This true crime documentary is based on Indonesian murder that took place back in 2016 involving Iced Coffee and cyanide. There were a lot of mysteries surrounding this case that involve high class Indonesians and the murder motives that are still unclear. Was it simple jealousy? Or was there something else?

Technically, they are no celebrities, public figures or anything of importance in the country. But through this case, Jessica and Mirna’s case became sort of like a soap opera actresses that people followed- making them famous and widely televised.

The victim was Mirna Salihin,an Indonesian who studied in Australia and a friend of Jessica's while they were both international students there. It was revealed in the documentary that Mirna loves coffee and she can’t live without it. One day,the two planned a reunion at a cafe at Grand Indonesia Mall called Oliver. Before Mirna arrives, Jessica orders an iced Vietnamese coffee. Mirna arrived at the cafe around 40 minutes later. Then after having a sip, Mirna began having convulsions and was pronounced dead as she was taken to the hospital.

This documentary involves Jessica Wongso, the perpetrator who is now serving 20 years in prison. However, this documentary presented some intriguing counter cases that basically hinted Jessica wasn’t the actual killer. With this counter case, you’d be left to wonder, so who is the actual killer then?

A balance counter was made from Mirna's side. It was Mirna’s father and twin sister along with cafe Olivier staff.

Mirna’s father was also the centerpiece of this documentary. He was insisting that Jessica was the killer and something was wrong with her. In this documentary he was portrayed as a gun-loving, macho man,who loves his daughter. Even in the first few scenes being interviewed, the interviewer asked if he had a gun on him and he did.

Then, there’s also Olivier cafe barista and manager. They were calm, composed but looked suspicious as well as what they said was pretty calculated. The manager tasted the coffee afterwards and mentioned that it smells rotten. Even the barista made a statement that the coffee looks like turmeric and has a glue-smell like.

But what did the experts say?

In courts, experts scrambled to find answers as well as the lawyers on both sides. The public prosecutor relied on circumstantial evidence that everything eventually led to Jessica and no one else at that cafe. The public prosecutor also argued, “do we really need a motive for this premeditated murder?”and from the court room there was indeed no “actual” evidence and in Jessica’s lawyer's words, “ There are only allegations and Only perceptions.” This documentary stirred debate in the country with people now reassigning if Jessica wasn’t the murder and perhaps, she was the victim in this crime conspiracy. However, the court decision was already final and Jessica is still the perpetrator in this case.

This documentary presents interesting facts that weren’t available to the public then. It also featured people closely related to the case and their point of views. Now, 7 years after the case the public was once again brought to this case and conspiracy sparks again. But even a paper examining this legal case by Simon Butt the author concluded that the handling of the case was also questionable.

I personally find this case intriguing. I remember it was on TV, papers and I was constantly exposed to the case but we all, just like how the TV portrayed it, believed that Jessica was the murder.It was also the talks between my university colleagues too and was an interesting case. After this netflix was released, I started seeing people dissecting the case on twitter and that it sparked rumors, controversy itself and especially with the portrayal of Mirna’s father. I also watched the following figures who came to the podcast after this was released. In the end, the mystery to me was, where did she get the cyanide and if so, where’s the evidence where Jessica was obtaining the cyanide? But obviously if it’s circumstantial, it’s gonna be just that, Jessica is the murderer.

If you enjoy watching true crime and playing detective, this is a fun case to follow and you’d have fun wondering and perhaps agreeing with the judges that Jessica was indeed the killer. As of now, I keep seeing this documentary as top 1 and even top 5 in Indonesia since its release on netflix.

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