Scam Leads to Nine Murders

The death of three family members in Bekasi has been ruled a homicide. Six others were also killed at the hands of the same perpetrator.

KOMPAS/ERIKA KURNIA

The press conference of the Head of the Metro Jaya Regional Police Inspector General Fadil Imran (center) regarding the serial murder case which was revealed from the death of a family in Bekasi due to poisoning, at Polda Metro Jaya, Jakarta, Thursday (19/1/2023.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The death of three family members in Ciketing Udik, Bantargebang, Bekasi municipality, West Java, has been ruled a homicide. Apart from the three victims, six others were also killed at the hands of the same perpetrator. These nine victims were silenced for knowing about scams used by syndicates to target the assets of their victims.

“We know for a fact that the narrative [that the victims] died of poisoning is untrue. It was murder,” said Metro Jaya Regional Police (Polda Metro Jaya) chief Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran at a press conference at the police station in Jakarta on Thursday (19/1/2023).

Previously, a woman with the initials AM (40) and her two children, RA (23) and MR (17), were found dead in their rented home in Ciketing Udik, Bekasi, West Java, on Thursday (12/1). Then, NR (5) and MDS (34), members of the same family, survived despite being poisoned. NR is AM’s baby with her second husband, Wowon “Aki” Erawan, while MDS is AM’s younger brother. This family is from Cianjur regency, West Java.

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According to the findings and examination of several witnesses and evidence by a collaborative team of police officers, medics and forensic psychologists, the Ciketing Udik case was revealed to be a murder case and not poisoning. Pesticide packaging was found in the remnants of the trash behind the house. The contents of the same toxic substance were also found in the coffee, vomit and excrement scattered around the house where the victims laid.

There were also facial injuries, such as strangulation marks, found on the bodies of the victims who died. Additionally, the investigation team found a 1 meter by 2 m hole with a depth of 2 m behind the house.

“The investigation found that the perpetrators were Wowon, also known as Aki, and Solihin, also known as Duloh and Dede. All three were close to the victims. In fact, one of the perpetrators was the husband of one of the victims,” said Fadil.

The three suspects were charged with Article 340 of the Criminal Code regarding premeditated murder. Wowon and Duloh were arrested in Cianjur while Dede is still being treated at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital. Dede was directly involved in the Bekasi murders.

AGUSTINUS YOGA PRIMANTORO

A police line was attached to the iron fence of the rented house where five people were found suspected of being poisoned, in Ciketing Udik Village, Bantar Gebang District, Bekasi City, West Java, Friday (13/1/2023).

Scam

The suspects conveyed to the police that they deemed their deed as a “journey of the struggle for murder”. Both Wowon and Duloh claimed that they have the ability to increase wealth. Both of them scammed the victim by asking for money and promising they would multiply it.

“After finding a victim and taking their money, Aki reports to Duloh when the [scam] does not work and the [victim] protests. Duloh is the one that puts poison in their drink. People who know about the scam are also poisoned,” he continued.

Dede’s role, according to Polda Metro Jaya general criminal investigation director Sr. Comr. Hengki Hariyadi, is to collect funds of the victims from female workers. “They were promised that when they arrived in Indonesia, there would be a nice house [for them] and so on. The suspects confessed that they had killed six other people outside of the Bekasi case,” he added.

Of the six who were killed outside the Bekasi case, four of the murder victims were found in Cianjur. One of them is a two-year-old boy named Bayu who was buried next to Duloh’s house. Then, there were two holes where Noneng and Wiwin were buried in 2020. A hole was also found containing the skeleton of a woman named Farida.

After finding a victim and taking their money, Aki reports to Duloh when the [scam] does not work and the [victim] protests.

One last victim was buried in Garut, West Java. Based on the suspect’s confession, there is still one more victim buried in Cianjur that the police are still looking for.

During the same occasion, Fitrianti, a clinical psychologist from the Forensic Psychology Association (Apsifor), said that her team and the police would conduct psychological autopsies on the suspects.

Regarding the Ciketing Udik case, the police are now setting up a post in Cianjur for families who strongly suspect that their family members have disappeared due to the suspects. Fadil reminded the public not to be tempted by scams of getting rich or successful quickly and easily.

A similar case that has garnered public attention is Taat Pribadi, also known as Dimas Kanjeng, in Probolinggo, East Java, back in 2017. Dimas Kanjeng ordered his men to kill two of his students who were going to expose the money-doubling scams he practiced (Kompas.id, 1/8/2017).

This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.