According to Shin Min Daily News, a 54-year-old man was found lying motionless inside his 2-room rental HDB unit at Serangoon Avenue 4 on Monday (17 April).
The man’s body was already in a state of decomposition by the time he was discovered.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that they were alerted to the case of unnatural death on Monday at about 7.30pm at Block 223A Serangoon Avenue 4.
The 54-year-old was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene by a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) paramedic, and the police are not suspecting any foul play based on their preliminary investigations.
At the time of writing, police investigations are currently ongoing.
Stench 10 metres away
SMDN reported that when their reporters arrived at the scene, they could detect a stench in the corridor about 10 metres away from the unit where the deceased was found.
The flat also sported hoarded items that were piled up all the way towards the ceiling, with one side of the walls completely covered by cardboard boxes and plastic bags.
The police were only able to get to the man’s body after learning out a path from the piles of hoarded items and were there for around 4 hours.
A 67-year-old neighbour of the deceased said that the was an introverted and quiet person who rarely got out of his flat, and that although he seldom spoke, he would greet his neighbours with a smile.
Similar cases
The decomposing body of an 80-year-old woman was found in her HDB unit last month on 26 March, after a neighbour had noticed a foul smell emanating from the unit.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the residents living there described the deceased, who was a retired teacher living alone in her HDB unit along Holland Drive, as having good relations and being friendly with her neighbours.
A spokesperson for the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that on Sunday at about 1.55 pm, they were alerted to a case of unnatural death at Block 11 Holland Drive, where the elderly woman was found lying down in the unit motionless.
A resident living nearby, shared with SMDN that she had returned home at the time and saw several police officers outside the woman’s locked unit, and a locksmith later managed to open the door at about 3 pm in the afternoon.
The resident further added that she hadn’t seen the elderly woman for about a week and had initially thought that she was away and didn’t turn the lights on at night.
She added that because the woman was a retired teacher who used to teach at a primary school nearby, everyone in the neighbourhood called her teacher, and every evening when the woman went for dinner, she would stop and chat with her neighbours.
The police were alerted to the grisly find after the deceased’s nest door neighbour had noticed a foul smell coming from the unit and was worried.
The elderly woman’s dead body was then removed from the unit at about 5 pm.