T

he mystery behind the recent discovery of a woman'€™s body in a parked car at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang will likely be uncovered after the police arrested on Friday a man who was known to be a close friend of the victim.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Friday that the man, identified as JAH, was arrested in Papua and was being held as a suspect.

'€œThe suspect was arrested by Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Police in Nabire, Papua, at around 2 p.m. on Friday. He was also declared a main suspect in the case,'€ Rikwanto said.

Rikwanto said JAH was not only a close friend of the victim but was also the last person to meet with her last Saturday, based on a CCTV recording from one of the airport'€™s parking-lot ticket booths.

The victim was later identified as Sri Wahyuni, a 42-year-old mother of two. Sri was buried on Thursday after an autopsy at the Cipta Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Rikwanto said that JAH confessed to strangling Sri Wahyuni to death last Saturday before leaving her body inside a Honda Freed car, which was discovered by an airport security officer on Wednesday. He added that the body had begun to decompose by the time it was found.

'€œJAH'€™s motive remains unclear but he admitted that they had a major argument in the car on Saturday morning,'€ Rikwanto said, adding that the pair'€™s reason for being at the airport was still unclear.

After Sri Wahyuni died, JAH said, he immediately bought an airplane ticket with Lion Air for a flight to Bali at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday. He then traveled to several places before finally landing in Nabire.

Rikwanto said that the police were able to locate JAH after discovering that he had a wife in Nabire.

Although JAH admitted to strangling Sri Wahyuni, Rikwanto explained that doctors were still analyzing the results of the victim'€™s autopsy.

Doctors did not find any marks indicating physical assault on the victim'€™s body during the autopsy. However, they were still analyzing their findings regarding her internal organs.

'€œThe autopsy results are vital to see if his confession fits with the cause of death,'€ Rikwanto said.

During a wake held at Sri Wahyuni'€™s residence in Ciputat, Tangerang, on Thursday, many of her relatives and friends acknowledged that they knew of her close relationship with JAH. However, most of them did not know him well.

One of Sri Wahyuni'€™s close friends, Sri Sasa, said that she had met JAH once.

'€œHe seemed like a nice, friendly person,'€ she said.

Sasa added that Sri Wahyuni, who worked as a public relations officer at a big restaurant in South Jakarta, had been estranged from her husband, Iyan Arif Siregar, for the past two years and was in the process of getting a divorce.

After the wake, Sri Wahyuni'€™s body was finally put to rest at the Tanah Kusir public cemetery in South Jakarta. Her youngest daughter, 15-year-old Anggia Faradira, could not hold back her emotions at the funeral.

'€œYou don'€™t know anything. You don'€™t understand my feelings at all,'€ she shouted tearfully.

Anggia'€™s older brother, 21-year-old Yopie Siregar, could do nothing but hug her.

'€œI did try to contact JAH through [communication application] LINE when my mother went missing but I didn'€™t get a reply,'€ he said.