulation was the
cause of death.
Fichri, who was the victims' faith healer, was arrested at a
hotel in Bekasi. Police earlier apprehended the other two
suspects, Harsyad Bello, 29, and James Maramis, 19, who informed
them of Fichri's whereabouts.
East Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Hidayat H. Fambanyo said
the successful arrest was due to the cooperation of law
enforcement officials from the four police forces of Jakarta and
Bekasi.
"This is a good performance by a team consisting of our police
detectives and officers," he said. Hidayat, however, acknowledged
that they could not find a motive for the murder.
"We can't say yet what the motive is because the suspect
knows the victims well. The murder could have been motivated by a
family dispute."
During a reenactment of the murder on Tuesday, Fichri said he
did not feel like killing the couple, because he was only trying
to drive away the evil spirits that possessed them.
"I wrapped his (Konstantin's) face and body with a sarong,
while Harsyad and James held Umi down, because she also showed
similar signs of being possessed," he told police during the
reenactment.
The police said the three men then hit the back of the
victims' heads with a gypsum-filled ornament and a three-kilogram
dumbbell found in the house. Knowing that the victims were still
alive, they then allegedly strangled the couple with plastic
string, which they brought with them.
Fichri had known the couple for about one year but became
their faith healer over the past two months after he told them
that someone had cast a spell on Umi, making her feel weak and
unable to sleep.
The three suspects allegedly took Konstantin's car and his
other car's documents and keys.
Police found the victims' stolen car at the hotel in Bekasi.
Police also seized the stolen Rp 100,000 in cash and three gold
bracelets taken from the victims' daughters' bedrooms.
East Jakarta Police chief of detectives Maj. Alex Mandalika,
said he interrogated the relative who Fichri said was implicated
in the crime. Alex said the relative denied the allegation and
that police were still investigating the case.(01)