The Black Magic Killer – Indonesia

Powerful shaman or straight up psycho? This week, we cover the story of Ahmad Suradji, a serial killer from Indonesia that took his victims’ lives for a taste of their saliva claiming that it was the ghost of his deceased father who told him to do so.

Like the past two cases we’ve covered, we start this one by telling you some information about Ahmad Suradji, our serial killer. Ahmad Suradji was a cattle breeder who lived in the outskirts of Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, Indonesia. While he was a cattle breeder, he mostly earned from being a famous “shaman” or “witch doctor” with people coming over from different cities and regions for his services – earning $200 to $400 for each service. Specializing in love potions and giving “magical solutions” to marital and fertility problems, most of his “clients” were women. He had three wives which are all sisters who allegedly helped him commit his crime and were later sentenced with him.

His killing spree of 11 years was only unearthed after 21-year-old Sri Kemala Dewi was reported missing and later discovered buried in a sugarcane field near Suradji’s home. On the 24^th of April 1997, Dewi asked Andreas, a 15-year-old rickshaw puller, to take her to “Datuk”, the name that Suradji is famously known by. As mentioned before, most women who came to Suradji asked for “magical solutions” on marital, love and fertility problems which didn’t make it unusual for Dewi to ask Andreas to keep her visit a secret as they made their way to Suradji’s house. Upon their arrival, she also informed Andreas that she didn’t need to be picked up. Whether she already knew the way back from one trip to the house or she was planning on going somewhere else after meeting Suradji, we don’t really know why she told Andreas that she didn’t need him to come back later.

What we do know, however, is that she will later be the strangled, found buried and naked near Suradji’s home. On the 27^th of April 1997, only three days after Andreas dropped Dewi off at Suradji’s home, a man was gathering weed to feed his livestock in the vast sugarcane field near Suradji’s home. It had been raining heavily the previous day which made the soil muddy and displacing the top soil off patches of the field. As the man searched for weed, he stumbled upon a mound on the ground that seemed oddly out of place just 10 meters upon entering the field. The man immediately informed Sugito, the village head of his discovery.

Later, a group of men from the village were tasked to check the scene. There, they dug and prodded the mound with a stick which later sent them running and throwing up as a strong smell of decay filled the air. They later reported it to their superior, who in turn, reported to the military. As the location  was basically in the middle of a field which is surrounded by cattle breeders, the military weren’t immediately alarmed by this report. Instead, they advised the village to keep digging and see what they find. Sugito, the village head was quoted saying, “The military advised us to dig deeper. He told us to leave the mound alone if it was human. But if it’s just an animal, it’s up to us to decide [what course of action to take next]”.

At around 7 PM, a group of villagers, composed of six men, then started to dig the mound upon Sugito’s orders and onlookers started to surround the area as they went further into the night and the decaying smell becomes worse and worse. The smell was reported to be so bad that Sugito reported that it took them long to dig as the villagers had to keep on running away every time the smell got worse. Soon, they discover that it was in fact the body of a naked, decomposing woman and as soon as the sun rose, police were on the scene. Although not immediately, onlookers were able to identify the corpse as Dewi and her family was later brought in for the horrific news. It was later found out that Dewi only went out that day for a small errand but never returned. The family had no idea that Dewi made a trip to meet Suradji. This was until Andreas, the rickshaw puller who brought Dewi to Suradji’s home stepped forward as a key witness.

Andreas told the police and Dewi’s family everything. From the moment Dewi asked him to take her to Suradji to when she asked him to keep her visit a secret. The police immediately acted on this information and visited Suradji’s home. Although he denied any claim to Dewi’s murder, the police did find Dewi’s belongings in Suradji’s home; including her handbag, dress and bracelet. Ahmad Suradji was later arrested and brought into police custody on the 20^th of April 1997. During interrogation, he only initially confessed to killing 16 women during a 5-year period. Upon further search, however, police found clothes and jewelry belonging to 25 identified missing women in Suradji’s home. After further drilling questions, Suradji later admitted to killing over 42 women – including Dewi, in an 11 year period. All his victims, ranging from 11 – 30 (some reports state 17 – 40 ) years old, mostly sex workers, were never linked to him for all those years as police believed that they were too embarrassed to tell anyone that they were confiding in Suradji most likely for problems he was famous for.

As interrogations went on, excavation went underway as piles and piles of human bones, all belonging to women, were found in the very same field. A policeman who was involved in the search commented that there was so much bodies, he believe that there could actually be more than 42 victims who may be buried in a different location. In a reenactment with the police and with the whole nation watching through their TV screens, Suradji shows everyone how he kills his victims. In the guise of a “ritual”, Suradji takes the victims into the sugarcane field, digs a waist-deep hole in the ground, makes the girls sit with their legs outstretched. Their, he sits behind them and proceeds to strangled them. Sometimes with his bare hands and other times, a cable wire. Immediately after his victim’s breathing stops, he sucks their saliva and bury them with their heads facing the direction of his house believing that this would grant him stronger powers.

When asked about his motives, the police were shocked beyond belief. He claims that his reason for killing all 42 women was because years ago, his deceased father, who was also a “shaman”, came to him in his dream saying that if he successfully drinks the saliva of a total of 70 women, his powers would grow. Although much later, Suradji admits that his father didn’t directly asked him to kill. Suradji simply thought that killing would be a much faster way of drinking 70 women’s saliva.

In the end, Suradji, along with Tumini, his first wife and eldest of the three, were both sentenced to death by firing squad while Suradji’s two other wives were sentence with life imprisonment. In 2008, Suradji was killed by firing squad while Tumini won a plea and got her sentenced reduced to life imprisonment.

Blogger’s Note:

This is our first case about a serial killer and I immediately had no idea how I feel about this. It’s entirely different from serial killer documentary or podcasts I’ve listened to because none of them had a motive that was, well for me, this crazy. And to think his wives were actually on board with his madness, helping him bury the bodies and hide his crimes. Maybe a tip for people who plans on visiting shamans soon? If they’re making you sit on a hole in the ground and making you turn your back on them, consider that a red flag. You’re literally sitting on your grave.

Let me know how you felt in the comments and help me share this blog. See you soon with another case next week!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Suradji

https://hellhorror.com/serial-killer-33/Ahmad-Suradji.html

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ahmad-suradji-41485.php

https://www.learning-history.com/ahmad-suradji/