A 35-year-old Singaporean man who was arrested over the disappearance of a 19-year-old Singaporean girl 13 years ago has been charged in court for murder today (December 17).
Appearing in court via a video link, Ahmad Danial Bin Mohamed Rafa'ee is accused of causing the death of Teo Wei Ling (Felicia Teo), on June 30, 2007, sometime between 1:39am and 7:20am.
He will be remanded for a week at the Central Police Division for further investigations to take place
However, prior to that, he will be remanded at Tanglin Police Division as he is on MC until Dec. 20.
Murder was allegedly committed with a second person
The murder was allegedly committed with a second person, 32-year-old Ragil Putra Setia Bin Sukmarahjana, at a unit on the tenth floor of Block 19, at Marine Terrace.
Ragil is still at large, and believed to be out of Singapore, according to the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
The offence of murder, punishable under Section 302 of the Penal Code, carries the death penalty.
In addition, if the act of murder was carried out by multiple people, each of them are liable to be charged as if they had carried out the act alone.
Arrest announced earlier on the same day
Danial's arrest had been announced by SPF earlier on the same day.
SPF said that the case was reviewed over the years since 2007, during which the police conducted interviews with Teo's family and other witnesses.
The police also checked activities involving Teo's possible movements, including her bank accounts, emails, social media accounts and travel records.
However, no new leads were revealed.
Case referred to CID
The most recent review was initiated in July 2020 and the case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) given that it had been unsolved for an extended period of time.
CID uncovered a new lead while tracing the properties which were believed to be in Teo's possession when she was reported missing.
CID managed to link one of the properties to Danial and arrested him on Tuesday (December 15, 2020) in relation to Teo's disappearance.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Teo had died before the report was lodged on July 3, 2007 and that Danial had allegedly disposed of her body subsequently with the male friend.
The police's search for Teo's remains are ongoing.
Who was Felicia Teo?
Teo was a 19-year-old student studying for a diploma in fine arts at the Lasalle College of the Arts in 2007.
In the evening of June 29, 2007, Teo went to a friend’s HDB flat at Marine Terrace.
CCTV footage retrieved from the town council showed Teo entering the lift and taking it up to the 10th floor with two men.
That was the last time Teo was seen on camera. The men whom she was with claimed she left the house at 2am, but Teo was never seen again. Search efforts by her family and friends were futile.
It eventually became a cold case which was brought back to the public’s attention when Lianhe Wanbao published her story in November this year as part of a series on cases of missing people.
Danial will return to court on Dec. 24.
More information about the case:
Top image collage left photo via Danial Enemiko, right photo by Syahindah Ishak