67-year-old woman’s body found in Tiong Bahru flat, unconscious husband hospitalized

SINGAPORE: A 67-year-old elderly Singaporean woman was found dead in a rental unit on the 9th floor of Block 93, Henderson Road.

The discovery of the woman’s body occurred on Saturday (29 Jul) at 10.17 am, and the police are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding her unnatural death.

The 67-year-old wife had already decomposed, and it is suspected that the 70-year-old husband had been with the body for a week before he was discovered unconscious and rushed to the hospital for treatment.

According to Chinese media outlet Shin Min Daily News, Mr. Xu, a 60-year-old hawker assistant living opposite the affected unit, mentioned that he had noticed a strange smell at least a week ago.

It was only on Saturday morning that he couldn’t bear it any longer and decided to call the police. He also went to knock on the neighbor’s door.

“We usually have no interaction with the neighbors, and they used to keep their door open, but in the past few days, it has been tightly shut,” Mr. Xu revealed.

A Neighbour saw maggots crawling on the floor

When he lightly pushed the door, a pungent smell rushed out, and he saw numerous maggots crawling on the floor.

Neighbouring residents pointed out that the couple living in the unit were of Malay ethnicity and both used wheelchairs for mobility.

Another neighbour mentioned that the couple would usually go downstairs together to have breakfast, but she hasn’t seen them for the past few days, assuming the wife had gone back to her family in Johor Bahru.

John, an upstairs neighbour, and 69-year-old retiree, mentioned that the couple was friendly to people.

The deceased woman would even come to help take care of his wife, who had suffered a stroke, whenever she had free time.

Observing the situation, the police collected several bags of evidence, including two anti-slip steps. The investigation took more than 8 hours and was completed around 6 pm, Shin Min reported.

The police stated that the 67-year-old woman was pronounced dead on the scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedic, while the 70-year-old man was unconscious and taken to the hospital.

Preliminary investigations indicate that there was no foul play involved, and the investigation is still ongoing.