Police to Search Vehicle in Oregon for Clues in Slayings : Crime: Detectives will travel to Portland to check the car once owned by a suspect who has confessed to keeping bodies in a storage facility.

NORTHRIDGE — Los Angeles police detectives said Friday they will fly to Portland next week to search for evidence from a car once owned by a triple-murder suspect who has confessed to keeping the bodies of his victims in a Northridge storage facility.

Investigators hope to determine whether an Audi previously owned by the suspect, Harnoko (Oki) Dewantono, was the car that carried Suresh Mirchandani, 40, when he was fatally shot in August, 1991.

“We hope that it’s the same car and that there’s some trace evidence inside,” said Police Department Detective Ed Ramirez, a lead investigator on the case.

Dewantono was arrested Jan. 7 in Jakarta, Indonesia, after a months-long search by authorities. No extradition treaty exists between the United States and Indonesia, a fact that has frustrated local authorities who have requested Dewantono’s return.

The Indonesian government this week turned down an extradition request but Ramirez said his department will continue to search for evidence regardless of where the trial is held.

Dewantono has denied shooting Mirchandani but admitted during interviews with Indonesian authorities to killing his brother, Eri Tri Harto Darmawan, 26, and business associate Gina Sutan Aswar, 30, Los Angeles police said.

Dewantono told authorities his brother had killed Mirchandani while they were driving on a Los Angeles freeway. That is the vehicle police hope to find in Portland.

Ramirez said Dewantono owned the Audi about the time Mirchandani was killed. Investigators located the vehicle in a Portland salvage yard after a record search of the more than 10 cars Dewantono owned while he lived in the United States.

Los Angeles detectives tracked Dewantono down in Jakarta after he continued to make rent payments to the Northridge storage facility where the three bodies were found by police. Authorities in Jakarta were alerted and subsequently arrested Dewantono.

Dewantono confessed to Jakarta police that he bludgeoned Aswar to death after she tried to back out of a business deal, and that he killed Darmawan the same way during an argument, according to Los Angeles police.

Ramirez said he believes Dewantono is liable for the death of Mirchandani and assisted in hiding the body after the killing.