Jakarta. The key suspect in the murder of a Cirebon couple was not allowed to speak during a police news conference on Sunday, following his recent arrest after nearly eight years on the run.

Pegi Setiawan, also known as Perong, was presented to the media at the West Java Police headquarters in Bandung. He is suspected to be the mastermind behind the murders of Vina Dewi Arsita and her boyfriend, Muhammad Rizky Rudiana.

Police said the couple was murdered by 11 members of a motorcycle gang and that Vina was raped before her death on August 27, 2016, in the West Java town of Cirebon. Their bodies were found on an elevated road in the town the following day.

Eight other suspects have been convicted, with seven receiving life imprisonment. Pegi was arrested on Wednesday, but two other suspects remain at large.

West Java Police spokesman Chief Commissioner Jules Abraham Abast said Pegi is considered the mastermind of the murder and could face the death sentence if convicted.

Pegi shook his head in disbelief upon hearing the police accusations and attempted to resist as officers escorted him to his cell. He raised his cuffed hands and shouted to journalists, "May I speak?"

"I didn’t murder anybody. I have been slandered, and I’m willing to die to prove my words," he added. "I didn’t know her, nor did I rape her. I’m innocent."

An officer gagged him as the police spokesman said, "The suspect can speak later in the courtroom."

According to Jules, Pegi and his accomplices killed Vina and Rizky by hitting them with a wooden beam, and Pegi also raped Vina. He first stoned the motorcycle carrying the couple before catching them on the flyover, he said.

West Java Police’s Criminal Investigation Director Surawan said Pegi was not immediately arrested because he moved to Bandung to live with his father and stepmother in a boarding house in the Kopo Ketapang area. He eluded justice by changing his name to Robi Irawan.

"He also introduced himself as the nephew of his own father while living there," Surawan said.

The murder case resurfaced after all eight convicts recently claimed they made confessions under duress, citing torture by officers at the Cirebon Metropolitan Police during the investigation. They also claimed that they didn’t know the victims, Pegi, or the two fugitives, retracting their previous police depositions.

Their attorney suspected that Vina and Rizky could have died from a fatal motorcycle accident based on the initial investigation by the traffic police at the scene.

Lawyer Jogie Nainggolan said police had ignored forensic evidence by refusing to examine footage from a security camera at the scene and refraining from conducting DNA tests on his clients to verify the rape claim.

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