Shane Todd’s Death Ruled a Suicide by Singaporean Judge, Montana Family Says Ruling Was Predetermined

It's been over a year since the death of an American engineer in Singapore became a hotbed of controversy over the justice of the Singaporean court system.

Shane Todd was found dead in a bathroom by his girlfriend in Singapore in June 2012 and, although the original explanation for Todd's death was suicide, when the Todd family left Montana to see where there son had died, many elements of the story didn't seem to fit together.

Suddenly, the "suicide" became a murder investigation that involved the U.S. State Department, the F.B.I., and a host of experts from a variety of fields. The Todd family has come to believe that their son was garroted, because he refused to work on a project involving gallium nitride semiconductors with the Chinese firm Huawei. Statements made by Shane to his family have convinced them that he was facing pressure to do something either unethical or potentially dangerous to the United States.

After months of research, protest and hearings, Judge Chay Yuen Fatt ruled today, July 8, that Shane Todd committed suicide. Although unhappy with the decision, the Todd family says they expected the ruling.

"We're not surprised at all," said Shane's brother Dylan Todd. "I mean after what we experienced in Singapore we realized that the whole entire process is a complete sham, a complete joke. It's a kangaroo court. It's just really unfortunate that there is this kind of evil out there and that my family had to experience it in such a real way."

The Todd family is still working to get the word out about what they believe really happened to Shane. They are spreading information that they gathered for the trial and are disseminating it through the Justice for Shane Todd Facebook page as well as through as through the website www.justice4shanetodd.com.

"I think Singapore hopes this is the end, but we hope it's just the beginning," said Dylan Todd. "The website is a place where people can go to and try to find out for themselves what happened to my brother. It has all of the evidence for murder, and all of the evidence they presented for suicide. We hope people go through and look at the evidence and decide for themselves which story is true, which story makes the most sense."