Officer's wife found dead in vehicle trunk

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)