By Vivien Chan

TWO men were found in the bedroom - one was dead and the other semi-conscious.

The dead man was found on a bed, lying face up; the other was underneath the bed, face down and semi-conscious.

Both were naked and foaming at the mouth.

The man who was semi-conscious had bruises and lacerations all over his face and body, but no weapon was found at the scene.

The shocking find was uncovered at a shophouse in River Valley Road on Tuesday afternoon.

The dead man was Mr Francis Wee Chin Wah, 44, owner of the shop, FourOneFour, which deals in art bags, ceramics and art vases.

The semi-conscious man, who's in his 30s, is yet to be identified. He was taken to the Singapore General Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.

How the two men ended up there in such an unusual circumstance, and what was their relationship, if any, is still unknown.

A woman from a clan association next door to Mr Wee's shop, who wanted to be known only as Ms Wu, told The New Paper that Mr Wee's mother discovered her son's dead body on Tuesday.

According to Ms Wu, who is in her 30s, the mother had gone to her son's shop on Monday to look for him, but found him 'asleep' on the bed.

She nudged him, but he did not wake up. Not wanting to disturb him, she left.

The next afternoon, she went to the shop again and found him still 'asleep'.

Puzzled that her son was 'sleeping' for so long, she nudged him again. That was when she realised that his body was already cold and that he was dead.

It is not known if she had found Mr Wee naked, or whether she had discovered the other man in the shophouse.

Ms Wu said Mr Wee's mother had rushed to the clan association and asked them to call for help, as her handphone was not working.

Yesterday morning, Mr Wee's mother, uncle and cousin claimed his body at the mortuary.

The aged woman looked frail and sobbed uncontrollably when she emerged from the morgue, burying her face in a tissue.

Her younger brother put his arm around her to support and comfort her.

Mr Wee's cousin, Mr Lawrence Oh, said that his death has shocked the family, and his mother immediately broke down upon seeing her son's body in the morgue.

Mr Oh, 55, said that he looked at peace and had a smile on his face, which was his usual disposition.

He said Mr Wee had always been a cheerful, friendly and chatty person, though he said that they rarely meet each other, sometimes only once a year.

He last met Mr Wee, who is also his godbrother, during Chinese New Year this year.

He said that he did not know much about Mr Wee's life, and did not know whether he had a girlfriend. He added that he did not know who the semi-conscious man was.

Healthy

Mr Oh said: 'He (Mr Wee) was always healthy - he goes to the gym quite often. He was also entrepreneurial.'

Mr Wee has an elder sister who was expected to fly home from abroad last night.

When The New Paper visited Mr Wee's shophouse yesterday morning, a sign hung behind the glass door read: 'We are asleep'.

The modern-looking shophouse, with its brown walls and awning, stood out from the row of rundown houses and shops.

Brightly coloured artificial flowers lined the glass window display of the shop. Pots of plants lined the sides of the shop.

Parked nearby was a dusty orange Honda Integra, which Ms Wu said belonged to Mr Wee.

The New Paper spotted a middle-aged man, who said he was Mr Wee's 'close friend from secondary school', sitting on the kerb opposite the shophouse.

Dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and business pants, he stared blankly at his dead friend's shophouse, crying.

A woman arrived shortly after, and the two hugged each other while crying in the parking lot.

They declined to speak to reporters and left within minutes.

Ms Wu said that when Mr Wee's mother approached her on Tuesday, she did not mention that another man was with Mr Wee in the shophouse.

'I found out from the newspapers that another man was found inside,' she said.

She said that Mr Wee, who was well-built and of average height, was friendly, cheerful and kind. When they met, they often greeted each other and made small talk.

He even invited her over to his shop last Christmas, when he had a small party.

Ms Wu said: 'He has rented this shop for about five years. He once told me that most of his business is done online, and he has other shops.'

Police investigations are ongoing. They have classified it as unnatural death.

vivienc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.