Police arrest four in dismemberment case

Police arrest four in dismemberment case

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bekasi Police arrested on Thursday four people suspected in the
dismemberment of Julius Alexander Matital, 20, whose head and
legs were found on Monday afternoon in the Kebon Nanas cemetery
in East Jakarta.

Police said they would not announce the identities of the
suspects until they finished questioning them.

"Yes, we have detained four people allegedly involved in the
murder of Julius. We will reveal their identity soon," Bekasi
Police chief of detectives Comr. Suwondo Nainggolan told The
Jakarta Post.

He said the four were being questioned at Bekasi Police
headquarters.

Police said earlier they had located the house where Julius, a
resident of the Harapan Jaya housing complex in Bekasi, West
Java, had been killed and dismembered.

Julius was employed in a handicraft home industry in Bekasi.

Two residents of Cipinang, East Jakarta, made the grisly
discovery of the body parts on Monday afternoon in the cemetery
in Cipinang Besar Selatan.

Doctors who performed the autopsy at Cipto Mangunkusumo
Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta were able to identify the
victim as Julius.

Police questioned eight witnesses, most of them relatives and
friends of Julius. Officers also found an axe near the location
where the body parts were discovered.

Police said that from witness statements, they were able to
establish physical descriptions of the suspects.

Suwondo confirmed that Julius was killed in Bekasi and that
parts of his body were dumped in Cipinang and in Legok,
Tangerang, Banten province.

"Based on statements from the four suspects, we are now
looking for body parts in Tangerang," he said.

Suwondo said that once all of the body parts were recovered,
they would be handed over to Julius' family for burial.

The body parts found in the East Jakarta cemetery are being
examined at RSCM as part of the police investigation.

"We are still trying to discover a motive for the crime, and
the questioning of the suspects is continuing," Suwondo said.