Death of Shane Todd
| Shane Todd | |
|---|---|
| Died | Singapore |
| Cause of death | Asphyxia |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Florida, University of California, Santa Barbara |
| Parent(s) | Mr and Mrs Mary and Rick Todd |
Dr. Shane Todd was an American engineer who died under disputed circumstances in Singapore in June 2012. Local authorities said Dr. Todd had committed suicide, though his family insists that he was murdered, possibly in connection with the work he had been doing at the Institute for Micro Electronics ("IME"), part of the Singaporean government-run Agency for Science, Technology and Research ("A*STAR") involving a gallium nitride-based semiconductor amplifying device purportedly for the Chinese telecom company Huawei.
Dr. Todd's death was the subject of a single major investigative report in February 2013 by the Financial Times newspaper. The article carried the Todd family's claim that Singapore police had not properly investigated Dr. Todd's death, and also contained their allegations that the IME was collaborating on a project with potential military implication with Huawei, a major Chinese electronics and telecommunications company. Both Huawei and A*STAR's IME institute subsequently denied that their work had progressed beyond the discussion stage. Ex-colleagues of Dr. Todd also testified that there had been no such collaborations. The police also defended their role in the investigation.
The Todd family's suspicions of foul play stemmed from various pieces of circumstantial evidence. For instance, they alleged that police had failed to properly investigate the scene of the crime, that the police neglected to dust for fingerprints, that the suicide notes ostensibly left by Dr. Todd were out of character, that the crime scene did not match the description given by authorities, and that a pathologist in the United States found that his body showed evidence of a struggle, rather than a suicide.
According to the Todd family, Shane Todd had told his family that he was increasingly anxious at work in the months leading up to his death. He worried the project he was working on with an unnamed Chinese company may have been endangering U.S. national security. He had also told his family that he felt he was under threat because of his work with the Chinese.
A Coroner's Inquiry was conducted over two weeks from 13–27 May 2013. Evidence was presented to show that multiple visits had been made to suicide websites from Dr. Todd's laptop and that he had been prescribed antidepressants by a psychiatrist. The finding by the Singapore government's forensic pathologist that no injuries to Dr. Todd's body indicated he was garotted or had put up a struggle was corroborated by two independent Chief Medical Examiners from the United States. No hacking attempts on Todd's laptop to upload suicide notes were found. On July 8, the coroner released the verdict which ruled the death as "asphyxia due to hanging".
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