Indonesian Consulate Death Ruled Suicide

The death Indonesian national, discovered in the basement of the consulate stabbed many times, hand severed, and meat cleaver in the chest, turns out to be a suicide. The Medical Examiner's Office believes that Bambang Wielianto, who was staying at the Indonesian Consulate while waiting for a flight back home, killed himself with knives from the nearby kitchen, causing multiple self-inflicted wounds and driving the cleaver into his chest and then falling on top of it. While Wielianto had been visiting the U.S. on a tourist visa since last mid-December, he was reportedly looking for work and grew homesick during his stay. The Post says his wife believes "he had suffered a mental breakdown and that he was supposed to be taking medication for a psychological disorder." But the NY Times has a quote from the sister saying "We think he was murdered," and dismissed the suicide finding. While the whole situation is tragic, Gothamist is now very intrigued by the townhouse that consulate is housed in, 5 East 68th Street, as the townhouse behind it, at 8 East 69th Street, is a "mirror image"; yesterday's Times article ended on this note: "There is no known passage between the two structures."