The West Old & New Vol. III Issue III March 2014 | Page 4

Modern Day Murder Mystery in the Orient?

The circumstances in the death of Shane Todd, an American engineer who allegedly committed suicide in Singapore in June
2012, is one of those quintessential mysteries that haunts the loved ones left behind and sometimes goes unsolved.
Todd was working for the Institute for Micro Electronics (IME) a government run Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore. Todd was doing work that allegedly involved a collaborative project that had potential military implications.
These allegations would be denied by both IME and Huawei, a major Chinese electronics and telecommunications company after
his death.
In February of 2012 Todd decided to leave his employer and gave 60 days notice. He was offered a job in America with Nuvotronics, a research firm. His last day of work at IME was in Friday, June 22nd. The 24th was a Sunday and his girl friend, Shirley
Sarmiento went looking for him after not hearing from him all weekend. She found his door unlocked and discovered him hanging
from the bathroom door.
Shane Todd’s death was the subject of a single major investigative report in February 2013 by the Financial Times newspaper.
The article carried the Todd family's claim that Singapore police had not properly investigated Dr Todd's death, and also contained
their allegations that IME was collaborating on a project with potential military implication with Huawei, a major Chinese electronics and telecommunications company.
His mother Mary and father Bruce went to the apartment in Singapore where their son had allegedly killed himself and upon
entering had doubts about his suicide. The Todd family's suspicions were based on several different things which would all be considered circumstantial evidence. They alleged that police had failed to properly investigate the scene of the crime, and that the
typed suicide notes ostensibly left by Dr Todd were out of character.
The official autopsy report provided by the Singapore police stated that death was due to "asphyxia by hanging." His family
took his body state side and stated they found bruises on his hands and a bump on his forehead, neither of which was mentioned in
the autopsy report. They asked the mortuary to photograph Shane's body before burial, and then sent the photographs to Dr. Edward Adelstein, a county-level deputy medical examiner in Missouri. Adelstein's initial theory was that
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Dr Todd's wounds did not support the suicide hypothesis. He stated it appeared that Shane was in-