The decomposing body of an 80-year-old woman was found in her HDB unit yesterday (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.
The resident also revealed that the elderly woman, who wasn’t married at the time of her death, once mentioned that she was born in 1943.
Another 70-year-old resident, Mr Hong, said that the deceased had lived in the estate for 40 years and everyone there knew her quite well.
The other residents also shared with SMDN that the elderly woman once lived with her elder sister, who later died, and the sister’s children also never visited her.
The police are not suspecting any foul play in the elderly woman’s death, and police investigations are currently ongoing.