Police arrest alleged killer of 10 street boys

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta detectives have arrested a 33- year-old homeless scavenger believed to be behind the sodomizing, killing and mutilation of 10 street boys.

Eight of the boys' bodies were found in the capital. The victims' age ranged from 9 to 15 years old.

"The suspect, arrested in Tegal, Central Java, on July 27, has already admitted the crimes," Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata told reporters yesterday.

He added the arrest was not announced earlier because detectives were busy investigating the riots in Jakarta on the same day and needed time to acquire adequate material evidence.

The suspect, identified as Siswanto, alias Robot, became the leading suspect in the investigation on July 5, when the last victim was discovered.

According to Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira, Siswanto was apprehended by a special team of nine detectives, who began tracking Siswanto two days after the body was found.

They had combed dozens of villages and cities in West and Central Java where the suspect's relatives were believed to have stayed.

"Siswanto was arrested at around 6 p.m. while begging at a railway station in Tegal," Abubakar said.

The case is the first of its kind in the country.

During preliminary police questioning, the suspect admitted sodomizing and strangling eight street boys in Jakarta.

Siswanto also said he did the same to two other boys in Purwokerto and Kroya, Central Java, where he is believed to have stayed for short periods.

"In cooperation with the local police, we're still investigating the fate of the two other victims," the police spokesman said.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna quoted Siswanto as saying that he molested the eight victims in Jakarta at the Proyek Senen shopping center.

This was apparently done in the evenings after treating the boys to a trip and cheap meal at the Ancol Dreamland in North Jakarta.

"He then asked the teenage boys to accompany him to certain places where he allegedly strangled the victims with a rope, and then sliced their stomachs open with a razor or a cheap cutter," the spokesman said.

Siswono said he met the street boys at different shopping centers and markets on separate evenings.

The eight victims were found in different places near the defunct airport in Kemayoran, in Central Jakarta, and in the Pondok Kopi district, East Jakarta.

The bodies of the street boys, two of whom remain unidentified, were found with L, C or U-shaped wounds on their stomachs. The wounds were between 15 and 90 centimeters long.

The victims were found naked or semi-naked with their decomposed intestines exposed. In most cases, the police found a razor, a cigarette butt and the victims' clothes near the bodies.

"Based on material evidence, eyewitness accounts and the suspect's confession, we hope the suspect will be sentenced to the maximum level of punishment," Maj. Gen. Hamami said.

Spokesman Iman said Siswono may well face the death penalty.

According to police records, the first victim, later identified as Mansyur, 11, was found in Pondok Kopi on April 28, 1994.

The second was later identified as Agus, 15, found in Pondok Kopi on Dec. 15, 1994.

The third was Andri Ripali, alias Rio Simamora, 12, found in Kemayoran on March 28, 1995. The fourth, Gito Fabianto, 13, was found in Pondok Kopi on July 18, 1995.

The fifth and the sixth victims, who remain unidentified, were found near a golf course in Kemayoran on Sept. 13, 1995, and April 9, 1996 respectively.

The two latest victims, both aged 11, were identified as Wisnu Dwi Pranoto, found in Kemayoran on June 26, 1996, and Kasikin, found in Pondok Kopi on July 5, 1996 respectively.

Lt. Col. Abubakar said that the suspect left the city immediately after committing the latest crime, when he heard that Kasikin's father vowed to kill his son's murderer. (bsr)