Suspect admits to friend's murder

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Rakhmat Hartadi, or Adi, who is accused of stabbing a friend to death in July, confessed on Wednesday to committing the crime because the friend had offended him.

"He called me poor and a liar," Adi, 19, told reporters. The suspect has been in custody at the Jakarta Police detention these past three weeks.

In the afternoon of July 12, Adi visited Marco Immanuel Sibih, also 19, at his house in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. Marco, who was studying at an Australian university, was at home with his sister, Melissa, 16, and the family's maid, Eva.

His parents, who own a BMW showroom, were out meeting clients.

According to Eva, she ran into the living room upon hearing Marco start to scream and saw that he was bleeding. Adi hit Eva over the head and tried initially to rape her, but then locked her in a closet and fled, stealing Marco's cell phone and Rp 250,000 (US$28) in cash.

"I did not know Melissa was upstairs," said Adi, adding that he had run away from his Bekasi home three weeks prior to the murder. During that time, he had sought shelter at a mosque near Marco's house in Pasar Minggu, where he had lived as a child.

Jakarta Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said police had tracked down Adi through friends and family, and found him on July 16 in a village in Cikampek Timur, Karawang.

"As soon as we arrived in the village, Adi, who was staying at a local friend's house, gave himself up," he said.