Secretary's death caused by strangulation: Police

JAKARTA (JP): Police revealed yesterday that the death of Ida Rezeki, 32, who was found hanging on a rope in her house two months ago, was caused by congestion of her respiratory system.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. A. Latief Rabar said that based on the autopsy report, the clogging of her respiration system is believed to have been caused by strangulation with a rope.

The post mortem also stated that bruises found on the deceased's body did not cause her death, he said.

"None of the bruises were deadly wounds," he said.

He, however, refused to disclose the police's next step in resolving the case.

Ida was found dead by her husband, Harry Fardiman, also 32, on April 30 in their house at the PN Timah housing complex in Cilandak.

About a month after her death, South Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Adang Rismanto concluded that Ida had committed suicide.

The police, however, were unable to find substantial evidence to support that conclusion.

Foul play?

Contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday evening to comment on the results of the autopsy, Ida's relatives, who have continually refuted the police's conclusion that she committed suicide, were adamant that someone strangled her to death.

"We still strongly believe that my daughter was tortured to death before being hung on the rope by someone who was with her in the house," said the deceased's father, Mohamad Isa.

"Ida was only 155 centimeters tall while the distance from the floor to the ceiling is 240 cm. No chairs or benches were found at the scene of her death that could have helped her fasten the rope to the ceiling. Thus, there must have been someone else in the house," Isa said.

Ida's brother-in-law, Arrizal Boer, who works as a lawyer, added: "If the police later decide to stop their investigation into the cause of her death, we ourselves will do our best to uncover the mystery and find the culprit. That's our pledge!"

Isa was perplexed as to why the police gave no further explanation about the bruises. "The police did not bother to explain to us how my daughter could have sustained those serious bruises, including a tiny stab wound on the upper part of her breast," he said.

Love affair?

He said he and Ida's other relatives have uncovered substantial evidence into Ida's mysterious death that could eventually help find her killer.

Isa revealed that Harry, a staffer of a building contracting firm, was believed to have had an illicit love affair with their housemaid, Ina, 18, who was fired a few weeks before Ida's death.

Latief said yesterday that Ina's sister, a housemaid for Harry's parents, told police that Ina has been living in Central Java since March 3.

But Boer denied this, claiming that Ina worked at the victim's house through March 8. (bsr)