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)