Progress made in Bekasi murder case
JAKARTA (JP): Police are waiting for the results of a post mortem examination at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital before they charge an unemployed man in the recent brutal killing of a married woman in Bekasi.
"We can't yet give details on how ...the suspect, physically abused the victim or whether he also raped her," City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko told reporters yesterday.
However, on the basis of witnesses' accounts and clues found at the scene of crime, Bambang said police strongly believed that the 28-year-old resident of the Kali Abang Tengah subdistrict in north Bekasi was the main suspect in what they say was a violent burglary which led to the death of the woman.
According to a report of the Bekasi police investigation unit, Sri Wahyuningsih, 29, was strangled to death with a piece of cloth which was found wrapped around her neck. Her mouth had been gagged with another piece of cloth.
The woman's partially-naked body was discovered by her husband Bambang Indriawan, 33, at about 9 p.m. on April 28 in the living room of their small house in the Pondok Ungu Permai housing complex in Bekasi, about 30 kilometers east of here.
The deceased housewife, known as Yuni, was found without underwear.
However, her husband, a bank worker, informed local detectives that Yuni had not worn underwear for a long time, reported head of the Bekasi crime investigation unit Capt. Edward Syah Pernong.
"We have no idea why because her husband gave no further explanation about it," one detective told The Jakarta Post.
According to Edward, the suspect was arrested three weeks after Yuni's body was found.
The suspect was initially arrested on a charge of stabbing a minibus commuter after failing to get money from him, causing serious injury.
Police say that during questioning, the man confessed that he was the one wanted in relation to the killing of Yuni.
He told the police that his main motive had been to steal things from the house.
The suspect, who has been jailed many times for theft, remains in detention with Bekasi police pending the completion of the dossier regarding his alleged role in the Bekasi murder.
"The hospital's post mortem on Yuni's body will further help us to complete our final investigation," Bambang said.
Officer Edward said that at least 12 people, including Yuni's former friends and colleagues, had been questioned.
While police claim to be close to completing their investigation, questions remain regarding the evidence found at the scene of the crime.
At the house, police found a cigarette butt, a glass and a bottle of water on a table, indicating that a visitor, believed also to have been the murderer, might have been in the house for some time. Further, several spots thought to be seminal fluid were found at various places in the house. These and other facts seem to indicate that the victim may have known her killer.
According to police findings to date, a radio-cassette player was missing from the house, but a purse containing Rp 600,000 (US$268) was not taken.
Police said they had no eye witnesses. (bsr)