A public university student was discovered dead at her boarding house in Banyuasri village, Singaraja, yesterday after concerned college friends came looking for her.
Though it’s still unclear why, police suspect that she was murdered and have already secured the alleged perpetrator. Identified only by his initials, KI, the man was reportedly a close friend, or perhaps boyfriend, of the victim, Ni Made Ayu Serli Mahardika, 20.
Serli’s body was first discovered by Meli Triastuti and I Putu Albert Purnama Putra, college friends who had become worried because she had been absent from class and uncontactable for several days. Initial reports indicate that twenty-year-old had been dead for two days when she was found.
Police were called to the scene and the victim’s body was taken to Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar to undergo an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death.
“After we received the DNA report and conducted an initial investigation, the Buleleng Police and Criminal Investigation Unit of the Buleleng Regional Police secured the alleged perpetrator. We are still undergoing further examinations to uncover the motives of this case,” said Singaraja Police Chief AA Wiranata Kusuma, as quoted by Bali Post.
Serla, who was from Senganan village in Tabanan, was in the fourth semester of a physics course at the Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) in Singaraja.
