Murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin

On 6 January 2016, Wayan Mirna Salihin, a 27-year-old woman who had recently married Arief Soemarko, died at Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Menteng, Central Jakarta, shortly after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee at the Olivier Cafe in the Grand Indonesia shopping mall. Police stated that cyanide poisoning was the most likely cause of her death. Salihin was the daughter of Chinese Indonesian businessman Edi Darmawan Salihin and Ni Ketut Sianti.

According to the investigation, Jessica Kumala Wongso, then 27, arrived at the mall on the afternoon of 6 January to meet friends, including Salihin, and made a reservation at the cafe. Wongso returned to the cafe, ordered several drinks including the Vietnamese iced coffee later linked to the poisoning, and waited for Salihin to arrive. During the wait, the drinks on the table were obscured from security camera view by shopping bags Wongso had placed there. Soon after Salihin arrived and sipped the coffee, she began exhibiting seizure-like symptoms. Her husband drove her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m. An autopsy conducted on 10 January at Kramat Jati Police Hospital found evidence of bleeding in Salihin's stomach.

On 30 January 2016, Wongso, a former permanent resident of Australia, was charged with premeditated murder and taken into custody. Australian authorities provided Indonesian investigators with confidential files on Wongso's psychological history, including a prior restraining order sought by an ex-boyfriend. Wongso's lawyer denied her involvement in Salihin's death.

The trial opened on 15 June 2016 and ran for approximately five months (135 days), broadcast live and closely followed by Indonesian media. Testimony included statements from Salihin's twin sister, Sandy, that Wongso had sent her information about poison after Salihin's death, and from a colleague, Kristie Louise Charter, who described contrasting aspects of Wongso's personality and a pattern of seeking sympathy. On 27 October 2016, Wongso was found guilty of murdering Salihin by putting cyanide in her coffee and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. According to reporting cited in the case record, judges concluded the motive stemmed from resentment over Salihin's earlier advice that Wongso end her relationship with a former Australian boyfriend.

Wongso's appeal was rejected by the Jakarta High Court and subsequently by the Supreme Court, where a three-judge panel unanimously denied her cassation appeal. She was released on parole on 18 August 2024, after serving approximately eight years in detention.

The case drew extensive Indonesian media coverage and was later the subject of a Netflix documentary, "Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso," released in 2023, which included interviews with Wongso, Salihin's father and twin sister, Wongso's lawyer, and journalists who covered the case.