Denpasar District Police Chief Col. Bambang Yugo Pamungkas, right, speaks to the media as Chief Detective Maj. Losa Lusiano Araujo, left, listens during a press conference in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Indonesian police investigating the deaths of two Chinese tourists whose bodies were found at a hotel in the resort island of Bali said Wednesday that the boyfriend of the woman killed her before killing himself. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)
May 17, 2023 - 5:44 AM
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police investigating the deaths of a Chinese couple whose bodies were found bloodied and naked at a hotel in the resort island of Bali said Wednesday that the boyfriend killed the woman before killing himself.
Police also said that the crime scene investigation and surveillance cameras from three hotels in Bali where the two stayed suggested that Cheng Jianan, 22, was tortured and drowned in a bathtub by her 25-year-old boyfriend, Lhi Chiming, following a series of arguments and fights.
Their naked bodies were found at the InterContinental hotel on May 1, with Cheng badly beaten in the bathroom with a neck wound.
“No traces of anyone else in the room apart from them, such as fingerprints, blood and DNA,” said Bambang Yugo Pamungkas, the police chief for Denpasar, Bali’s capital.
He said the couple arrived in Bali on April 27 for the second visit after their first trip in March. They changed hotels a day after Cheng reported to police that Lhi had lost his passport, Pamungkas said.
A staff at Mansion Hotel told police that she saw Lhi's hand was bleeding and wrapped with a towel, and that he told her that he was in a fight with his girlfriend.
Pamungkas said that police were still investigating a motive for the deaths.
Bali is one of the top destinations for Chinese tourists after a three-year pandemic-related hiatus.
News from © The Associated Press, 2023