F.B.I. to Help Investigate American’s Death in Singapore, Reports Say

BEIJING â€" Amid growing global tensions over alleged extensive spying operations originating in China, often aimed at U.S. companies and organizations, Shane Todd’s death in Singapore last June is striking a nerve.

As a report by CNN makes clear, the parents of the 31-year-old American electrical engineer, Mary and Rick Todd, who live in Marion, Montana, believe many details about their son’s alleged suicide by hanging (he was found dead in his Singapore home on June 24) don’t match up. This Facebook page links to reports of the tragedy.

Now, after initially declining outside help into the investigation though Mr. Todd’s family requested it, the Singapore police have asked the F.B.I. for assistance, reports The Financial Times, citing an e-mail to the family and the U.S. Embassy in Singapore. Another report said the F.B.I. would comply.

Among the discrepancies alleged by the family: Mr. Todd’s mother doesn’t believe her son wrote a suicide note, one of several allegedly found in his home, since information in it was wrong, she said. The bathroom where Singaporean investigators said he died didn’t show the pulleys or holes in the wall they said were used in his suicide, the Todds said, after inspecting the site shortly after his death. A pathologist hired by the parents in the United States after their son’s body was flown back said it showed signs of struggle, and ruled the death a homicide. A computer expert they hired said someone looked at computer files he had! downloaded, days after his death, and tried to delete one.

The real reason for his death Their son may have known too much about a research project by the Institute of Microelectronics, a Singapore government research agency where he worked, and Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, to co-develop a device powered by gallium nitride, they believe. Gallium nitride is a semiconductor material that can improve cellphone and radar technology and has uses in both civilian and military technology, according to scientists.

Such a project had been under discussion, The Financial Times reported. “Huawei has said it’s discussed a venture with IME but did not proceed with the project,” reported the FT, which last month published a detailed investigation of Mr. Todd’s death, titled “Death in Singapore.”

According to a petition on We the People, a whitehouse.gov petition site, that is calling for a Department of Justice investigation into Mr. Todd’s death, “Shane told his family his life was in jeopardy from foreign parties who had used his work on gallium nitride (GaN) amplifiers to compromise US national security and who might kill him to keep him from talking to US authorities.”

No one knows for sure yet what happened. In another report, Reuters wrote that “Interviews with the family, colleagues and friends revealed conflicting views on Todd’s state of mind before his death, the nature of his work and how he died.”

“Colleagues said that he was increasingly depressed in his last few months, but said that his concerns appeared to center on a sense of failure about his work, and an ambivalence about returning to the United States,” Reuters reported.

Aside from the tragedy of the loss of a son, there may be other issues at work here, the FT suggested.

The Todds “believe the loss of their son has national security implications and want it treated as such by Singapore and US authorities. They see Shane’s death as a warning to others - young, smart and ambitious - working in the global marketplace of commercial and defense research,” the newspaper wrote.