MUAR: The neighbours of a father and son, who were found dead in their home in Taman Indah, Sungai Abong, here last Friday, had grown suspicious because the father was not seen on his routine bicycle rides for days.
One neighbour, Nili Zahrah Las, 63, became concerned and went to the victims' house to check on them.
But as she approached the gate, she noticed black fluid oozing out from under the house door.
She said at the time, she did not realise that the victims had died inside, as there was a woman, the elderly man's daughter, living together with them.
"At first, I saw clothes next to her, but I didn't realise that her brother's body was underneath. I only noticed the black fluid oozing out from under the door.
"I approached and saw the daughter sitting in the middle of the house. So I asked her, 'Where is pakcik'?
"But the daughter just kept quiet. I became suspicious and contacted a welfare organisation because I had been entrusted by them to monitor this family," she said.
When representatives of the organisation arrived at the house, they were shocked to discover that the remains of the "pakcik" and his son, who had died several days earlier.
Nili Zahrah said she knew the family well, and the "pakcik" was always friendly, often greeting her whenever he passed by her house.
"I noticed that he hadn't been out of the house for three or four days. I thought he might have gone somewhere or was having breakfast.
"They lived together, just the three of them, because his wife had died a long time ago. His wife was also a person with disability (OKU)," she said.
Nili added that the father had been involved in a road accident earlier this year and had to be put into an induced coma.
"Their house was occasionally visited by relatives who brought food for the three of them," she added.
Earlier, district police chief Assistant Commissioner of Police Raiz Mukhliz Azman Aziz said police received a report about the two bodies last Friday.
He said that they also found a 44-year-old daughter inside the house in a weakened state, believed to be due to starvation.
"The post-mortem on the bodies of the father and son, aged 76 and 37, respectively, have been completed. The case remains classified as sudden death.
"However, the bodies cannot be claimed yet as they are still awaiting DNA testing results.
"The daughter is still receiving treatment at Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital here and will be taken under the care of close relatives," Raiz said.