Police find new lead on murder of woman

Desy Nurhayati , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 01/21/2009 1:48 PM

The Jakarta police continued their investigation of the murder of a woman found inside a suitcase on Sunday.

City police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zulkarnain said on Tuesday, Cut Deby, 25, was last seen leaving her house in Tebet, South Jakarta, at 10 a.m on Saturday before her dead body was thrown on the Wiyoto Wiyono toll road in North Jakarta on Sunday morning.

“According to her house mate Ida, Deby has never been back since,” he said.

The police have not yet announced any suspects or the motive of the murder, he said.

“We are still investigating the victim’s call records, as well as the people she was with in her last days. We also checked the footage at the Park Lane Hotel in Casablanca where the victim went on Friday at around 10 p.m.”

The police also questioned Robi, a taxi driver who took Deby from Park Lane Hotel to Grand Menteng Hotel that night.

“Robi said Deby was complaining to him about her Rp 5 million (US$445) debt and about not getting a customer all week.”

Deby was seen without a companion when she came to the two hotels.

During the last two days, there were at least four homicide cases reported to the city police.

On Monday evening, an 18-year-old man was found dead in a house in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, with cables twisted around his neck.

In Depok, a man identified as SR was arrested Monday for allegedly killing Yada, 51, who was found dead with his fingers missing.

On late Sunday, a transvestite was found dead in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. The dead body of Bella, 35, had stab wounds in the neck, shoulders and waist.

Also on Sunday, police officers patrolling near the waste processing agency Pal Jaya in Bekasi found a male corpse floating in the water. There were no signs of abuse on the victim’s body.

Murder cases in Greater Jakarta rose from 67 cases in 2007 to 78 cases last year, according to a year-end report by the city police.

Zulkarnain said most of the homicides were caused by economic burden while others were due to revenge.

He added that the perpetrators and the victims often had close relationships, citing the recent murder of Amah, whose body was mutilated by her boyfriend Sutrisno, who refused to be responsible for the victim’s unborn baby.

Zulkarnain said that while the police continued to investigate all the homicides, he called on people to be cautious, especially at night.

“Make sure that your family or your close friends know where you are,” he said.

Criminologists have said the rising murder rate, including victims being mutilated, was likely due to an inability to deal with stress.