Hawker and woman found dead in apparent suicide, note found
Gruesome find: Ong (left) and Hooi were found dead at their house in Taman Machang Bubok. — Bernama
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Hawker Ong Ewe Chye, whose decomposed body was found together with the body of a woman inside a rented double-storey house in Taman Machang Bubok here, had left a note for his family telling them not worry over his death.
Police found the note and a digital voice recorder inside a room on the ground floor of the house.
Both the note and the voice recorder which had a recording, were in Chinese.
The bodies of Ong, 51, and Hooi Chooi Leng, 35, were found inside the room beside the living hall of the corner-lot house, by the police at about 6.30pm on Thursday.
In both the note and the voice recording, which was translated by the police and released to the press by central Seberang Prai district police chief Asst Comm Nik Ros Azhan, Ewe Chye, had requested his family not to be sad over his death.
ACP Nik Ros said that forensic investigation revealed that the doors and windows of the room where the bodies were found, had been sealed with tape and plastic bags to block air ventilation.
“Both the bodies were dressed and lying next to each other.
Two gas canisters were also found inside the room with the valves opened.
“There were no signs of injuries on the bodies and no signs of break-in or a scuffle as the objects in the house were in order,” he said.
A neighbour, who declined to be named, said there was a foul odour since Monday.
She said she and her family members thought that an animal had died and was decomposing.
“We checked the drains and sewers but found nothing. After many neighbours started complaining about the foul smell, we found that it was coming from my neighbour’s house.
“We called the owner of the house on Thursday to come and check the house, and after finding the stench unbearable, the owner called the police to break into the house,” she added.
Several neighbours who were interviewed yesterday, said Ewe Chye and Hooi were quiet and hardly spoke to anyone in the neighbourhood since they moved there about three years ago.
One neighbour said the couple, who operated a food stall together, used to drive a Proton Wira Aeroback but the car has not been seen for the past few weeks.
At the Bukit Mertajam Hospital’s mortuary, Ewe Chye’s younger sister Ong Lay Tin, 45, an insurance agent, said she last met her brother during Chinese New Year last year.
“He never spoke to us about his troubles. Our family never suspected anything amiss when we last met him,” she added.
Hooi’s family members, who were also present to claim her body at the mortuary, declined to speak to reporters.
Ewe Chye, who is the second child among three siblings, and Hooi were cremated at the Berapit Chinese Cemetery yesterday.
Police have classified the case as sudden death.
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