Felicia Teo: A cold case revived after 13 years
17 years after her disappearance in 2007, Felicia Teo Wei Ling’s missing persons case still attracts much public attention due to its complicated development.
Even to this day, the case has yet to reach a concrete conclusion.
On 29 June 2007, the LASALLE College of the Arts student, then 19, left her home in Bras Basah to attend a party at her college. This was the last time her family saw her.
Source: Find Felicia Blogspot
After failing to contact Teo for a few days, her mother lodged a missing persons police report on 3 July 2007. However, investigations would soon prove difficult.
Felicia Teo was last seen with 2 male friends
According to an article by The Strait Times in 2020, the police uncovered CCTV footage of Teo riding a lift to a flat at Marine Terrace with two men on the night of her disappearance.
These two men were identified as Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa’ee and Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, at the time 22 and 18 years old respectively. They were Teo’s friends from college.
When questioned, the two men claimed they stayed with Teo in the flat until about 2.30am on 30 June. She then left on her own to meet someone, according to the pair.
The police conducted an extensive investigation but didn’t find anything connecting Ahmad and Mr Ragil with Teo’s disappearance. As such, the case was classified as a missing persons case, and the men as witnesses.
Investigations hit a dead end
Source: TODAY via National Library Board
There were speculations that Teo might have run away of her own volition, reported TODAY in 2007. However, Teo’s friends and family discounted the possibility, saying she was “cheerful” and “her usual social self” in the days leading up to her disappearance.
TODAY’s article further stated that around 200 people from Teo’s social circle went on a search all over Singapore for information about her whereabouts. Still, their efforts proved futile.
The police also conducted regular reviews of the case in the following years, said a news release from the Singapore Police Force (SPF). They interviewed Teo’s family and other witnesses, checked her bank accounts, emails, social media accounts, and travel records. However, it wasn’t until more than a decade later that the case saw a breakthrough.
A breakthrough made in 2020
Source: Wikipedia
SPF’s news release added that in July 2020, the case was passed to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) as it had remained unsolved for an extended period of time.
CID traced the properties believed to have been in Teo’s possession when she went missing and managed to link one of them to Ahmad Danial. He was arrested on 15 December and charged with Teo’s murder 2 days later.
The breakthrough led to new revelations. According to a 2022 article by CNA, Ahmad’s claim that Teo had left the Marine Terrace flat alone after spending time with him and Mr Ragil was a lie.
Instead, the trio consumed ecstasy in the flat. However, sometime before 6am on 30 June 2007, Teo reportedly died due to “unknown circumstances”.
Fearing that reporting her death would land them in trouble for drug consumption, Ahmad and Mr Ragil attempted to conceal the incident. They covered her body in mattresses and placed it inside a carton box, which they carried down to the ground floor via the staircase to avoid CCTV in the lift lobby.
Carrying the box with Teo’s body, the men took a cab to a remote area in Punggol Track 24. There, they dug a hole to burn and bury the body. The same day, they took Teo’s laptop and camera, the former of which Ahmad later gave to his father.
Punggol Track 24. Source: Street Directory
In 2010, a partial human skull was found during excavation works at Punggol Track 24. At the time, it was unidentified.
After the discoveries regarding Teo’s case, DNA testing was conducted on the skull, which revealed that it “likely” belonged to Teo. No other remains have been found.
Suspect charged for lesser crimes
CNA’s article further reported that in June 2022, Ahmad was given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for Teo’s murder — meaning he could still be charged if further evidence turned up.
The article also quoted a prosecutor at Ahmad’s trial, who noted that there was no way to verify if Ahmad’s claims regarding Teo’s death “due to unknown circumstances” were true.
Subsequently, Ahmad was sentenced to 26 months in jail for lesser charges including depositing Teo’s body, misappropriating her belongings, fabricating false evidence, and giving false information to the police.
Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana. Source: Crime Library Singapore
Ahmad made an appeal to be completely cleared of the murder charge, which was denied in 2023, reported The Strait Times. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon was quoted saying the murder charge against Ahmad “cannot proceed until and unless Mr Ragil’s assistance is secured”.
Mr Ragil, who allegedly also had connections to Teo’s case, reportedly remained at large outside of Singapore.
Prosecutors said they had reasons to believe Mr Ragil was in Indonesia and were working with local authorities to secure his assistance.
There have been no other updates on the case since 2023.
Also read: The missing person case of Susanna Albert: She went for a job interview & never returned
The missing person case of Susanna Albert: She went for a job interview & never returned
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Featured image adapted from Find Felicia Blogspot and Shicheng News.
