Yosua was killed on July 8 in what the police initially claimed was a fatal shoot-out between him and another police officer, Second Agent Richard Eliezer, at Ferdy’s residence in Duren Tiga in South Jakarta. The police said the altercation took place following Yosua’s alleged attempt to sexually harass Ferdy’s wife, Putri Chandrawathi, in her bedroom.

The police have now officially retracted that account, saying that there was no indication that Yosua was killed in a shoot-out and that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Ferdy may have orchestrated Yosua’s murder and then attempted to cover up his alleged crime.

"After a thorough investigation, which includes ballistic, forensics, CCTV footage and phone record examination, our special investigative team found that there was no shootout during the day of the incident, and that Yosua was shot by [Richard] on the orders of Ferdy," Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a press conference on Tuesday. "After the fatal shooting, Ferdy fired Yosua's gun into the wall of his house in an attempt to simulate a shootout."

Premeditated murder

The police have detained Ferdy since Saturday at the National Police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention center in Depok, West Java, initially over possible professional ethics violations in regard to tampering with evidence.

Ferdy is the fourth suspect in the case. The police had previously charged Richard, Brig. Ricky Rizal, who at the time of the incident was on duty as an aide de camp and chauffeur to Ferdy's wife, and a man who has been identified only as KM. Ricky and KM helped Richard to kill Yosua, according to the police’s chief detective Comr. Gen. Agus Andrianto.

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