Questions abound in Los Angeles murder case

Questions abound in Los Angeles murder case

JAKARTA (JP): If Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, is the culprit on the Los Angeles triple murder, why didn't he move the three decomposed bodies from the storage locker?

"Perhaps he had a plan but had no chance of carrying it out due to the problems he faced when he returned here," a reliable source told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Those problems include the confiscation of his original passport by immigration officers, being blacklisted by the American embassy in Jakarta for alleged passport forgery, and his marriage, said the source, who asked not to be named.

According to the source, Oki's original passport was seized by immigration officers in 1992 at the Soekarno-Hatta airport immediately after the officers saw that his passport had no exit stamp on it.

"The officers took his passport because Oki could not answer their questions on how he could go abroad without his passport being stamped," said the source.

"We later found out that Oki had used the passport of his wife's driver (when he had left for the United States in 1991) with his wife, Anggi Hasti Benjamin Yatim, known as Anggi, whom he had just married." he said. "It is still a big question, though, how he could get into the United States without a valid passport."

Following his return to Jakarta in 1992, Oki again applied for a visa to the United States, but his application was turned down by the United States embassy, which was aware of allegations of passport forgery.

"Oki was also facing a serious problem with Anggi because her family had not allowed her to live with him due to his brutal behavior," the source said.

Oki's brutality

Anggi married Oki in Jakarta in 1991 and divorced him in late 1992. They have one child.

"Anggi's family was very disappointed with Oki, especially when her mother found many bruises on Anggi's body," the source said.

Anggi was once treated at a Jakarta hospital for the mentally ill after receiving inhumane treatment from Oki, he said.

According to the source, Anggi had been severely beaten by Oki during their stay in Jakarta and Los Angeles for unknown reasons.

"He sometimes forced Anggi to ask for money from her family in Jakarta as well," the source said.

During a visit to Los Angeles in 1992, her mother accidentally saw bruises on Anggi's body and asked her daughter to immediately leave Los Angeles and get away from her husband.

"But Oki insisted on joining the family and went back to Jakarta at that time too," the source said.

The source said both Anggi as well as Oki's ex-girlfriend, Ipunk, had received poor treatment from Oki.

"Anggi, for example, had been beaten with a golf stick," the source said. "Ipunk received more dreadful treatment from him but refused to disclose it to the press, only to the police."

The source also said that the two visiting detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department, accompanied by Jakarta detectives, met Anggi for questioning on Tuesday evening.

"Actually the Los Angeles police officers have already questioned Oki, Ipunk and Anggi in Los Angeles," he said.

Motive

The bodies of Suresh Mirchandani, a man of Indian descent, Gina Sutan Aswar, an Indonesian woman and Tri Harto Darmawan (Eri), Oki's brother, were discovered in August last year.

It is strongly believed that the three victims were killed on separate occasions between 1991 and 1992. Earlier, many people thought that Eri was murdered sometime in 1993, while Gina in late 1992 and Suresh in 1991.

"The dead bodies had been moved many times but Anggi, who lived with Oki during that period of time, claims to know nothing about the triple murder," the source explained.

Oki was apprehended in Central Jakarta on Jan. 7 on allegations of passport forgery and was later questioned for his alleged role in the murder.

"The motive for killing Suresh and Gina was purely money reasons," the source said.

According to the source, Suresh was killed when he asked for his money back from Oki, whom he believed had cheated him in the purchase of a laundry business, which had been funded by Ipunk.

"Ipunk asked Oki to invest all her money in the business, but instead of buying the store in cash Oki bought it on an installment plan and hired Suresh as its manager," he said.

As the business ran well, Suresh purchased the store in cash from Oki. After he found out that Oki had not yet paid for the store in full, he asked Oki to return his money.

"Gina was murdered after she told Oki that she needed all the money back that had she lent to him," the source said, adding that he had no idea concerning the murder of Eri.

"If it was Oki, then only Oki knows what happened," he said. (bsr)