{"id":23237,"date":"2025-12-26T19:36:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=23237"},"modified":"2025-12-26T19:36:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T11:36:39","slug":"elderly-man-with-dementia-missing-for-three-days-found-dead-at-bukit-panjang-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=23237","title":{"rendered":"Elderly man with dementia, missing for three days, found dead at Bukit Panjang park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">A woman who saw a group of policemen in a park approached them out of curiosity \u2014 only to discover that they had found the body of her husband, who had been missing for three days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On Dec 22, authorities <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/police-appealing-info-man-74-last-seen-jelapang-road-4am-dec-21\" target=\"_blank\" data-discover=\"true\">issued an appeal for information on the whereabouts of 74-year-old Chan Tuck Chew, <\/a><\/span>who was last seen at about 4am the previous day near Block 505 Jelapang Road in Bukit Panjang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">At around noon the following day, Shin Min Daily News received a tip-off from a reader who said <span><a class=\"text-primary-500 hover:underline\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zaobao.com.sg\/news\/singapore\/story20251224-8010210\" target=\"_blank\">several police cars had been spotted near Pang Sua Park in Bukit Panjang.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">When Shin Min reporters arrived, four police vehicles were seen parked outside the park. Part of the walkway was cordoned off, and a blue tent had been set up over the body.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Family members arrived to identify the body at about 2pm, and a woman was seen breaking down in tears at the scene. The body was taken away in a police hearse an hour later.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">Police do not suspect foul play<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Chan&#8217;s 30-year-old son said his mother was walking through the park at about 11am. Noticing a number of police officers there, she went forward to ask what had happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;When she realised a body had been found, she handed over my father&#8217;s identity card and her personal particulars to the police. After verifying the details, they confirmed the deceased was my father,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">He added that his father still had his wallet and other belongings on him, and was wearing a tag with his mother&#8217;s contact information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Chan&#8217;s body was found on a small slope beside a fitness corner in the park, just several hundred metres from his home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;We initially thought he couldn&#8217;t have gone far. We searched the park several times over the past few days but didn&#8217;t manage to find him,&#8221; said his son, who explained that his father had dementia and Parkinson&#8217;s disease and lived with his mother, who would usually keep the house keys away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">On the night he went missing, she forgot to do so before going to bed, and woke up to find her husband had left the house. &#8220;She waited for hours but he didn&#8217;t return, so she made a police report after a neighbour advised her to do so.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">In response to Stomp&#8217;s queries, the police said that officers spotted a 74-year-old man lying motionless in the vicinity of Pang Sua Park at about 11.40am on Dec 23. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play. Investigations are ongoing.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">Family searched several places over three days<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Over the past three days, the family searched areas where Mr Chan had previously lived, worked, or frequently visited, including Jurong, Bugis and Bukit Timah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">&#8220;We really searched everywhere we could, and kept appealing on social media, hoping someone would see him,&#8221; his son said. He added that many concerned members of the public called after seeing the appeals, and that the family is grateful for the public&#8217;s assistance.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-[-8px] mt-lg font-primary text-22 font-bold leading-1.5\">Had gone missing twice before<\/h3>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Chan first went missing in November 2024 and was later found near his home, having suffered a fall. He was subsequently hospitalised for more than two months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-secondary pt-md text-18 font-normal leading-1.5 text-grayscale-800\">Mr Chan went missing again in October this year and was taken to hospital after falling near his home.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-md py-md xl:flex-row xl:items-center\"><span class=\"font-primary text-18 font-semibold leading-1.2 text-black\">Get more of Stomp&#8217;s latest updates by following us on:<\/span><\/div>\n<hr class=\"border-t border-primary-200 mt-xl mb-md\"\/>\n<p>Join the conversation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stomp.sg\/trending-now\/elderly-man-dementia-missing-three-days-found-dead-bukit-panjang-park\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman who saw a group of policemen in a park approached them out of curiosity \u2014 only to discover that they had found the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}