Officer's wife found dead in vehicle trunk

TANGERANG (JP): The wife of a city traffic police officer was found dead yesterday afternoon in the trunk of her husband's car at the Traffic Police Education Center in Serpong, Tangerang.

Her husband, Lt. Col. Benyamin, 40, the head of the Traffic Problem Survey unit of the Jakarta Traffic Police Directorate, said he was shocked to find Farida, 35, lying dead in the trunk of his Honda Civic Genio sedan.

"It was 11:12 a.m. and I was on my way to have lunch," Benyamin, who was taking an advanced course at the center, told his colleagues at the site.

According to deputy chief of the Jakarta Police Detective Unit, Lt. Col. Bakat Purwanto, the mother of two apparently wanted to accompany her husband to the school to see the building but was forbidden by Benyamin.

"Come on, I'm just going to school... besides, what else do you want to see there?" Bakat, who rushed to the site after the death was reported, quoted Benyamin as telling Farida.

The morning conversation at the family's house on Jl. Kelapa Hijau in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, ended when Farida told her husband she would go on her usual jog around the neighborhood, Benyamin said.

"He told us that 'before my wife left, she made a cup of coffee for me'," Bakat said.

At about 8 a.m., Benyamin drove his car to the center, about one-hour away.

"He said he heard no unusual noises or screams from the car's trunk during the trip," Bakat said.

After parking his car in the parking lot at the back of the center, Benyamin studied until the lunch break at 11 a.m., Bakat said.

He went to his car because he planned to eat outside the school complex.

Benyamin, Bakat said, was about to take something out of the trunk when he discovered his wife's body.

Farida -- attired in her jogging outfit of a yellow T-shirt, black knee-length sweats and white sneakers -- was found lying face down with legs turned toward the back of the trunk.

A reporter from The Jakarta Post, who inspected the body at nearby Assobirin Hospital, saw Farida's lips had turned blue and her nails were black.

Suffocated

According to leading forensic expert Abdul Mun'im Idries of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Farida suffocated due to insufficient oxygen and the presence of carbon dioxide inside the trunk.

"This is apparent from several signs found on the victim's body, such as her face which had turned dark black," said Mun'im, who was called to the scene immediately.

He estimated Farida died only a few minutes before Benyamin said he opened the trunk.

The scene was quite busy yesterday as many of Benyamin's colleagues packed the site, including the city police chief, Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman. (bsr/edt/41)