These murders and heinous crimes in Singapore will give you full body chills.
Singapore is a pretty safe city, but every now and then, a murder surfaces and we’re shaken to our core. Unlike scary stories and haunted spots, which may or may not be real, these crime cases in Singapore are downright true and terrifying. Warning: do take note that the stories include mentions of violence, sexual assault and gory details. Please be respectful towards the victims and families as you read on.
Famous true crime and murder cases in Singapore
1. Body parts in Orchard Road
It was 9 September 2005. The Orchard MRT station you know now was different back then – the exit was a popular spot where people hung out and waited for their friends. It was also where a severed head, arms, and legs were found; the torso was discovered near MacRitchie Reservoir later in the evening. Fingerprints identified the victim as 26-year-old Jane Parangan La Puebla, a Filipino domestic worker.
Investigations led the police to a Serangoon Road condominium, where they arrested Guen Garlejo Aguilar, the victim’s best friend and fellow domestic worker. The reason for the killing was a dispute over money. Two days before, the ladies were cooking in the condominium kitchen when the topic of Jane’s debt came up. The victim got agitated when Guen suggested she sell her video and digital cameras, which led to a fight and eventual murder.
Guen’s charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter after it was revealed that she was suffering from depression during the time of the offence. She served her 10-year sentence at Changi’s Women Prison and was released in September 2015.
2. Old Holland Road cold case
Nowadays, it’s common to see people run late at night or in the early morning. But in 1985, an unsolved crime case gripped Singapore after 18-year-old Winnifred Teo went jogging in the evening but never returned. Her body was discovered in an undergrowth near Old Holland Road the following day with multiple stab wounds. She was also sexually assaulted before her death.
The police questioned those who passed the area, interrogated two potential suspects at length, and even offered a $50,000 reward for fresh information. Despite their best efforts, the murderer was never apprehended.
3. Murder in Hougang
On 14 May 2001, 30-year-old Annie Leong Wai Mun was brutally slain at the lift lobby of her Hougang flat. The next day, her estranged husband Anthony Ler attended the funeral wake looking sorrowful and mourning the death of his wife. But this was all an act.
Prior to the murder, he had befriended five youths and tried to convince them to murder his wife, offering a reward of $100,000. One of them, Z (to protect his identity due to his age), who knew Anthony for five years, unwillingly accepted the offer. The 15-year-old feared the older gentleman might harm his family if he refused. Anthony came up with a training exercise for Z, and after several unsuccessful attempts, the latter killed Annie.
Throughout the court proceedings, Anthony maintained his innocence, claiming it started as a joke before it escalated into “a game of bluff”. At the end of the trial, the judge rejected Anthony’s claims, sentencing him to death. Z was found guilty of murder as well but was spared the gallows as he was too young. The boy was detained at the President’s Pleasure; he was released in 2018 (subject to conditions such as electronic monitoring and rehabilitative support) after filing for clemency for the second time.
4. Pasir Panjang murder
Huang Shuying last spoke with her daughter, Huang Na, on 10 October 2004. That was also the last time anyone saw the eight-year-old alive. Her disappearance resulted in a nationwide search and was covered extensively in the news. Took Leng How, Huang Shuying’s colleague and a friend of the mother-daughter pair, fled the country after being questioned twice. Nine days later, he surrendered to the police in Penang and was brought back to Singapore.
Huang Na’s decomposing body was discovered in a box, which resembled those used at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, at Telok Blangah Hill Park. Took unsuccessfully tried to claim diminished responsibility; he was found guilty and sentenced to hang after a 13-day hearing.
5. The curry murder
In 1984, Nagaratha Vally Ramiah made a police report about her missing husband, Ayakanno Marimuthu. Three years later, the case became warm when an informant notified the police of what transpired. It’s believed Marimuthu was bludgeoned with an iron rod, then chopped up and cooked in curry.
However, the eight suspects, including Ramiah, her mother, her three brothers and their wives, were released due to a lack of evidence. Up till today, the remains, the murder weapon and the pot are still missing.
6. Geylang Bahru family murders
Probably one of the heinous crimes in Singapore, the Geylang Bahru family murders took place on the unassuming morning of 6 January 1979. Mr and Mrs Tan Kuen Chai ran a school bus service transporting students and left for work as usual. Mrs Tan called home to wake her kids up for school but no one picked up. Next, she called her neighbour to check up on them but no one responded either. When they returned home, to their shock, they found all four kids dead in the bathroom with at least 20 slash wounds on each child. The victims were Tan Kok Peng, 10; Tan Kok Hin, 8; Tan Kok Soon, 6; and their sister, Tan Chin Nee, 5.
It’s believed that the murders were premeditated and the murderer had personal knowledge of the Tan family. Two weeks after the murder, they received a chilling CNY letter that said, “Now you can have no more offspring ha-ha-ha”; it was signed “the murderer” in Mandarin. A painful taunt pointing to the fact that Mrs Tan had been sterilised after giving birth to her daughter. Unfortunately, the tragic murder remains a cold case in Singapore.
7. Toa Payoh ritual murders
Riddled with human scarification, sexual abuse and blood rituals, the Toa Payoh ritual murders shook Singapore. The murder investigations of Agnes Ng Siew Heok and Ghazali bin Marzuki led the police to the mastermind Adrian Lim and his two accomplices: his wife Catherine Tan Mui Choo and his mistress Hoe Kah Hong.
After discovering Ghazali’s body between blocks 10 and 11 in Toa Payoh on 7 February 1981, the police followed the bloody trail which brought them to Adrian’s flat. When they stepped in, they found religious idols and blood stains on the floor.
Adrian had been posing as a medium for years and tricked his clients into sleeping with him as part of the cleansing process. Catherine and Kah Hong were taken by his “special powers” and abetted in the murder of said victims. All three were found guilty and hanged on 25 November 1988.
8. McDonald’s boys case
It’s hard to imagine people can actually go missing on our little island. But that’s what happened to two 12-year-old boys on 14 May 1986. Toh Hong Huat and Keh Chin Ann disappeared into thin air. Chin Ann was last seen leaving school to shop while Hong Huat asked his mum if he could meet a friend to go to school. She assumed he was meeting Chin Ann.
When both boys didn’t turn up for class, the search began. On 27 August 1986, someone reported sightings of the missing boys at Pulau Ubin after canvassing the island, but nothing came out of it. The searches extended to neighbouring countries as well. Even fast food chain McDonald’s put its weight behind the search by offering a $100,000 reward for any information – hence the name of the case.
There were many theories as to what happened. Some speculated that they were kidnapped by a human trafficking syndicate and transported to Thailand. Sadly, the case remains unsolved – the boys would be aged 50 now.
9. Yishun triple murder
Strange things sure seem to happen in Yishun. What started as a trivial argument between Wang Zhijian and his girlfriend Zhang Meng ended in the deaths of her and her daughter. Zhang Meng craved crab for dinner but Zhijian refused to spend the money when they just had it last week. Upset, she hurled hurtful words at him.
The relationship was tumultuous, to say the least, but this incident was the last straw for him. After committing the murders, he went to the other room to kill a mother and daughter duo who lived in the rental flat. The mum tried to escape from the kitchen window but Zhijian chopped off her hands as she held onto the bamboo poles and she fell to her death. Fortunately, the daughter survived the entire ordeal.
To make things even more bizarre, Zhijian was always caught by the press with a sinister grin on his face. He was eventually sentenced to death, despite appealing to the court by way of his mental health condition.
So, did these true crime and murder cases in Singapore give you total goosebumps?
[This article was originally published in 2021 and updated in 2024 by Sufyan Saad.]
