Two elderly sisters killed in Cinere

BOGOR (JP): Two elderly women were killed Friday in their home on Jl. Timor, Cinere Megapolitan Estate, Sawangan, Bogor, 25 kilometers south of Jakarta.

Agustina, 71, was found drowned in the bathtub with bruises on her body. Her sister, Mariana, 62, was found on a bed with her throat cut.

A crowbar was found near Agustina's body.

Toni, whose house is adjacent to the victims', said he heard a woman screaming for help at about 3:30 p.m. But he could not say from which house the scream came.

"It was raining when I heard a woman shouting 'Help, please, sir, don't do that'. I also heard something, probably made of steel, fall to the floor," Toni said.

He said he then called local security officers to find out what was going on and from where the voice originated.

Another resident, who was more sure that the scream came from the women's house tried to ring the house but got no answer.

According to neighbors, the women lived with Silvy and her husband Kuncoro. Silvy is Agustina's daughter.

The women were always home alone because Silvy and Kuncoro work from morning to about 7 p.m., everyday.

Neighbors speculated that the killer must be known to the victims, judging from the fact that all the doors and locks were in good condition.

The neighbors said the women never opened the front gate to strangers. They always peeped out the window to see who was knocking at the gate before opening their front door.

Police officers, who arrived on the scene at 4:30 p.m, found that the front gate of the victims' house was open, while the front door was locked from the inside. The officers had to break open the door to enter the house.

The neighborhood chief, Pieter Edwin Gasperz, said the victims' family had been living in the area for just two years.

"The two ladies were quite active in the local Catholic organizations. They both attended a religious service at my home a couple of days ago," he said.

Pieter said robbery was nothing new to the area. "But not murder. This is the second time in this housing complex."

Police have yet to make an official statements on a motive for the murders. They did not confirm or deny if anything had been stolen from the house, even though the living room was messy. There were also blood stains from the living room to the bathroom.

Local residents are assuming that the suspect, or suspects, escaped from the victims' house by climbing over the back wall of the house and jumping to the roof of a neighboring house. (04)