Police hunt Safe-House Provider for Student Murder Suspects Near SMAN 3 Jogja
Police are still saying they are hunting four people connected to the murder of a student identified as AA (18) near SMAN 3 Jogja. One of the perpetrators being sought is the provider of the safe house where six of the murder suspects had hidden.
It is understood that three people in this case have been arrested. Those arrested are LTF (18) alias Lupek of Gondokuman, YSF (18) alias Ucup of Mlati, Sleman. A further suspect, a minor, identified as F (17) from Sleman, who at the time acted as the group’s motorcycle rider.
Meanwhile, the three murder suspects and the person who provided the safe house remain at large. Jogja City Police’s Crime Investigation Unit head, Kompol Riski Adrian, said they had the identities of all four fugitives in custody.
“Four suspects, we have all their addresses and identities in hand,” Adrian said at a press conference at Polresta Jogja on Friday (22 May 2026).
He explained that of the four, one is the mastermind behind the escape of the other six, a man identified as SR. This emerged from the statements of the three people we have arrested, as one person provided the facility for the three to flee to Cilacap, he said.
“So there is one person known as SR. This is the person we are currently pursuing because he is the intermediary,” he added.
From the investigations, it was also revealed that SR arranged the house for the suspects’ hideout.
“And the person concerned arranged the house there. Because he knew the people there, the house owner who helped conceal them was involved,” he said.
Adrian continued that although the arrests were made at a location where members of a gang that assaulted the student were gathering in Pandak, Bantul, he said they did not know each other across the different gangs.
“As I said earlier, the three suspects we arrested in Cilacap did not know or recognise the Cilacap-based group,” he added.
Adrian said the police were still pursuing SR, who is suspected of playing a key role in helping the suspects flee to Cilacap. Investigators are also probing SR’s links with other groups at the hideout site.
“Perhaps later, once we have arrested him or he surrenders, we will be able to probe the relationship between him and the Cilacap group,” he said.
He added that the victim and the suspects’ groups were not from rival gangs that had initially agreed to clash. However, on the journey, the victim’s group met the attackers’ group.
Adrian also confirmed that the victim was still a student.
“The victim was still a student,” he said.
The victim was found dead near SMAN 3 Jogja on Sunday (17 May). He was hacked to death after crossing paths with six gang members in the vicinity.
The Jogja City Police Chief, Commissioner Eva Guna Pandia, explained that the motive for the murder stemmed from members of the Voster gang hearing of a planned clash on Jalan Magelang in the early hours of Sunday, 17 May. The perpetrators then intended to defend their territory.
“The motive was that members of the Voster gang heard there was a planned clash in their area, and they then patrolled the area along Jalan Magelang,” she said.
Thus six offenders, riding three motorbikes with automatic transmissions, left Gejayan and headed along Jalan Magelang. As they passed near the Borobudur Plaza traffic circle, the victim came face to face with the group.
“Later, as they moved southward, the group approached the victim and asked, ‘Which school do you attend?’ to which the victim replied, ‘Kepo’.”
“Then the group asked again, ‘Which school do you attend?’ and the victim replied, ‘Not in school’.”
When they arrived at the roundabout in front of the Samsat office, the attackers briefly left the victim and turned in a different direction. But the victim, who had stopped, shouted for help toward the attackers while twisting his belt buckle.
“Upon hearing that and seeing it, the attackers turned around to pursue the victim, who then ran east toward Abubakar Ali, shouting ‘Voster’,” Pandia said.
The victim continued running east toward the Kridosono area and saw two men erecting a tent. The victim and his friend stopped and got off their motorcycles to seek help.
However, the pursuing group closed in, kicking the victim’s motorcycle until it fell. At that moment, one assailant got off his motorcycle and swung a single-bladed curved knife, a celurit, at the victim.
“The strike hit the chest, piercing the chest and causing bleeding within the pericardium,” she added.
After the attack, the assailants fled, dispersing toward a gathering point along Jalan Kaliurang.