Oki investigation close to an end
Oki investigation close to an end
JAKARTA (JP): Police revealed yesterday that their investigation of the Los Angeles triple murder is almost complete and that Oki has confessed.
Deputy to National Police Chief for Operational Affairs Maj. Gen. Koesparmono Irsan told reporters that the prime suspect, Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, has admitted killing all the three victims.
The two-star general said that during the police investigation, Oki gave a confession that matches the statements made by witnesses and the material evidence in their possession.
Koesparmono, however, gave no details on how, why or when the victims were murdered.
During a series of questioning sessions earlier, Oki, 30, gave different versions of his alleged role in the killing of Suresh Mirchandani, a man of Indian origin, Gina Sutan Aswar, a young Indonesian woman, and (Eri) Tri Harto Darmawan, Oki's younger brother.
Oki at one time told the interrogating officers that he was only responsible for the murder of Eri, who tried to shoot Oki with a gun. The two other victims, he claimed, had been murdered by Eri earlier.
On another occasion, Oki admitted to killing Gina and Eri, and attributed the death of the Indian man to his brother.
With Oki's latest confession, all that remains is the government's decision on the trial venue.
Since the identification of the three bodies in December last year, Oki has been treated as the main suspect by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The decaying corpses of the three victims, which police believe were brutally murdered in separate locations and at different times, were found together in a storage locker in Los Angeles in August.
On Monday, the U.S. government, despite the absence of an extradition treaty, formally requested that Indonesia extradite Oki.
The request is apparently being studied by Indonesia's Ministry of Justice.
Meanwhile, two visiting LAPD detectives were allowed yesterday to ask Oki a number of questions via local police officers in their latest attempt to determine Oki's motive for killing.
Though unsure of what he was going to discuss, Jakarta Metropolitan Police Chief Brig. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said he would meet with the two detectives at his office today.(bsr)