'Smell might be from a rotting animal carcass': Jurong residents notice stench, body of 80-year-old woman found in flat days later

The decomposing body of an 80-year-old woman was found inside her flat on Wednesday (June 26), days after residents noticed a foul smell wafting into their homes.

The discovery was made in a ninth-storey flat at Block 245 Jurong East Street 24 at around 5pm, reported Shin Min Daily News.

A 34-year-old resident surnamed Chen, who lives in the unit directly above on the tenth floor, said that his family started noticing an odour from outside his bedroom window last Sunday.

"A neighbour on our floor lives alone, so we were worried something might have happened to him," he said.

"But when we saw that he was safe and sound, we thought the smell might be from a rotting animal carcass."

When the smell worsened over the next two days, he contacted the Jurong-Clementi Town Council, whose staff visited the block on Monday and Tuesday but could not pinpoint the source of the stench.

"They went into my bedroom and noticed the foul odour too," Chen added.

It was only after seeing several police officers at the woman's unit on Wednesday night that he realised that his neighbour downstairs had died.

When a Shin Min reporter visited the flat on Thursday night, the stench still lingered in the corridor and there were what appeared to be bloodstains on the door. The next-door neighbour had placed lit joss sticks outside the unit.

Another neighbour, Abraham, 62, said the woman lived with her husband, who is often not home and apparently works as a cleaner.

He added that the woman appeared to have dementia and mostly stayed at home: "I saw the uncle a month ago, but they don't go out much, so I didn't think too much about it."

Abraham said his family detected a strange odour on Tuesday, but didn't think much of it until the police visited the flat and discovered the woman's body.

"I heard that the uncle is in the hospital, so no one knew about his wife's death."

The police told AsiaOne they were alerted to a case of unnatural death at the block. The woman was found lying motionless in the flat and pronounced dead at scene.

Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play. Investigations are ongoing.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com