The Amber Beacon Tower Murder of Kelly Tan Ah Hong

On May 15, 1990, 21-year-old Kelly Tan Ah Hong and her 22-year-old boyfriend, James Soh Fook Leong, were at Amber Beacon Tower in East Coast Park when two men attacked them. Soh survived a stab wound; Tan was fatally wounded. The two assailants escaped and were never apprehended.

Kelly Tan and James Soh

Tan and Soh had known each other since secondary school. According to a 2015 interview with Soh published by The Straits Times, they had only begun dating two days before the attack. Their outing at East Coast Park was not known to be connected to any criminal dispute, and Soh later said he still did not know why they had been targeted.

Tan is named here as the victim rather than reduced to the tower's later reputation. Stories about the location being haunted are folklore and do not contribute evidence to the homicide investigation.

The attack

The couple were sitting at the tower when two men went past them and later attacked from behind. Soh fought with one assailant and was stabbed in the back. Tan attempted to get away from the second attacker but was fatally wounded.

Soh managed to seek assistance from a nearby restaurant after the attackers fled. He survived after receiving medical treatment. Tan did not survive her injuries.

What the survivor could tell police

Soh was the principal surviving witness, but the attack happened quickly and he could not identify the men's faces. Later accounts also noted that he did not have enough information to identify them by voice. That limitation became central to the cold case: there was a living eyewitness, but no reliable identification of either attacker.

No murder weapon was recovered. Public accounts discussed robbery, revenge and other possible motives, but no theory was established. The fact that neither victim was reported to have lost property also prevents this file from treating robbery as a proven explanation.

The coroner and public appeals

A coroner's inquiry in 1992 concluded that Tan had been murdered by an unknown person or persons. Her family offered a reward for information, and the case was featured in public appeals seeking witnesses. Those efforts did not produce a prosecution.

The absence of an arrest is not evidence supporting any particular rumor about who the attackers were. Descriptions and theories circulated during the investigation remained investigative leads, not findings of guilt.

Twenty-five years later

In 2015, Soh spoke publicly about the lasting effects of the attack. The Straits Times reported that he remained troubled by the memory and still did not know why he and Tan had been attacked. The report described the assailants as never apprehended and the murder as unsolved.

No later reliable source reviewed for this file established the identities of the two men or a criminal conviction. The case therefore remains classified as an unsolved homicide rather than being filled with speculative suspects.

Timeline

1. May 15, 1990
   Tan and Soh visit East Coast Park

   The young couple spend the evening at Amber Beacon Tower.

2. That night
   Two men attack

   Soh is stabbed and survives; Tan is fatally wounded as the assailants escape.

3. 1990–1992
   Police investigate and seek information

   Investigators interview the survivor and pursue public leads, but no attacker is identified.

4. 1992
   Coroner records murder by unknown person or persons

   The formal inquiry does not establish the assailants' identities.

5. 2015
   Survivor revisits the case publicly

   James Soh tells The Straits Times he still does not know why the couple were attacked; the case remains unsolved.

6. Sept. 2026 review
   No verified resolution located

   No reliable later record reviewed for this file establishes an arrest, conviction or confirmed motive.

Current status

Unsolved / cold case. Kelly Tan Ah Hong was murdered and James Soh survived the same attack. Two men were described as the assailants, but their identities were never established in the reviewed record and no one has been convicted of Tan's murder.