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Jakarta Post

Corrosive substance found in sudden death victim'€™s body

Jakarta Police performed an autopsy in the early hours of Sunday morning on the body of 27-year-old Wayan Mirna Salihin, not Salimin as previously reported, who died after drinking coffee at a restaurant in Grand Indonesia Mall

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, January 11, 2016 Published on Jan. 11, 2016 Published on 2016-01-11T18:16:19+07:00

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J

akarta Police performed an autopsy in the early hours of Sunday morning on the body of 27-year-old Wayan Mirna Salihin, not Salimin as previously reported, who died after drinking coffee at a restaurant in Grand Indonesia Mall.

Initial findings indicate internal bleeding and organ damage, possibly caused by a corrosive substance.

'€œWe performed an autopsy on her body last night. The damage [to abdominal organs] may have been caused by a strong acid,'€ Jakarta Police health department head Sr. Comr. Musyafak told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He, however, declined to connect the suspected substance to the coffee she had been drinking at the
restaurant.

The police, according to Musyafak, removed her stomach and liver and sent them to the National Police laboratory in South Jakarta to ascertain the cause of her death. The organs are currently being examined at the laboratory.

'€œThe liver is the center of the human metabolism. We removed her liver for investigation because [if she died of poisoning] we should be able to identify it there,'€ he explained.

Musyafak said the police still needed to wait for the organ examination results, which would not be available until Monday, before they could confirm whether or not the woman had died of poisoning.

'€œIt is not impossible [that she died of poisoning],'€ he said.

The newly married woman died last Wednesday after drinking a cup of coffee at a restaurant in Grand Indonesia Mall in central Jakarta.

She reportedly met with two of her friends at the restaurant, who each ordered different drinks.

Mirna reportedly went into a seizure after taking several sips of her iced coffee. Her two friends became alarmed and took her to a clinic inside the mall.

A short time later her husband arrived and rushed her to the nearby Abdi Waluyo Hospital where she passed away.

The police took samples of her stomach contents and confiscated the mug from which she was drinking, in addition to questioning the two friends and three employees of the restaurant.

Mirna'€™s family had initially refused the police'€™s request to perform an autopsy on the body.

Jakarta Police detective chief Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti said the family had eventually allowed the police to perform the postmortem examination on the body after the police, who wished to investigate what appeared to be a suspicious death, convinced them on Saturday night.

'€œWe told her family that we suspected criminal conduct in the woman'€™s death. But, we would close the case if they did not allow us to conduct the autopsy. We eventually got their permission,'€ he said.

On Sunday, the Jakarta Police public relations department announced on its Facebook page that the police would conduct a case reconstruction at the restaurant on Monday.

The reconstruction will involve Mirna'€™s friends, family members and employees at the restaurant.

'€œWe will once more question Mirna'€™s friends, her family members and employees at the restaurant. We will set up the surroundings just like when the incident took place,'€ Krishna said as quoted from the page, adding that the reconstruction would be conducted while awaiting the autopsy results.

Krishna said the coffee Mirna drank was ordered by one of her two friends who had arrived at the restaurant prior to her.

He said that the police had previously summoned the two friends but only one of them had shown up.

Mirna was buried on Sunday afternoon in Gunung Gadung 1 Chinese cemetery complex in Bogor, West Java.

Mirna'€™s father, Edi Darmawan Salihin, said after the funeral that his family trusted the police would uncover the mystery behind his daughter'€™s death.

'€œWe entrust the case to the police. I believe in the power of God. I believe the police will be able to arrest the perpetrator so my daughter can rest in peace,'€ he said as quoted by tempo.co. (saf)

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