On 20 July, six-year-old Albertine Leo Jia Hui vanished from the Bon Odori festival in Johor Bahru (JB).
Her family, running a stall at the festival, noticed she was missing at 8:30 pm.
They contacted the police and put up appeals on social media asking for any information on their missing daughter.
In the ensuing hours, netizens on social media and chat groups in Singapore and Malaysia came together to spread the news and search for clues.
As of today, a reward of RM50,000 (around S$14,300) has been put up for anyone who helped reunite Jia Hui and her family.
You can read more about that in the article here.
Five Suspects Arrested for Kidnapping 6-Year-Old Girl
With both police and Jia Hui’s mother Ms Leo requesting refrainment from wild speculation, people could only guess within groups as to how the young girl disappeared.
However, on 22 July, Malaysian police reclassified the case as a kidnapping under Section 365 of the Penal Code.
Media initially reported the arrest of two men and one woman in the local areas around 1:30 pm the same day for suspected involvement in the case.
All three were Malaysian locals, ages ranging from 28 and 55.
More recent reports confirm that five suspects, three men and two women, had been apprehended in total, at least one in the town of Batang Kali.
They reportedly used a car for the kidnapping, which police seized as well.
On the morning of 23 July, the suspects were escorted to a court in JB.
According to China Press, they did not respond when asked by the media about Jia Hui’s whereabouts.
Missing Girl Found Safe in Selangor Hotel
A few hours later today (23 July), the police confirmed that Jia Hui had been found at a hotel in Batang Kali, near Kuala Lumpur.
Notably, this is a considerable distance from her last-seen location in Iskandar Puteri, JB.
Thankfully, the missing girl was found uninjured but was sent to a hospital for medical examination in case.
At a press conference, the Johor Police Chief stated that the suspects did not know the victim. A possible motive is still being investigated.
They continued urging members of the public with information to contact their local police station.
Ms Leo, who had visited the site of her daughter’s disappearance every day, could not be found there today.
She previously told media that she was worried sick to the point of not being able to eat or sleep.
New Straits Times reported that she and her husband were likely heading for Selangor to reunite with Jia Hui.
Does this mean the police get the RM50,000 reward?
Small jokes aside, it’s a relief that this situation will be concluding with a happy reunion.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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