T

he Central Java Police and local residents found three bodies on Saturday in a field belonging to suspected fraudster, Muhyaro, in Petung hamlet, Ngemplak village, Windusari district, in Magelang regency, Central Java.

Muhyaro died on Thursday after jumping into a 150-meter ravine, dragging a police officer, Adj. Sr. Comr. Yahya Renaldy Lihu, with him to their deaths.

The search party had looked in several locations before locating the burial site at around 1:30 p.m., a kilometer or so east of Muhyaro'€™s house.

Two of the bodies were lying face down next to each other while the third was located around a meter away facing up.

The third body was identified as Yulanda '€œIfan'€ Rifan, an architecture lecturer at Diponegoro University (Undip) in Semarang. He was the son of prominent law professor at Undip, Barda Nawawi.

Ifan, who was given a proper funeral on Sunday, had been missing since July 5. His body was found in a 80-centimeter grave. Muhyaro appeared to have planted spring onions and spread fertilizer on top of the grave, probably in an effort to accelerate decomposition.

From bruises on his body, it is believed that Ifan had been tortured prior to his death.

Ifan'€™s family filed a police report on July 8 and the police learned that his last contact was with Muhyaro. Officers from the Semarang City Police and Windusari police station arrested Muhyaro on July 13 but he managed to escape.

A team of officers from the Central Java Police, led by Yahya, recaptured Muhyaro on Tuesday and Muhyaro confessed that he had killed Ifan.

On Thursday Yahya and his team brought Muhyaro to Petung to point out where he had buried Ifan. Along the way, however, Muhyaro jumped into a ravine and died instantly, Yahya died later in hospital.

Magelang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Murbani Budi Pitoyo said that due to the extent of decomposition, the other two, as yet unidentified, bodies had been buried for about a year.

Police transferred the bodies to the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Semarang for identification and autopsies.

Undip'€™s head of architecture department, Edward Endrianto said on Sunday that Ifan had taught construction since 2002 and entrepreneurship. In addition to teaching, Ifan also had a property and second-hand car business.

He is survived by his two children as his wife died in 2012.

It is believed that Muhyaro was a member of a scam syndicate that tricked victims into believing that money could be multiplied using magic or other means. It is feared that more murders may be linked to the case other than the three victims found on Saturday.