THE bodies of a woman and her young son were found floating in Bedok Reservoir yesterday morning, three days after they were last seen in Clementi Central.
Police were notified of the find at about 7am and paramedics pronounced them dead about 15 minutes later. The police have classified the case as unnatural death and investigations are ongoing.
Madam Tan and her son were both dressed in red tops, the same clothes they were wearing when they went missing. She is said to have been hugging her son when their bodies were found. Their fingernails were also painted red.
According to The New Paper, it is a Chinese belief that when someone commits suicide while dressed in red, the person will return as a vengeful spirit.
The pair were last seen by Madam Tan's mother, Madam Teo Guek Lai, 53, at the latter's workplace in Clementi Central on Tuesday morning.
Madam Tan had told her mother that she was going to leave this world when they met.
Later that day, Madam Teo called her daughter on her mobile phone. They had a short conversation before the line was cut, and Madam Tan became uncontactable.
In that last conversation, Madam Teo had tried to dissuade her daughter from committing suicide.
Madam Tan then told her mother: "Do you think that I am so bored that I will joke about this? I will definitely die today."
She also told her mother that it would be the last time she could hear her voice.
Madam Teo told my paper that her daughter had been distraught over marital problems, which involved an impending divorce and custody battle for Jerald.
She had also become increasingly short-tempered and irritable over the past year, The New Paper said. Madam Tan told her mother that life was becoming too much of a torture.
Madam Tan was said to have lived with her mother at a flat in French Road, near the Jalan Besar Stadium, while her husband, Mr Willy Chin, lives at his mother's flat in Tiong Bahru. Mr Chin is said to work as a chef in a Japanese restaurant.
The New Paper said the couple were married in 2006 after two years of courtship, but lived separately for most of the marriage.
The relationship became strained when Madam Tan found a condom in Mr Chin's car.
Sometime last year, Madam Tan allowed her husband to take Jerald home. However, the child returned with a bleeding nose.
Madam Teo said: "The bleeding did not stop for two days, so something serious must have happened. Willy just brushed it off."
Madam Tan then refused to allow Jerald to visit his grandmother and father in Tiong Bahru.
He was only allowed to see his father near their home in the presence of Madam Tan's sister or her mother.
Mr Chin then applied through the courts to gain access to him. A court notice was served to Madam Tan on Sunday.
According to The New Paper, when the court officers visited their flat to serve the notice, Madam Tan grabbed Jerald and crouched in a corner, repeatedly saying that she was afraid.
Madam Tan's sister, Ms Celeste Tan, 30, said: "She was very shaken after a court officer visited her to serve the notice. She had lost all hope."
Despite all that happened, Madam Tan refused to divorce her husband even after her family advised her to grant his request for a divorce.
This is the second instance of bodies being found in Bedok Reservoir this year.
In June, the lower half of the body of 23-year-old Chinese national Lin Xiao was found floating in the reservoir.
