Two hotel workers arrested for the murder of Matilde Muñoz in Indonesia

PalmThe investigation into the case of Matilde Muñoz, whose murder in Lombok is being held against two men linked to the hotel where she was staying, "continues," Indonesian police said Monday, while the hotel has sought to distance itself from the incident.

Yasmara Harahap, police chief of the West Lombok police station, assured EFE that the investigation "is ongoing" and "has only just begun" after the body of Muñoz, who turned 73 this month, was found Saturday on a beach in the tourist area of Senggigi.

The police officer confirmed that one of the suspects in the "premeditated murder" of Muñoz is an employee of the Bumi Aditya Hotel, located half a kilometer from where the body was found, and that the other is a former employee of the hotel. Both are in their thirties and remain in custody. According to Harahap, no third parties are currently involved.

According to the investigation, the alleged murder took place in the early hours of July 2. According to police investigations, the men allegedly entered through the window of bungalow number 107 at the hotel and suffocated Muñoz, stealing approximately three million rupees (about 155 euros).

The results of the autopsy, initially scheduled for Monday but postponed "at least until tomorrow" due to bureaucratic issues, are still pending, according to medical sources at Bhayangkara Mataram Hospital in Lombok, where the body was taken Saturday night.

The body had been moved several times by the alleged perpetrators during the two months following the crime: first, it was hidden for four days in a storage room at the hotel that Muñoz considered his "home" in Lombok; then it was moved to a nearby mound and, finally, abandoned on Senggigi beach.

No cameras "since 2008"

At the hotel, a small complex reached by a winding green road next to a mosque in an area with few homes, two employees, Mali and Ali, ignored the incident on Monday.

"At night, there are only two people working. In the morning, another person arrives to cover reception when we clean the rooms," explained Ali, who added that the hotel has not had surveillance cameras since "they broke during the 2008 earthquake," referring to the magnitude quake.

Mali, who was in contact with people close to Muñoz when the alert for her disappearance was raised, was more reserved. She said she last saw the Spaniard on the morning of July 1: "She went to the beach, but came back soon." Ali added that "she had forgotten something in her room."

Mali also claimed to have received a message from Muñoz from Laos on July 6, when she was no longer responding to her acquaintances. However, the Indonesian Immigration Service denied that the Spaniard had left the country.

The family suspects

Friends and family continue to point to the hotel as a source of suspicion. "It's not just the two of them (who were arrested), there are more people involved, we believe," said Muñoz's nephew, Ignacio Vilariño.

It's worth remembering that Matilde Muñoz's body was found this Saturday after she was missing for two months. The body was found buried on a beach in a nearby area where she went missing, in Lombok, according to Ignacio Vilariño, the missing woman's nephew.