Police still in the dark about killings of boys

Police still in the dark about killings of boys

JAKARTA (JP): After days of investigations, police said
yesterday they were still in the dark about the recent killings
of eight boys who were believed to have been sodomized.

"In the meantime, we have only come to the conclusion that the
killings were allegedly committed by one person who is poor and
has sadistic, deviated sexual behavior," head of the Jakarta
police detectives, Col. Paimin AB, told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.

The wanted suspect, Paimin said, is believed to have had a
close relationship with the teenage victims, all of whom were
street children, such as beggars and drink sellers.

Eight boys between the ages of 11 and 13 have been found dead
over the past two years at the defunct Kemayoran airport in
Central Jakarta and in Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta.

The victims were found naked and half-naked with their
stomachs torn out and necks wounded. In most cases, police found
only a razor and the victims' clothes near the decomposed bodies.

"All of the razors were of the same brand," said East Jakarta
Police Chief Lt. Col. Gories Mere, who led a special team
code-named Operasi Gila (Crazy Operation) to investigate the
serial killings.

Speaking to the Post yesterday, Mere said that the suspect
might have used the razor to slash each victim's stomach and
another unknown tool to stab their necks.

"Seven of the eight bodies had L-shaped wounds on their
stomachs," he said.

According to Mere, the team had learned that all of the boys
were from poor families, none of which owned a television.

"That's why their families did not know anything about the
stories shown by the TV stations," he said.

Police data shows that the first victim, still unidentified
and about 10, was found in his school uniform in some bushes at
Pondok Kopi on April 28, 1994. The second victim, about 13 and
also still unidentified, was found near a riverbank at Pondok
Kopi on Dec. 15, 1994.

The third was found in bushes in Kemayoran on March 23, 1995.
He was identified a year later as Andri Rionaldo, 13.

The next victim -- later identified as Gito, 13 -- was found
on July 18, 1995 near a school at Pondok Kopi with his
tambourine. He was believed to be a street singer.

The fifth, about 13 and still unidentified, was found near a
golf course in Kemayoran on Sept. 13, 1995. The next victim,
around 12 and also unidentified, was found on April 9, 1996, also
in Kemayoran.

The seventh, identified yesterday as Ibnu Wisnu Dwi Pranoto,
11, was found in Kemayoran on June 26, 1996. The last victim,
recently identified as Kasikin, 11, was found in Pondok Kopi on
July 5, 1996.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira
said that police are now searching for a primary witness believed
to have information which could solve the killing of Dwi Pranoto.

In a related issue yesterday, police have arrested three men
accused of sexually assaulting underaged boys.

"They have admitted to sodomizing street children, but denied
having committed such an offense against the eight victims. They
also denied to having killed them," City Police Spokesman Lt.
Col. Iman Haryatna said.

According to officer Mere, the sperm of the three men has been
brought to the police laboratory for DNA tests.

Police arrested a man several months ago later identified as
Vicky Randa, 25, believed to have played a certain role in the
killings.

However, he admitted having anal sex with four children, none
of whom were the victims. Vicky died while in police detention,
weeks after his arrest. (bsr/jun)