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.
Editor’s note: This article was first published in 2021. It has been updated with additional information about the case.
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Goh Beng Choo was just eight years old when she was found dead on 19 November 1980, after being raped and strangled.
According to newspaper reports from that time, her body was found near a Taoist temple, some 120 metres away from their kampung home in Track 6, Jurong Road.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
More than four decades since the tragedy, her assailant remains unknown, and the case remains unsolved.
On the night of her murder, the Goh family were celebrating Beng Choo’s good grades, which ranked her eighth in class.
Beng Choo, a student of Jurong Primary School, was described as the ‘darling’ of the family, often helping out around the house and attending to her younger siblings.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
She was also a good student and often spent her free time doing her schoolwork and housework.
Newspaper clippings quoted her father, who remarked that she may have wandered out of the house while everyone was talking and eating.
He also mentioned hearing a scream at about 8.30pm.
He reportedly thought nothing of it, thinking instead that she may just have been at their neighbour’s home.
The family started to worry after an hour had passed and Beng Choo still had not returned.
They went in search of her along with some neighbours, only to find her dead body at around 10.40pm — sprawled in some bushes near the temple.
Investigations found signs of struggle on her body, including scratch marks on her face and arms.
Another report mentioned that there were noticeable bruises on her neck and hands.
The blouse that she was wearing also had a slight tear.
A pathologist would later find that Beng Choo had died from a ruptured liver.
Beng Choo’s father, then 37 years old, told reporters that a man had recently tried to befriend his young daughter.
The individual had allegedly invited her to go fishing with him at a nearby pond, which she refused.
Though police questioned some individuals, they would continue to have no leads until 1982.
That year, Beng Choo’s father offered a S$10,000 reward to anyone who could provide information about his daughter’s murder.
However, the case would eventually be filed as a murder by person or persons unknown.
More than 40 years after her passing, Beng Choo’s brother, Goh Leng Hai, is still looking for answers.
In 2021, he reached out to Crime Library Singapore (CLS) to resurface the cold case.
In a video posted by CLS, he mapped the location of the temple and home, as the area has transformed into the present Bukit Batok estate.
While he sends his plea out to the public, he hopes that his old neighbours could provide some clues too.
Source: Joseph Tan on Facebook
As time has passed, urban development has changed the landscape of his kampung and Jalan Petua, where the incident happened, is a relic of the past.
What was Jurong Road then has now become Bukit Batok.
But those who recall living in the former village may be familiar with the case.
Beyond putting a cold case to rest, valuable answers will hopefully give the victim’s family some peace.
Also read: MS Unsolved: The cold-blooded shooting of ‘mamasan’ Mona Koh at Katong in 1994
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.