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olice are investigating an alleged serial-killing case linked to same-sex relationships in Kediri and Nganjuk regencies, East Java.

The police have named Mujianto, 24, a resident of Jatikapur village in Tarokan district, Kediri, a suspect for allegedly having poisoned 15 friends of his 54-year-old lover, identified as Joko, for reasons of jealousy.

Nganjuk Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anggoro Sukartono said on Wednesday that Mujianto admitted to having poisoned the 15 men as he believed they were also lovers of Joko, a resident of Sonopatik village, Berbek district, Nganjuk regency.

“Today he again admitted in front of journalists that he attempted to kill the 15 men, four of whom died, two survived and the fate of the others is not yet clear,” Anggoro said, adding that the suspect was suffering from some form of sexual disorientation.

“We’re investigating the suspect’s testimony,” he said.

Anggoro explained that at least four of Mujianto’s victims were believed to have died as a result of the poisoning.

The body of Ahyani, 46, a resident of Tokolan village, Panji district in Situbondo, was found on Jan. 2 and that of Romadhon, 55, a resident of Widodaren village in Ngawi was found on Jan. 7. On Feb. 4, the body of Basori, age unknown, was discovered and on Feb. 8, the body of an unidentified victim was also found.

“The suspect admitted to having been carrying out his acts since the middle of last year. He got the names of the victims from a mobile phone belonging to Joko,” he said.

A similar serial-killing case linked to same-sex relationships was uncovered in 2008. Verry Idham Henyansah, aka Ryan, from Jombang, East Java, was found to have killed 10 people, one a woman, for reasons of jealousy and theft. After killing the victims most of the bodies were buried in the back yard of Ryan’s house, while one was dumped in a sugarcane plantation.

Anggoro said that the motives in the case in Nganjuk were similar to those in Jombang. The difference being that Mujianto allegedly killed his victims by giving them rat poison in their tea.

The suspect was able to arrange the meetings with his victims by contacting them through numbers taken from Joko’s cell phone.

“The suspect admitted to having seduced the victims after meeting them. The suspect usually introduced himself as the headmaster of a local state junior high school,” Anggoro said.

“The crimes only came to light after two of the victims, Muhammad Fais and Sumartono survived and reported the case to the police,” Anggoro said, adding that the police arrested the suspect at 4 a.m. on Monday.

Fais and Sumartono were reportedly saved by local residents after being poisoned.

According to Anggoro, the suspect could be charged with multiple counts of premeditated murder which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment.