Sengkang deaths: Woman found dead alongside father held PhD from Cambridge

The woman found dead alongside her father in a Sengkang flat was described by former classmates as erudite and highly experienced, having studied and worked across multiple countries.

Xu Na, 47, an alumnus of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) and even earned a doctorate from Cambridge University.

On Oct 6, the bodies of Xu and her father were found in a unit on the eighth floor of Block 324D Sengkang East Avenue.

The father's body had been reduced to skeletal remains, while Xu was found near the living room door. Police are currently seeking her next of kin.

Former NUS student

According to Shin Min Daily News, Xu Na's former classmate Xu Rong, a restaurant owner, said he immediately recognized her from a police photo released after the news broke. The 45-year-old subsequently contacted other classmates.

Xu Rong, who studied computer science at NUS with Xu Na, described her as an introverted, polite, and highly intelligent individual.

"We were undergraduates together, and at first she wasn't very familiar with us. It was only after she joined the Chinese Language Club at NUS that I got to know her," he recalled, adding that they used to play table tennis together.

After graduation, the two went their separate ways professionally, and Xu Rong last saw her around 20 years ago. "At the time, Xu Na said she had been working in France for a while, doing research and also studied at the University of Cambridge in the UK," he said.

She was also said to be living with her parents in Singapore at the time.

According to Xu Na's blog, she graduated from NUS in 2001 and earned a master's degree there two years later, before completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2008.

She later worked as a scientific researcher at the French National Institute for Digital Science and Technology (INRIA) from 2009 to 2012.

Former NUS classmates seeking her family

Xu Na's former classmates have also been seeking her family and friends, and offered to contribute financially toward her funeral arrangements.

Xu Rong explained that Xu Na's family comes from north-east China. After her parents, both researchers, immigrated to Singapore, Xu Na continued her secondary education in Singapore.

Shin Min also reported that Xu Na's father, Xu Baolu (transliterated), was a Singapore citizen. Her mother, Wang Lili (transliterated), was a permanent resident and died in 2016 at the age of 66 from lymphoma.

Following the news of Xu Na's death, Xu Rong posted a message in his NUS alumni group chat for help to find her relatives and friends in China.

"We've already contacted a former colleague of hers in France, who happens to be working in China, and we'll ask her to help find out if Xu Na has any other relatives or friends there," he shared.

He added that if he cannot locate her family, he will ask former classmates to help raise funds for Xu Na's funeral.

ACJC scholar and national chinese composition champion

During her time at ACJC, Xu Na excelled academically and once won the National Chinese Composition Championship.

Online records show that she graduated in 1997 and was active in the Chinese Language Society and the Table Tennis Club.

That year, she also won first place in the junior college category of the National Secondary School Student Live Chinese Writing Competition.

Aftermath of the tragedy

Three days after the discovery of the two bodies, a strong, lingering stench still permeated the scene.

Mr Zeng (transliterated), the son of a woman in her 70s who lives in the unit below, said authorities had come two days before to clean and repaint his mother's ceiling, but the odor remained strong.

"The smell was truly unbearable. We used mosquito coils and advised my mother to avoid the kitchen and the back restroom," he said.

No updates on blog since 2013

Xu Na maintained a blog documenting her life in France but stopped updating it after 2013.

In her blog, she expressed her longing for her family, revealing that she had spent the Lunar New Year alone in France and missed her mother's home-cooked meals.

She also wrote about being the only Asian in her neighborhood, which made her miss her hometown even more and reminded her of harsh winters in north-east China during middle school, when she and her classmates would shovel snow together.

She recalled that it took her six months to come to love the taste of durian. She likened life to trying durian: if you don't try it, you will never know the final harvest.