Two people arrested over flatmate's death in Woodlands

Two people have been arrested in connection with their flatmate's death in a Housing Board unit in Woodlands Avenue 9, and police have classified the case as murder.

When police officers arrived on Monday morning, they found 27-year-old Annie Ee lying motionless and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The three people are not believed to be related, although The Straits Times understands that the two people who were arrested - a 36-year-old man and 31-year-old woman - are a couple.

Neighbours told The Straits Times yesterday that they had not noticed anything untoward on Monday morning.

Some people were not aware that a person had died, although one said she frequently noticed bruises on Miss Ee's face and arms.

They spoke of the housemates as fairly reserved people who almost always kept their front door closed.

"They kept to themselves," said the woman living in the next-door unit, who wanted to be known only as Melody.

"They had friends over sometimes, but they weren't noisy."

She added that the trio had been living in the unit for about six months and presumably rented the flat.

Although neighbours said that Miss Ee addressed the 31-year-old woman as "older sister" in Mandarin, Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao reported that they were not on good terms.

The older woman would allegedly call Miss Ee's workplace - food outlet Hot Tomato - or go there to check if she was at work.

A manager at Hot Tomato told The Straits Times that Ms Ee resigned last month. She confirmed that Ms Ee used to arrive at work badly bruised.

One neighbour - who wanted to be known only as Madam Xu - said that she and Miss Ee both worked at nearby shopping mall Causeway Point and often took the same bus home.

"I would see a big bruise on the side of her face, and then a few days later, there would be another one on the other side," Madam Xu said in Mandarin. "She would cover them up with a thick layer of powder.

"I asked her what happened, and she told me that she had fallen down. She started avoiding me after that."

linettel@sph.com.sg

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