In April, an unknown elderly woman was discovered heavily decomposed in her residential unit in Teban Gardens.
She has finally been identified as 66-year-old Madam Tham Yoke Hing.
According to The Straits Times (ST), the state coroner confirmed her identity on Monday (14 Aug).
This revelation came nearly four months after the discovery of her body.
Per ST, Madam Tham Yoke Hing was single and had no children. On top of that, her parents have already passed.
She resided on her own in a fourth-storey flat at 48 Teban Gardens Road. She rarely receives visits from friends or family, reportedly due to the state of her home.
Authorities pronounced her dead at 6.45pm on 24 Apr in the unit.
Investigation officer (IO) Benjamin Sim unravelled what exactly happened in the days surrounding the discovery during the coroner’s inquiry into the case.
On 21 Apr, a neighbour living in the unit directly below her unit faced water leakage problems from the ceiling.
As the neighbour could not contact Madam Tham to discuss the leakage, he called the Housing and Development Board (HDB) for assistance.
However, the Board could not reach the elderly woman either. So, the HDB contacted her elder brother, who got Madam Tham’s niece to check on her at the house.
The niece did just that on 24 Apr. After her knocks went unanswered, she called the police.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force had to break the lock at the gate to enter Madam Tham’s flat. It was in the kitchen toilet where they discovered the severely decomposed body.
IO Sim added that there were no indications of forced entry or a struggle. Thus, the police did not suspect foul play.
The face of the deceased was already unrecognisable at that point. Forensic officers also could not lift her fingerprints as her hands were far too decayed.
She also had no teeth or dental records, reported ST.
Additionally, forensics officers could not identify her using the DNA from her bone marrow.
They then tried matching the DNA with her brother’s, but it turned out that they were not biologically related.
Apparently, the brother had told the police that she was adopted.
As they could not verify her identity, the authorities simply marked her as “Unknown”.
Because the police were not able to rely on the physical identifiers, they had to turn to circumstantial evidence to establish her identity.
Neighbours told the police Madam Tham would go to the market at 9am every day. However, they have not seen her since two to three weeks before the discovery of her body.
According to IO Sim, the neighbours observed that Madam Tham always wore a jade bangle and a metal watch.
Source: Amazon, for illustration purposes only
Neighbours recognised the two bangles and watch found on the body as the ones she always wore.
State Coroner Adam Nakhoda accepted the body was that of Madam Tham on Monday (14 Aug). He based the decision on the bangle and watch, as well as the neighbours’ evidence.
The official cause of Madam Tham’s death was hypertensive heart disease. This was consistent with her preexisting medical conditions.
As such, he ruled it a natural death.
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