Suspected killer, rapist of teenage girl arrested
Suspected killer, rapist of teenage girl arrested
JAKARTA (JP): City police announced yesterday the arrest of
a single suspect believed to have murdered and raped a 15-year-
old girl in Bekasi.
"The suspect was arrested this morning and is still being
questioned," City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko told
reporters yesterday, refusing to give further details.
Bambang declined to identify the suspect and would not
respond when asked whether the man was a close relative of the
victim.
"We have yet to get to the bottom of this case as the Bekasi
police are still questioning the suspect and two witnesses, plus
examining available material evidence," the spokesman said.
Tri Noviarti, 15, a nice-looking third year student of a
state junior high school, was found dead by her mother,
Sukmawati, early Sunday morning, Jan. 1.
Based on their report to the local police, Sukmawati and her
husband, Dirman, said they left their house on Jl. R.A. Kartini
on Saturday morning to go to their small bookshop located on Jl.
H. Juanda.
They said there were three people at the house when they
left, the victim, nicknamed Novi, her sister, Jeni, 17, and the
girls' uncle, identified only as J, aged 25.
J, a younger brother of Dirman, was staying with the family
after leaving his hometown of Tanjung Pinang, Riau, three months
ago.
According to the victim's parents, Jeni came to their
bookshop at around 3 p.m. on Saturday to help them.
During police questioning, Jeni said that before leaving the
house she saw her sister, Novi, going to school in the afternoon
but knew nothing about the whereabouts of their uncle at that
time.
Rachmat, Novi's teacher, stated that the victim did not
attend classes on Saturday.
"I'm absolutely sure that she did not come to school on
Saturday as shown on the student's attendance list," Rachmat
said.
On Saturday evening, after realizing Novi was missing, the
family searched the house to no avail.
Later her mother saw a sandal near the front door of the
house, making the woman think her daughter was still around.
Sukmawati found the other sandal near Novi's bed the next
morning and this led to discovering the victim's body under the
bed.
Police found scratch marks on Novi's face and strangulation
marks on her throat. Part of her scouts uniform and underwear was
smeared with blood.
Several hours after the murder was discovered, the Bekasi
police set up a special team to investigate the case, with J as
the main suspect due to his disappearance.
Based on preliminary investigation, police concluded that
robbery wasn't involved as there was nothing missing from the
house.(bsr)