Chilling case of Felicia Teo

Felicia Teo Wei Ling (23 February 1988 – 30 June 2007), was a Singaporean who was presumed dead after she went missing on 30 June 2007. She was alleged to be murdered by her two friends whom she visited on the same night. Teo was reported missing four days after she disappeared, and there were both search efforts and investigations made to trace her whereabouts. The case made headlines due to extensive public appeals and searches for Teo's whereabouts and became one of Singapore's high-profile missing person cases.

13 years later in 2020, the police investigations made a breakthrough and the case of Teo's disappearance was re-classified as murder. One of Teo's two friends, Ahmad Danial bin Mohamed Rafa'ee, who claimed to last saw her leaving his flat before she went missing, was arrested and charged with murder after the police found in his possession, one of the belongings carried by Teo at the time she disappeared. The second suspect, Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, was on the police's wanted list and remained at large outside Singapore.

Subsequently, Ahmad's murder charge was temporarily withdrawn, but he received a 26-month jail term for fresh charges of misappropriating Teo's belongings, giving false evidence and the illegal disposal of Teo's corpse, which remained missing.

Background and disappearance

Teo was a final-year fine arts student of LASALLE College of the Arts. She was known to be sociable, mingle with her friends, would constantly send messages and was often on her phone. She used to study at Monk's Hill Secondary School before she went on to enroll at LASALLE to study in a diploma course. She was also working part-time as a bartender at a bar in Clarke Quay, and her colleagues remembered her as a responsible worker. She was the elder of two children in her family and had a younger brother.

On 29 June 2007, Teo left her home in Bras Basah, and went out for a party at LASALLE with her friends. This was the last time her parents saw her. Teo told her parents earlier that she would be attending her friend's wedding the following day. However, the next day, Teo did not show up at the friend's wedding. Teo was also uncontactable for the next three days. On 3 July, Teo's mother then reported her daughter as missing, to the police.

Report and search efforts

Police began investigating and initially classified Teo's case as a missing persons case. Police investigations revealed that Teo last went to the 10th-floor flat of two male schoolmates at Marine Terrace on 30 June 2007. The two friends told police that Teo went to their shared flat and stayed until about 2 am on the morning of 30 June before leaving on her own. They claimed that that was the last time they saw Teo. Hence, it was determined that Teo went missing on 30 June 2007.

The police did not find any incriminating facts linking the two men to her disappearance and thus considered them as witnesses. CCTV footage showed Teo entering the lift with the men, but there was no footage of Teo leaving the flat and she was thus believed to have used the stairs. A police gazette was issued to locate her. Moreover, a property gazette was also issued for properties believed to be in Teo's possession when she was reported missing: At the time she disappeared, Teo was carrying a cream-colored bag which contained her Apple laptop and digital camera. The police also appealed to the public to contact the police should anyone have any information of Teo's whereabouts.

A missing poster of Felicia Teo, which was distributed by Teo's family and friends.

Teo's friends and family also conducted their own search. Since her disappearance, 100 friends and relatives have searched at Teo's favourite hangouts, including Marine Parade, Clarke Quay and East Coast. All of them disagreed with public speculations that Teo might have run away, as Teo only had S$30 on her. Furthermore, she would usually update her family and friends on her whereabouts and plans. Additionally, Teo had plans for an internship at a leading advertising firm, and had also bought tickets for a concert in August that year. Many people observed that Teo was her usual self in the days leading up to her disappearance.

Teo's mother, who speculated that her daughter may have been abducted and taken to Malaysia, went to Johor Bahru to distribute posters to the local residents, seeking their help to search for her daughter. A blog was created by one of Teo's friends dedicated to their search efforts. Teo's family went to Singtel to obtain Teo's past text messages and phone records: The last communication was a text message sent from Teo's mobile phone at 2.37 am on 30 June 2007, the day she disappeared. It was received by a male friend whose identity is not known.

While search efforts did not produce any helpful information to trace Teo's whereabouts, Teo's mother, who still hoped for her daughter's survival said to a newspaper (in 2011) that she kept telling herself that her daughter was still alive, married and living in another country. She also said that there was no unhappiness felt by Teo at all up till the time she went missing.

Throughout the following years, the police regularly reviewed Teo's case among all the unsolved missing person cases to check for new leads. During regular reviews of this case, the police conducted interviews with Teo's family and other witnesses and also checked on activities involving Teo's possible movements, including her bank accounts, emails, social media accounts and travel records. However, no new leads were revealed. This regular review went on for 13 years before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over the case.

Breakthrough and arrest

In July 2020, 13 years after Teo disappeared, the case was passed on to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigations. The CID later discovered new leads after tracing Felicia Teo's belongings which were in her possession prior to her disappearance. One of these belongings were found to be in the possession of Ahmad Danial bin Mohamed Rafa'ee, a Malay Singaporean, one of the two male friends who she visited on the day of her disappearance.

The case was re-classified as murder, and on 15 December 2020, the police arrested 35-year-old Ahmad. He was charged with murder two days later. It was alleged that between 1.39 am and 7.20 am of 30 June 2007, Ahmad and his Indonesian friend Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana had killed Teo inside their flat and disposed her body by unknown means.

Ragil was assumed to be outside of Singapore and hence, he was listed as a fugitive on the wanted list. The police also began to search for Teo's remains.

Background of suspects

One of the suspects, Ragil, was an Indonesian who came to Singapore to study, and knew Teo in LASALLE and became friends. Ragil later introduced her to his friend Ahmad. Ahmad, who goes by the alias Danial Enemiko on his social media accounts, studied for a diploma in communication design and advertising at LASALLE from 2000 to 2004. He also worked as a creative manager at gaming firm Razer until 2020.

Ragil graduated from LASALLE in 2011 with an honors degree in video art. He studied at the college from 2006 to 2011. He also worked in many filmmaking jobs based in Jakarta, Indonesia and was last known to be employed as a director's assistant at the time of Ahmad's capture.

Reactions and case effect

Upon the news of Ahmad's arrest, Teo's family declined to speak to the media, citing their need for privacy. The Teo family had continued to live in their home at Bras Basah to allow Teo to be able to find them if she returned home. Some of Teo's neighbors were shocked to receive news of Teo's alleged murder

On receiving news of Teo's alleged murder, several of Teo's friends shared past memories of Teo and spoke of theirs and others' past hopes that Teo might be alive.

Personal Views and Conclusion

Please ladies be careful of whom you trust or mix with because you will never know their intentions or what's on their mind. Try to inform your close ones about your whereabouts if you are to attend parties or whatsoever and best to have your parents pick you up from that location.