THE family of Captain (Dr) Allan Ooi, who was found dead under a bridge in Melbourne on March 3, heard from him a month after he went absent without official leave from the armed forces last October.

The 27-year-old ignored their cellphone calls as well as their text and e-mail messages for a month before finally sending a short response by e-mail.

By all accounts By all accounts, Capt (Dr) Ooi was a sociable young man who was often featured in high-society magazines here. His friends knew him as an 'all-rounder' who excelled in his studies and sports.

'He said he loved us and he was doing well, and he told us not to look for him,' his sister, Ms Lynette Ooi, 24, told The Straits Times yesterday.

The family had been in a tizzy since they received a call from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) informing them that he had not turned up for work.

Ms Ooi said their parents, obstetrician and gynaecologist Alex Ooi and general practitioner Lucy Ooi, were then in London with her. Their brother, Adrian, 28, was working in the Singapore General Hospital.

Private investigators were hired and a missing persons report lodged with the police, but all they knew at the end was that he had left Singapore on Oct 13.

That day was the last time Ms Ooi heard from him before the AWOL incident. He had sent her birthday greetings via a text message.

'I thought it seemed a little strange because usually he would call me and we would catch up a bit,' said Ms Ooi, a lawyer.

Family and friends flooded his e-mail inbox, pleading with him to return or asking what help he needed to start a new life. They received no word from him.

In 2000, Capt (Dr) Ooi, then 18, took up an SAF scholarship to study medicine at the National University of Singapore. In return, he was to serve a 12-year bond.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times.