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

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)