MS Unsolved is a series that hopes to raise awareness of cold cases in Singapore and generate new leads. If you have any information on the cases, reach out to MS News or the police.
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Although often regarded as one of the safest countries in the world, Singapore has its own host of cases that have gone unsolved.
Many of these cases — which range from two boys mysteriously going missing on a school day, to a possible string of brutal attacks on young women — have shaken the community, with some still clinging to the hope for answers.
In 2020, the 13-year-old mystery involving Felicia Teo was solved by a miracle breakthrough, sparking hope that similar discoveries could be made for other unsolved incidents.
Here are five such cases which have gone unsolved for decades.
On 19 November 1980, eight-year-old Goh Beng Choo was found dead just 120 metres away from her kampung home along Jurong Road.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
The night she was murdered, her family had been celebrating her good grades.
Her father remarked that the young girl must have walked out of the home while everyone was eating.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
He heard a scream at 8.30pm, but thought nothing of it, and instead assumed Beng Choo was at their neighbour’s home.
The family only began to search for her when she remained missing for another hour.
Beng Choo’s body was found at 10.40pm in some bushes behind a nearby Taoist temple.
Investigators found signs of struggle, with scratches and bruises on her neck and hands.
The blouse she wore also had a slight tear.
A pathologist concluded she died from a ruptured liver.
More than 40 years on, the girl’s brother is still seeking answers to bring peace to his family.
In 2021, he reached out to Crime Library Singapore (CLS) hoping to regenerate interest in the case.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
Beng Choo is remembered as the “darling” of the Goh family.
She was a good student who helped with housework and tended to her siblings.
On 22 May 1985, 18-year-old Winnifred Teo went to Bukit Timah Nature Park for her routine jog.
This time, however, she never returned home.
Source: Find A Grave
Her body was found in a bush along Old Holland Road after six hours of searching.
Winnifred’s clothes, her pink shoes, black shorts and watch, were found nearby.
Apart from the stab wounds to her neck and bruises on her face, there were also signs of sexual assault.
The teen’s killer or killers were never found, despite her family offering up S$50,000 for more information.
Winnifred was a final-year student at Catholic Junior College.
She was described as a “natural-born leader” who juggled being the school council’s treasurer while also participating in the volleyball and softball teams.
On 14 May 1986, two Primary Six students did not show up for their afternoon classes at the now-defunct Owen Primary School.
Their families lodged police reports that evening to begin the search for Toh Hong Huat and Keh Chin Ann.
Prior to his disappearance, Keh had left his bag with a friend before he ran off to a nearby shop, but he never came back to retrieve it.
Meanwhile, Toh had insisted that he would go to school alone that day — which his mother found unusual because her son was often afraid of doing things on his own.
Desperate to find their children, the families even extended their search into Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.
The missing boys were dubbed the ‘McDonald’s boys’ when the fast food chain plastered posters of the pair in all their branches along with a hefty S$100,000 reward.
Source: meWatch
Despite all the efforts, the boys remain missing nearly 40 years on.
The families, however, did receive sinister phone calls regarding the boys.
Four months after they disappeared, Keh’s father received a phone call that left him shaken.
He suffered a stroke the very next day.
Madam Tan also received her own call where a man told her, “You should not hope for your son’s return”.
On 6 Jan 1998, the body of 19-year-old Indonesian student Dini Haryati, who had been missing for two days, was found by a gardener near Woodlands MRT station.
Her lower body was uncovered, with the clothes discarded nearby.
Police determined that her attacker or attackers had sexually assaulted and strangled her.
It was believed that she had also been struck with a blunt object which had fractured her skull.
Source: Singaporean Crimewatch 1998
Dini, who had moved to Singapore for her internship at the Albert Court Hotel, was last seen leaving her workplace on 4 Jan 1998 at 11pm.
However, she never returned to her flat at Block 357, Woodlands Avenue 5, which she shared with two friends.
Dini was reported missing two days later when she failed to show up for work.
Police conducted an extensive search for suspects, including questioning 300 foreign workers, but no suspects ever emerged.
Authorities have also not found the murder weapon.
To those who knew her, Dini Haryati was a hardworking and gifted student with many talents.
Before her tragic death, she had made plans to spend Hari Raya with her family and friends.
She also had dreams to further her studies in Australia, and was only a week away from completing her internship in Singapore before her life was cut short.
On 22 June 2002, 14-year-old Tina Lim Xin Ying left her Choa Chu Kang home to visit her ailing grandfather.
However, she never made it to her grandfather’s residence in Jurong.
Tina’s father had suggested the visit, and planned to pick her up the following day.
Source: Crime Library Singapore on Facebook
When he found out that Tina never arrived at her destination, he called friends and other relatives to see if she was with them.
However, no one knew where she was, and that was when he went to the police.
Despite extending his search across borders all the way to Thailand, he was never able to find his daughter.
On 28 Oct 2003, just over a year after she went missing, the very grandfather who she had meant to visit passed away.
The family put up an obituary and included a small message for Tina to come see her grandfather one last time.
Following that plea, they received 13 calls from an unknown caller who the family believes to be Tina.
Police traced the call to a residence in Pasir Ris, but determined that Tina could not have made the calls from there.
19-year-old Felicia Teo Wei Ling went missing after attending a party at the LASALLE College of the Arts on 29 June 2007.
An investigation uncovered security footage showing Felicia getting in a car and headed to a flat at Marine Terrace with two male friends from college.
The two individuals were identified as 22-year-old Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa’ee and 18-year-old Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana.
When questioned, they said Felicia stayed in the flat until about 2.30am on 30 June.
She then left to meet someone on her own.
Investigators were then unable to connect the two to Felicia’s disappearance, until a breakthrough in 2020.
Source: Shicheng News
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) linked one of the properties believed to be in Felicia’s possession to Ahmad Danial.
This led to his arrest on 15 December 2020 and he was then charged with her murder just two days later.
Ahmad Danial admitted to lying to police in 2007 and revealed another sequence of events.
He claimed that the trio consumed ecstasy at the Marine Terrace flat, and Felicia died due to “unknown circumstances” some time before 6am.
The two men decided to dispose of her body discreetly.
Placing her body inside a mattress, the two took a cab to a remote area in Punggol Track 24 where they buried her.
Through DNA testing, police concluded that an unidentified skull discovered there in 2010 during an excavation is likely to belong to her.
Ahmad Danial was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for Felicia’s murder.
However, he was sentenced to 26 months in jail for lesser crimes he committed — disposing of her body, misappropriating her belongings, and lying to police.
The other man, Ragil, remains at large outside of Singapore.
For family and friends of the victims, these unsolved cases are a source of grief without closure in sight.
Despite how bleak it may be, many still hold hope that one day they will be able to find answers.
If Felicia Teo’s case is anything to go by, renewed interest can bring a fresh perspective necessary to provide breakthroughs.
Modern technology, unavailable to investigators at the time, may also be game changers.
If these stories have rung any bells, contact the police.
Also read: The unsolved case of a car bombing in Bedok that killed a mother & her unborn child in 1992
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Featured image adapted from The Mystery Box on Medium, Singaporean Crimewatch 1998, and Crime Library Singapore on Facebook.