A taunting card arrived two weeks after the funeral, addressed to the parents by their private nicknames. Whoever sent it knew this family well. More than four decades later, nobody else has ever figured out who that was.
A Family of Six
In January 1979, Tan Kuen Chai and his wife, Lee Mei Ying, lived with their four children in a one-room flat at Block 58, Geylang Bahru, in Singapore. The couple ran a small minibus service, ferrying schoolchildren to and from class each morning. Their own children were Tan Kok Peng, 10; Tan Kok Hin, 8; Tan Kok Soon, 6; and their youngest, Tan Chin Nee, 5.
A Morning That Ended in Horror
On the morning of January 6, 1979, Tan and Lee left for work as usual at 6:35 a.m., while their children were still asleep. At 7:10, Lee called home from work to wake them for school, as she did every morning. There was no answer. She called again, and again, with no response, then asked a neighbor to check on the flat directly. No one answered the door.
When the couple returned home around 10 a.m., they found all four of their children dead in the bathroom, their bodies left stacked on top of one another. We're not going to detail the specific nature of their injuries here — it's documented extensively elsewhere for those who want that level of detail, and a fuller account wouldn't add anything beyond what's needed to understand the case's severity. What's clear from the official investigation is this: the eldest child, Kok Peng, appears to have tried to fight off the attacker to protect his younger siblings, and several strands of hair found clenched in his hand became one of the only physical leads investigators ever recovered.
A Crime Scene With No Clear Way In
Investigators found no sign of forced entry, and nothing in the flat appeared to be missing. This pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: the children likely knew and willingly let in whoever was responsible. No one in the neighboring flats reported hearing screaming that morning, despite the close quarters of public housing. Blood found in the kitchen sink suggested the person responsible had calmly washed up before leaving, apparently unconcerned about being caught in the act.
A taxi driver later told police he'd picked up a man near the scene that same morning — disheveled, walking unevenly, with blood on one side of his body and a knife that audibly knocked against the car door as he got out. Investigators matched the description to a young Malaysian man who was a frequent visitor to the Tan household, well known to the children as "Uncle," who regularly came by to use their telephone. In a police lineup, the taxi driver identified him as the man he'd picked up. He was held for roughly two weeks before being released for lack of evidence directly tying him to the murders, and he later moved away from the area with his sister. He has never been publicly named, and no charges were ever filed against him.
A Card That Confirmed the Worst
Two weeks after the murders, during Chinese New Year, the Tan family received a card in the mail addressed to "Ah Chai" and "Ah Eng" — Tan and Lee's private nicknames, known only to people close to the family. Inside, a short message taunted them, referencing the fact that Lee had undergone a sterilization procedure after the birth of her youngest child, something only someone with intimate knowledge of the family could have known. The card was signed "The Murderer." Forensic technology in 1979 wasn't capable of meaningfully testing the card for usable evidence.
It's worth being direct here about how this case has often been retold: several theories have circulated for decades — that the killing was connected to a tontine savings scheme dispute, an unpaid lottery debt, or that "Uncle" was having an affair with Lee and killed the children out of jealousy or revenge after she refused to leave her husband. None of these theories have ever been substantiated by evidence, and both Tan and Lee firmly denied them at the time. They remain speculation, not established fact, and repeating them as though settled does a disservice to a family that's already endured an unimaginable loss.
A Family That Tried to Rebuild
In the aftermath, Tan and Lee gave up their minibus business and found work elsewhere. Several years later, Lee underwent a procedure to reverse her earlier sterilization, and in December 1983, at age 35, she gave birth to a son — a quiet act of rebuilding after a tragedy that had been deliberately, cruelly referenced in the killer's own taunting note.
A Case Revived
For decades, the investigation produced nothing further. That changed in 2021, when a Singapore-based volunteer group, Crime Library Singapore, ran a charity drive that referenced the case publicly. A former neighbor of the Tan family came forward with new information not previously shared with police, prompting renewed interest in the case. Around the same time, local press tracked down Lee Mei Ying, then in her seventies, living with her grandson. By that point, Tan Kuen Chai had already passed away. Shin Min Daily News reported that when Lee was told the investigation had resumed, she sat in silence for a long moment, tears in her eyes, before saying only that she hoped the case could finally be solved and that she would leave it in the hands of the police.
The case has also been revisited in Singaporean media over the years, including a 2004 reenactment on the crime show True Files and a second reenactment on Inside Crime Scene in 2022.
Where Things Stand
More than four decades later, the Geylang Bahru murders remain officially unsolved, with no one ever formally charged. The 2021 tip renewed public interest and gave investigators a fresh lead to pursue after years of dormancy, though as of the most recent reporting, no arrest or resolution has followed. For Lee Mei Ying, now in her eighties, the case has never truly closed — only resurfaced, periodically, in ways that have asked her to relive a morning she's spent more than forty years trying to survive.
Sources
Geylang Bahru family murders — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geylang_Bahru_family_murders
Geylang Bahru family murders (1979) — National Library Board Singapore
https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=d1137789-7c74-11e1-b0c4-0800200c9a66
Who murdered the four Tan children in Geylang Bahru in 1979? — Mothership.SG
https://mothership.sg/2018/04/tan-children-murders-geylang-bahru-singapore/
Unsolved 1979 Geylang Bahru Murders Case Is Revived After Family's Neighbour Provides New Info — MustShareNews
https://mustsharenews.com/geylang-bahru-murders/