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)