True Files is an English language television docu-drama telecast on MediaCorp Channel 5, with each episode re-enacting major court proceedings, mostly of murder, in Singapore. When the inaugural season was telecast in 2002, its first episode was re-slotted to be telecast later, when numerous public feedback was received by the station complaining that it was too graphic after watching trailers for the pilot episode. The show was also pushed back to a 10 p.m. time slot from the fourth episode onwards as a result. Nonetheless, the hype helped the show to enjoy favourable viewership ratings. Over five years, a total of five seasons had been telecasted, with the final season airing in 2007.
Crimewatch is a Singaporean television programme produced by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force (SPF). It is aired on Mediacorp's Channel 5, Channel 8, Suria and Vasantham.
On the evening of 12 December 1993, Lee Kok Cheong was at his home in Greenleaf Place along Holland Road, when three youths entered his house to commit robbery. Two of the attackers stabbed Lee, then strangled him, which caused his death. Lee, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, was 54 years old at the time of his death.
Woo Bih Li is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore since 2003.
Peng Wan-ru, also spelled Peng Wan-ju, was a feminist Taiwanese politician. The director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Women's Affairs Department, Peng advocated for the safety and development of women. Peng married Horng Wann-sheng and they had a son together.
The Toa Payoh ritual murders took place in Singapore in 1981. On 25 January, the body of a nine-year-old girl was found at a block of public housing flats in the town of Toa Payoh, and two weeks later, the body of a ten-year-old boy was found nearby.
The murder of Cheri Jo Bates occurred in Riverside, California, on October 30, 1966. Bates, an 18-year-old college freshman, was stabbed and slashed to death on the grounds of Riverside City College. Police determined the assailant had disabled the ignition coil wire and distributor of Bates' Volkswagen Beetle as a method to lure her from her car as she studied in the college library. The murder itself remains one of Riverside's most infamous cold cases, and has been described by some locals as a murder which "stripped Riverside of its innocence".
Chen Tien or Chen Tian was the head of the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
Tan Teow Yeow was a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore and a former President of the Industrial Arbitration Court.
The Andrew Road triple murders was a case of robbery turned triple murder in a bungalow at Andrew Road, Singapore, in 1983. The robbery was committed by two young men armed with a rifle and knife. During the robbery, one of the robbers murdered three of the five hostages while the other protected the remaining two hostages from his partner. Eventually, both were arrested and charged with murder, with the killer being hanged while the other, who did not take part in the killings, receiving life and caning for armed robbery. It was further revealed in police investigations that the killer, Sek Kim Wah, was also responsible for an unrelated double murder of two more victims, whom he killed using the same modus operandi as for the Andrew Road victims, making him the first and only serial killer in Singapore to date.
On the night of 24 October 1984, a 39-year-old American Express banker, Tan Tik Siah, otherwise known as Frankie Tan, was ambushed and attacked by four men as he arrived home from work in Singapore. He was strangled to death by his assailants and his body was found by his wife, who reported the murder to the police. Three of the assailants and the victim's wife were arrested and charged in the death.
On 26 August 1998, 50-year-old Tan Eng Yan, a fruit stall assistant working at a market in Tampines, was found brutally murdered at the toilet of her Tampines flat. Tan, also known as Lily or Tan Ah Leng, was stabbed and slashed 58 times and four of the knife wounds were fatal. Her money, amounting to over S$2,200 in cash and S$6,000 in coins, were also being stolen from her flat. It took five days before the police arrested a fishmonger named Lau Lee Peng, who was a close friend of Tan, after he confessed during witness questioning that he killed Tan and led the police to where he hid the money.
The Pulau Senang riots was a case of armed rioting and murder that happened at the Singaporean island of Pulau Senang, where a reformative prison settlement was operated by the government of Singapore to imprison and rehabilitate secret society members, as well as to avoid prison overcrowding at Changi Prison. The settlement first opened in 1960, and had seen bouts of success in reforming many gang members and allowing them to rejoin society.
On 2 November 1984, 19-year-old interior designer Lim Hwee Huang was thrown off a tenth storey HDB flat at Kallang Bahru, after she was raped by 27-year-old Eurasian Singaporean Hensley Anthony Neville, who fled to the neighbouring country Malaysia. He was on the run for more than two years before he was finally arrested by Malaysian police, who sent him back to Singapore in March 1987 for the charge of murdering Lim. Neville, who was caught in the Malaysian state of Selangor, was also a suspect behind two unsolved killings in Malaysia.
The Amber Beacon Tower murder was an unsolved case of a woman being murdered by two unknown attackers, who both ambushed her and her boyfriend during the couple's romantic night out at Amber Beacon Tower in East Coast Park. During the attack, the female victim, 21-year-old Kelly Tan Ah Hong, was stabbed on the neck by one of the men while her 22-year-old boyfriend James Soh Fook Leong was stabbed on the back by the man's accomplice. Although Soh managed to survive with timely medical intervention, Tan died as a result of massive bleeding from her wound. Despite the extensive police investigations of this case, the murderer(s) were never identified or caught as of today.
On 23 September 1980, inside a terrace house in Opera Estate, Singapore, 23-year-old babysitter Chia Chun Fong was found dead with a knife stuck to her mouth. The cause of death, which was previously unknown in Singapore's medical history, was due to the knife cutting through a vertebrae artery while being pushed into the mouth, and it consequently led to Chia dying from excessive blood loss. Chia, who was entrusted to care for the infant son of her neighbour, was later found to have been murdered by her husband's distant relative Tan Cheow Bock, who fled from Singapore after the killing. Tan remained on the run for seven years before he was caught for vehicle theft in Malaysia, and extradited back to Singapore for trial. Close to ten years after the murder of Chia, Tan was found guilty of murdering Chia and sentenced to death by the High Court on 31 August 1990.
On 5 May 1999, 43-year-old seaman Aw Teck Boon, alias Singapore Siao, was found murdered at Geylang after drinking at a nearby coffee shop. Aw was infamously known to be a triad leader of Sio Kun Tong and had spent time in prison for his gangland activities. It was speculated that Aw was attacked and stabbed to death while he was sleeping at a Wushu association club, likely due to unsettled underworld conflicts. Although the police managed to identify a man named Chew Tse Meng as the prime suspect, Chew was never caught and is still at large despite extensive investigations and search efforts. A coroner's inquiry recorded a verdict of murder in 2002 after hearing the case of Aw's death. As of 2024, the murder of Aw Teck Boon remains unsolved and the murderer(s) have not been found.
