After years of trying, and several miscarriages, Madam Choong Pei Shan finally had a baby.
Four-year-old Teo Zi Ning could do no wrong and Madam Choong, 39, would regularly post pictures of her daughter on Facebook.
They were inseparable.
On Saturday, the first day of Chinese New Year, police received a call for help at 6.30pm. Officers found mother and daughter dead in the bedroom they shared in their sixth-storey flat at Block 619, Woodlands Drive 52.
By 11pm, police were seen taking Teo Ghim Heng, 41, away in handcuffs, in connection with the deaths. He is believed to be the dead woman's husband.
One of her Facebook friends, Mr David Seah, said Madam Choong went by the name of Ade Teo on Facebook. He told The Straits Times yesterday that he had been Facebook friends with her for "many years". He said: "She only posted her child's (photos) on FB. She loved her very much."
He added that the housewife was always attentive to her only child's needs. "She had a miscarriage a few times (before) she had her little girl."
Friends, like Mr Seah, have been trying to make sense of the tragedy.
Mr James Yap said he would "like" Madam Choong's post every time pictures of her cute daughter were uploaded on Facebook.
Mr Yap, who befriended Madam Choong on Facebook about two years ago, said: "This must be sad news for her family, especially when it is the first day of Chinese New Year. It is supposed to be a happy time shared among family members."
But there was no festive cheer, even among neighbours.
When ST visited the block yesterday, the faint smell of smoke lingered and soot stained the corridor outside the flat.
While Singapore Civil Defence Force officers found no source of a fire on Saturday, it is believed that the acrid smell is linked to what killed the mother and child.
Mr Seah said Madam Choong's husband was a real estate agent, and that the couple moved from Hougang several years earlier. He knew him only as Eric Teo.
A 44-year-old neighbour on the sixth floor, who wanted to be known only as Madam Kam, said that neighbours saw the couple only in the mornings when they would drive little Zi Ning to pre-school.
The housewife said: "In the evenings, the wife (Madam Choong) would wait under the block for her husband to return with their daughter. They appeared normal."
Mr Muhd Hilmi Deres, who also lives on the sixth floor, said that the family mostly kept to itself and rarely had visitors.
The 47-year-old said that last year, an elderly couple stayed with the Teos for a few days during Chinese New Year.
Said Mr Hilmi: "The Teos moved in about five years ago and occasionally, there would be three men who visited the family to play mahjong."
Another resident of the block, who gave her name only as Mrs Yeo and has lived there for 18 years, said she spoke to Madam Choong once last year.
The 44-year-old housewife, who lives in a flat one floor below Madam Choong's, described the doting mother as polite.
She said mother and daughter would always walk together.
Mr Roland Tay, founder of Direct Funeral Services, said the mother and daughter would be cremated together.
He added that their bodies were yet to be collected, but he was working with the family on the funeral arrangements.
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See Teo Ghim Heng being led away by police
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