81-year-old man found dead in Bukit Merah flat after neighbours detected foul smell for days

Elderly man found dead in Bukit Merah flat was deaf & lived alone

An elderly man was found dead in his flat in Bukit Merah after his neighbours detected a foul smell for days.

The grisly find was made on Saturday (31 May) morning at Block 117 Bukit Merah View, reported Shin Min Daily News.

Stench detected 3 days before man was found dead in Bukit Merah

The deceased’s neighbour, a 68-year-old man named only as Mr Zhuo (transliterated from Mandarin), told Shin Min that he had smelt the stench three days ago.

His roommate sprayed insecticide to mask the odour, but it was so strong that he could not sleep, he said.

When the stench became stronger on Saturday morning and he realised it was obviously coming from next door, he called the police.

Now that the body has been removed, he hoped the smell would go away soon.

Deceased had not been seen for several weeks

Mr Zhou said the elderly man had lived alone, and was already living there when he moved in 14 years ago.

He had worked at a petrol station and later retired, the neighbour added.

Because he was deaf, he would only nod when he met neighbours but would not stop to chat.

Mr Zhou had not seen the deceased for several weeks, but what alerted him that something was wrong was that he did not dry his clothes that day — something that he used to do every weekend.

Deceased had a son who rarely visited

40-year-old Ms Wu (transliterated from Mandarin), another resident who lives on the same floor as the deceased, said the deceased seemed to be in good health and would go downstairs to buy food every day.

He had a son, she believed, but he rarely visited him.

She had detected the stench too over the past few days, but did not think much of it as there would be a garbage smell in the estate occasionally, she added.

No foul play suspected

In response to queries from MS News, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it received a call for assistance from the location at about 11.10am on 31 May.

An 81-year-old male was found motionless in a residential unit, and pronounced dead at the scene.

No foul play is suspected, based on preliminary investigations.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Also read: 77-year-old woman found dead in Bedok South flat after blood drips into unit below

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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Google Maps.