SERIAL KILLER MURDERS TEN PEOPLE IN INDONESIA

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 28 (ANTARA) - Police on Monday lifted five more bodies from holes in the backyard of a serial killer`s house after recovering four others from the same area in Maijo hamlet, Jatiwates village, Jombang district, East Java last week.

Verry Idham Henryansyah alias Ryan (34) who sparked public horror last week after he was arrested for mutilating a friend, butchering four others and burying them in two holes in the backyard of his home, admitted on Sunday he had battered to death five more people who had previously been reported missing by their families.

The chief of the Jombang Police Resort, Adjunct Senior Commissioner M Khosim, said Sunday, Ryan had admitted that the five people reported missing by their families were among the victims of his killing sprees.

The five victims whose bodies were found on Monday were identified as Nanik Kristanti (28) and her daughter Silvia Ramadhani (3), residents of Kepuh Permai Housing complex, Peterogan, Jombang; Agustinus Fitri Setyawan (28), a resident of Jalan Dr Soetomo; M Zainul Abidin alias Zaki (27), a resident of Dapur Kejambon, Jombang; and M Aksoni (28), a resident of Slawe village, Tarik sub-district, Sidoarjo district, East Java.

"Ryan has admitted the five were among his victims. He confessed to the murders when he was shown pictures of the five people," Khosim said.

Until Sunday (July 27), Ryan still refused to reveal the place where he had buried the bodies of the five victims, nor was he prepared to explain the motive of the killings.

But a joint team of the Jakarta and East Java police on Monday successfully dug up and lifted five bodies from the holes where the five victims were suspected to have been buried in the backyard of Ryan`s father`s house in Jatiwates village, Tembelang sub-district, Jombang East Java.

"Based on Ryan`s confession to having murdered the five victims, we are investigating the suspected location and digging it," director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the East Java Police, Senior Commissioner Rusli Nasution said on Monday.

Two bodies were lifted from a hole beside a septic tank, two from a hole near the house`s kitchen and one in a hole where previous victims were found. It was believed that they were the bodies of Nanik Kristanti and her daughter Silvia Ramadhani, Agustinus Fitri Setyawan, M Zainul Abidin alias Zaki M Aksoni.

Previously, on July 22, 2008, police found four bodies buried in two holes in the backyard of Ryan`s father`s house in Jatiwates village, Tembelang sub-district, Jombang district, Eat Java. Ryan had also admitted to murdering the four.

They are the bodies of Guruh Setyo Pramono (27), Grandy (24), Vincentius Yudhy Priyono (30) and Ariel Somba Sitanggang (34).

The revelation of the case began when police found seven parts of a mutilated body in two locations in Jalan Kebagusan Raya, Pasar Minggu, East Jakarta, on Saturday, July 12, 2008. The body parts which were contained in a suitcase, a backpack and a plastic bag, were later identified as belonging to Heri Santoso (40).

Police later also found out that after Heri Santoso`s death Rp6 million had been withdrawn from his bank account through an ATM. From unidentified sources the police had learned that Ryan was holding Santoso`s ATM card.

On July 15, 2008, Ryan was arrested in the Pesona Kayangan housing complex, East Depok, a satellite town east of Jakarta. Investigators confiscated an ATM card as well as a credit card in Heri Santoso`s name.

Besides admitting to having mutilated Santoso, Ryan also confessed he had killed Guruh Setyo Pramono, Grandy, Vincentius Yudhy Priyono and Ariel Somba Sitanggang. Grandy is believed to be a Dutch national.

With the confessions, police investigated the house of Ryan`s father in Jombang, East Java, where they in the backyard they found four bodies buried in two holes. Guruh was buried in the first hole while Grandy, Vincentius and Ariel were buried in the second hole.

In Depok, Ryan confessed, he killed and mutilated his close friend Heri Santoso on July 11, 2008, and disposed of the body parts in Kebagusan, Jakarta. The motive was that he was jealous as Santoso was interested in and wanted to have a date with Noval who was Ryan`s lover.

The Jakarta Police had named Ryan as a suspect in the mutilation case because they had pieces of strong evidence against him.

Ryan`s motive for killing the people whose bodies were found in Jombang , however, is still unknown. So far, police have named Ryan as the sole suspect in the serial murders.

"We have not yet named any other suspects besides Ryan. We cannot make predictions before we have strong evidence," director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the East Java Police, Senior Commissioner Rusli Nasution, said.

"Of the four, one victim (Guruh) was killed some time in the in July-August period in 2007, another (Grandy) in January 2008 and two (Vincentius and Ariel) in April 2008," he said.

Police said they had not yet found the motive of the serial killings by Ryan which had sparked a public uproar of late. But they suspect Ryan was suffering from a sexual abnormality and driven by a desire to take the victims` belongings.

In order to establish his motive more accurately, police would have Ryan examined by a number of psychologists.  July 28, 2008