Murder in Spain: Body of S’porean Audrey Fang returns home, suspect listed as her insurance agent

Body of Audrey Fang returns to Singapore

The body of Audrey Fang, a Singaporean murder victim in Spain, was brought back to Singapore yesterday (27 April).

Her wake is being held at Petir Road in Bukit Panjang.

Ms Fang’s family discovered that Mitchell Ong, who is suspected of her murder, was listed as her agent in two insurance policies that she purchased in 2015.

It was a breakthrough as they hadn’t known about Ms Fang’s connection to Ong.

They’re still trying to understand why she was killed.

Audrey Fang bought insurance policies from suspect

According to The Straits Times (ST), Ms Fang’s brother, Benjamin Fang, and her cousin, Ms See, had looked through the deceased’s belongings to find clues that could point to her connection with Ong.

To their shock, they found letters from her insurance provider, AIA, containing Ong’s name.

ST reported that the letters showed Ms Fang had bought two investment-linked policies from AIA through Ong in August 2015.

They were a S$3,000 AIA Family First Protect plan and a S$50,000 AIA Asset Builder policy.

Ong’s name was listed as Ong Cheong Yi on the letters. Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that this is his Chinese name.

He had worked as a financial advisor at Manulife and AIA, the latter of which was between 2014 and 2019.

“When we saw the name Ong Cheong Yi on her insurance letters, we wondered if it was the same person but could not confirm that it was,” Ms See told ST, expressing her shock at the discovery.

“Now we have made a connection,” she added.

Police investigating motive for murder

Spanish media outlet Levante El Mercantil Valenciano reported that Ms Fang had transferred money to an unknown person.

Her uncle, who wanted to be known only as Mr See, told CNA the family was concerned that Ong was nominated to receive Ms Fang’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) money.

Spanish police told the family that there was an attempt to make changes to Ms Fang’s CPF account in March. This was before her trip to Spain, which was her first time there.

The family plans to check with authorities if Ong has been made a beneficiary for either her insurance plans or CPF money.

They will also attempt to verify if money was transferred out of her bank account.

Severity of attack shocked family

Ms Fang’s body was discovered on 10 April in Albanilla, about 150km away from her hotel, a day after she went missing.

It was riddled with stab wounds and she had a cracked skull.

Mr Fang told ST that identifying his sister’s body was “heartbreaking” due to the severity of her injuries.

There were multiple stab wounds on her body and she was punched badly in the face.

“Her skull was cracked and her head was badly bruised and swollen,” Ms Fang added.

“We don’t understand the savagery of the attack,” Ms See said.

So far, authorities in Spain are still determining the cause of the murder.

Ong has so far remained silent while in remand and refused to testify.

Suspect was a financial advisor until 2019

On his now-defunct website, Ong called himself a “financial services expert”.

He also went by several names including Mitch Ong, Ong Cheong Yi, and Mitchell Ong.

The website is no longer online and its last snapshot on Wayback Machine was in 2019, the same year Ong stopped working as a financial advisor.

He apparently owned a co-living space in Alicante, according to a former schoolmate who declined to be named.

Father still distraught

Since Ms Fang’s death, her father has been “unable to function”, her family told ST.

But the younger Mr Fang said his father has been putting on a brave front at the wake held at Petir Road, especially when visitors turn up.

Mr Fang also described how his sister had taken care of their family, especially after their mother passed away.

For example, she’d cook for their father as he didn’t know how to cook.