Premium Episode #38 - Mirna Salihin
When school friends Jessica Wongso and Mirna Salihin caught up for coffee in Jakarta’s upscale Olivier Cafe in January 2016, it was supposed to be a friendly get-together. Then, moments after taking a sip from her Vietnamese iced coffee, Mirna collapsed and died. What unravelled was one of Indonesia’s most controversial murder trials, with the question on everyone's lips - did Jessica Wongso poison Mirna with cyanide?
Team:
Anonymous Host - narration
Elsha McGill - research, writing
Milly Raso - creative direction
Mike Migas - production, music
Anthony Telfer - audio editing
Comments (24)
This case was absolutely nuts. I still have no idea what exactly went down, but I'm not wholly convinced it is enough to convict someone. Perhaps the Indonesian justice system feels the same, after all, they let her out on parole very early even though she maintains her innocence.
Jessica behaved *so* suspiciously: checking out the CCTV cameras, placing the bags on the table to hide whatever she was doing, overly calm during and after Mirna foaming and seizing, mentioning cyanide to Mirna's sister, (possibly) trying to leave the country shortly after the incident...and more even. Who acts like that if they're not guilty of something??
I feel like I’ve heard this one so many times yeah I’m gonna beat your mouth
What a sad, strange story.
Turns out Indonesia is another fantastic destination to kill strangers or loved ones. Keep up the solid work Indonesian justice system of 2025!
Can’t make up my mind on this one at all
Final thoughts: Did Jessica put poison into Mirna's drink: no, not enough solid evidence, motive unclear, and Jessica was enough of an attention hooker that I think she would have made a bigger deal out of it Was Mirna intentionally poisoned by someone: no, not enough solid evidence, who wanted her dead?? Was there some kind of conspiracy to frame Jessica by killing Mirna and then blaming her: no, practically no evidence at all Was the drink even poisoned: initially no, like three other people took a drink besides Mirna and no one else even got sick Was Jessica kind of a psycho who also sucked as a person: sure Is being a douchebag proof enough that someone's a murderer: no If this were the plot of a detective series on tv: Jessica got mad at Mirna about the wedding thing, wanted to make her poop herself in public or something and put some kind of strong herbal medicine in her drink, but Mirna had an allergic reaction to it and it killed her. Looks like their friendship was already on... thin ice 😎
Too much reasonable doubt
This case makes me feel like I've been watching the ball the whole time but then it stops moving and it's under a completely different cup
Is there cyanide in the cup?
The family ended any hope of clarity in this case by not allowing a full autopsy. I don't understand why the hell they did that.
having intact bodies is really important for lot of religious practices. I think Casefile covered another case set in South Asia or SEA where the family refused to allow an autopsy? I can't be sure but it's definitely come up in true crime before.
I really liked this case. It reminded me of Case 203 where I'm not sure the person's guilty, but they definitely shouldn't have been convicted
Soooooo anyways … want to collab with our coffee brand? - Kenangan
'...and she soon began foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolling into the back of her head...' Some lady at the next table: I'll have what SHE'S having 🥴 ETA: "I could get a gun... AND, I know the right dosage" ... of Gun? 🔫
🤭
So she "knows the right dose" yet apparently gives 50 times the lethal dose, and only 1% of the lethal dose appears in her body. That should have been the clincher. Something very fishy is happening here. (Perhaps I've misinterpreted the numbers, but the general idea is correct.) Was the authenticity of her boss checked - was there ANY example of her losing her cool after her arrest. Her calm demeanour after being sentenced was also odd by most people's standards - how did she maintain her composure then, unless that was just her being her.
This case is just nuts. The bulk of the cyanide had to have been added after she died, because she only had a little in her system, and because like 4 other people took sips of it and none of them were foaming at the mouth. But also the cyanide had to have been added well before she died, because nobody else touched the coffee or had cyanide rash. But not until the coffee got cold because the steam would have spread the fumes. So Jessica knew enough about cyanide to know not to mix it in the drink when it was hot, but not enough to know how much to give her, but enough to know to wait until after she died to dump the rest of the cyanide in the coffee for some reason, but not enough to know that cyanide would make her hands itch, but enough to dose the coffee without getting anybody else sick.
Yeah, I am not convinced.
Not convinced as in guilty or not enough solid evidence to be convinced?
Always been conflicted with this one.
omg this case yessss
Awesome!
Lesss goooo