Police find no foul play in death of officer's wife

JAKARTA (JP): Police said over the weekend they have found no evidence of criminal behavior in the death of the wife of police Lt. Col. Benyamin whose body was found in the trunk of her husband's car on Wednesday.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said Saturday that the late Farida was believed to have died accidentally.

The conclusion, he said, was made after an intensive investigation by detectives at the scene and questioning of Benyamin by officers of the Jakarta Police Internal Affairs unit.

"Benyamin has not been named as a suspect because the police have found no criminal leads to connect him to the death of his wife," Aritonang explained.

"But as an officer, he had to report the incident to the Internal Affairs Unit," Aritonang said.

Benyamin, head of the Jakarta traffic police's Problem Survey Unit, found Farida's body in the trunk of his blue Honda Civic Genio sedan at the Traffic Police Education Center in Serpong, Tangerang.

Farida reportedly tried to hide in the trunk to see the Serpong education center, thereby fulfilling a long-held wish.

According to forensic expert Mun'im Idries of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, who rushed to the scene to examine the body, Farida suffocated due to insufficient oxygen and the presence of carbon dioxide in the trunk.

Mun'im estimated Farida died only a few minutes before Benyamin said he opened the trunk at 11:12 a.m. on the way to his lunch.

Aritonang quoted Benyamin's housekeeper as saying that Farida had long been asking her husband to take her to his school.

"This kind of accident could happen to anyone. Why make things more miserable for him (Benyamin)," he added. (edt)