Failed relationship may have led soldier to go AWOL with rifle
Army Corporal Dave Teo Ming, 20, was last seen at the Mandai Hill Camp on Sunday in his camouflage army fatigues.
Twenty hours later, he was arrested in a third-floor toilet in the Orchard Cineleisure mall, dressed in a black suit and tie.
With him were the missing assault rifle and live ammunition taken from the camp where he had been on guard duty.
The lean-built full-time national serviceman, one month from completing his NS stint, triggered an islandwide manhunt after he went absent without official leave (AWOL) with the loaded SAR-21 rifle.
No further information was released yesterday by the police or Defence Ministry, but details of his life have emerged that suggest his actions could be linked to a failed relationship.
His former girlfriend, Miss Crystal Liew, 18, got a phone call from the police at about 7am on Monday, while she was at a Pasir Ris chalet with her friends. They wanted to know whether she knew where he was.
'I was clueless as I had not seen nor spoken to him for about two weeks,' said Miss Liew, who had broken off with him five months ago.
She was told to stay put and a car was sent over to get her.
According to Miss Liew, she was introduced to Cpl Teo by friends in 2003, some time after he had dropped out of Secondary 3.
They dated for more than three years, spending time in his home, playing computer games, eating meals cooked by his grandmother and shopping.
Miss Liew said: 'He was very sweet and generous as he would buy me clothes, souvenirs and a watch even when he wasn't earning much with his army pay.'
But he was also very possessive, she said. After he enlisted in 2005, she alleged that he would call her up to five times and send about 10 messages every day, so he could keep tabs on her whereabouts.
And he disapproved of her going out with her own friends.
She said: 'I was like a prisoner when he stopped me from meeting other people and scolded me for smiling at people I speak to, accusing me of flirting.'
Miss Liew broke up with Cpl Teo in March and has been seeing someone else since.
Tempers boiled over and he kicked up a ruckus at her house on five occasions, and stalked her for at least a week when she went out, she claimed.
She added that things got worse and he had threatened to kill her and her family.
Her father told The Straits Times he had called the police for help, but did not lodge a police report.
Cpl Teo kept away after that and last month, Miss Liew saw him for the last time, at his birthday party.
Among the last few people to talk to Cpl Teo was his friend of 16 years, administrative executive Bocky Tan, who described him as being 'emotional yet happy-go-lucky'.
Cpl Teo called him at about 10pm, just before he went AWOL, and asked if he could stay over that night as he had quarrelled with his family.
Mr Tan turned him down. 'Normally, he would talk to me first and get my advice, but this time he never said a word.'
The next he heard of him was his arrest.
It is believed that Cpl Teo lives with his grandparents, a cousin and an uncle.
His relatives declined to be interviewed yesterday when approached at the family's three-room flat in New Upper Changi Road, except to say they last saw him on Friday.
