IT was Aug 20, 2007, a Monday and for people living in the houses and flats around Section 1 in Wangsa Maju, this meant getting ready for the pasar malam (night market).
Among the many people who visited the market that night, which sells anything from pet fish to kuih, was eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin.
Wearing a pink dress, the girl would usually visit the market with her two sisters.
But that night, the SK Desa Setapak pupil had wanted to buy a hairpin at the market, only some 500m from her home, and decided to go alone.
Nurin Jazlin never came back.
What unfolded next was a crime so heinous that even after 13 years, many Malaysians cannot exorcise it from their memories.
For acting Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed, the case still rings fresh in his mind as Nurin Jazlin's body was found just as he was appointed Petaling Jaya OCPD back in 2007.
"It was definitely a challenging case. I was appointed to a new area and the case had garnered a lot of attention.
Acting Selangor Police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed.
Acting Selangor Police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed.
"She went missing at another area but her body was discovered in Petaling Jaya.
"We spent many sleepless nights investigating the murder and trying to identify the one responsible for such a brutal and despicable act," he said in an interview.
Ultimately, however, the murderer or murderers were never caught.
Although it has been over a decade since Nurin Jazlin's murder, DCP Arjunaidi said the case remains open.
"The case will not be closed until justice is served and until we find the one responsible," he vowed.
Nurin Jazlin joins the list of other children - nine-year-old Ang May Hong, 17-year-old Audrey Melissa, seven-year-old Ting Song Sheng, to name just a few - whose missing cases or brutal murders were never solved.
The Star retraces some of the most shocking cases involving children in the hope that they will be always be remembered and that someday, justice will finally be served.
Ang May Hong
"She was a quiet and obedient girl who never failed to help with household chores. I really could not understand why anyone would do such a cruel thing to her."
April 12, 1987
The nine-year-old had gone alone to buy breakfast at a market near her house in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur.
When she did not return, her family searched for her, only for her father to find her body three hours later at an empty house nearby, supposedly a drug haunt.
A metre-long piece of wood with nails had been stuffed into her private parts, rupturing her inner organs.
A young girl at the demonstration against Ang May Hong's murder in Jalan Ipoh, calling for police to enhance security.
A young girl at the demonstration against Ang May Hong's murder in Jalan Ipoh, calling for police to enhance security.
While there were several "confession" letters purportedly written by her killer and a regular customer from her father's bak kut teh stall was detained for questioning, no one was ever charged for the crime.
The report of May Hong's murder in The Star.
The report of May Hong's murder in The Star.
Her murder sparked anger, with about 100 demonstrators voicing their concern over the case in front of Restaurant Seng Hiong, where May Hong's father had his stall.
For months afterwards, parents living in the vicinity would not let their children go out alone.
Tin Song Sheng
"My wife and I worry about our son and constantly think of him. It has made my wife very sick ...."
Jan 12, 1996
The seven-year-old boy was abducted from his school, SRJK Taman Rasah in Seremban, after he was last seen leaving the school compound with a woman.
The incident, which came just before Chinese New Year that year, saw Malaysians, including postmen, coming together to distribute thousands of posters of the boy.
Here, Song Sheng's father, Tin Kwi Dium (second right) shows a postman a poster of his son, together with then Pos Malaysia executive chairman Tan Sri Zainol Mahmood (left) and MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong.
Read more: It’s been 17 years and Song Sheng is still missing
In her grief, Song Shen's mother, Gan Kim Choo, had to be comforted by her husband and their other son.
Despite a reward, a nationwide search that included even assistance from the Thai border authorities and unverified reports of the boy seen begging in Johor, Song Sheng was never found.
Audrey Melissa
"I want justice. I can never get my daughter back but I do not want this to happen to another person's child."
May 18, 1999
What started out as a normal school day for the Methodist Girls' School student on May 17 ended in tragedy.
The last time a friend saw her, she had been walking through a poorly-lit underpass near Bukit Aman to go to school.
When the 17-year-old, who had recently moved to Puchong with her mother, didn't turn up for classes or answer her mother's telephone calls, a police report was lodged.
The next morning, her body was found near a TNB substation along Jalan Kinabalu, where students had to walk past each day to get to school.
The Star report of Audrey Melissa's murder.
The Star report of Audrey Melissa's murder.
Although several people were arrested, including cleaning staff from a waste company, no one was ever charged.
The Star report of Audrey Melissa's murder.
The Star report of Audrey Melissa's murder.
An autopsy subsequently established that she had been killed by suffocation in the wee hours of May 18.
Her mother, Margaret Francis, a widow, would go on to sue the authorities and the police for negligence.
Audrey Melissa's mother, Margaret Francis, with a picture of her daughter in a picture taken in 1999.
Audrey Melissa's mother, Margaret Francis, with a picture of her daughter in a picture taken in 1999.
Seventeen-year-old Mathivathana Jaafar, the last person to see Audrey Melissa alive on the morning of May 17, sketched out the route that her friend had taken when they parted company at around 6.45am.
Nurin Jazlin Jazimin
“I talk to all my children about her and teach them to remember kak ngah' (second sister). We visit her grave every Friday ... . Even my two-year old son, Jazley Nazril, knows the way to her grave.”
Aug 20, 2007
While the country was shocked by the senseless murder of Ang May Hong and Audrey Melissa, it was gripped by the investigation into the disappearance of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin and the macabre details of her gruesome death.
The eight-year-old, the daughter of taxi driver Jazimin Abdul Jalil (pix), had gone missing after venturing out to a night market near her home in Wangsa Maju to buy a hairclip.
Read: On the trail of a missing girl
It was also the time that social media played a role, giving rise to talk that the girl had been seen by witnesses being "dragged" into a white van.
For days, the nation hoped against hope that the girl would eventually be found alive and safe as volunteers joined family members, including her older sister Nurin Jazshira, to look for her.
Read: Girl seen being pulled into van
However, a few days before what would have been her eighth birthday, Nurin Jazlin's naked body was found on Sept 17 in a bag dumped outside a shoplot in Petaling Jaya.
The bag in which Nurin Jazlin's body was found.
The bag in which Nurin Jazlin's body was found.
Read: Child found sexually assaulted and killed
A screenshot shared by the police of the motorcyclist who dropped off the bag containing Nurin Jazlin's body outside a shoplot in Petaling Jaya.
A screenshot shared by the police of the motorcyclist who dropped off the bag containing Nurin Jazlin's body outside a shoplot in Petaling Jaya.
An autopsy found that she had died six hours prior, partly due to bacterial infection from the brinjal and cucumber shoved into her private parts.
Despite several arrests, including one of a woman, and the release of a CCTV recording of a man dropping the bag - which had been enhanced with the help of the FBI in the United States - the investigation met with a dead end.
Read: Probe to focus on Kg Baru kid molester
Her killer remains at large.
In 2007, the police launched the National Urgent Response Alert - better known as the NUR Alert and modelled after the Amber Alert in the United States - to trace missing children under 12.
IT may have been years but there is still hope for justice or at least, some kind of closure.
Bukit Aman D11 principal assistant director Asst Comm Siti Kamsiah Hassan said with the advance of technology, it is not impossible to get new leads on cold cases, including those of missing children.
"One of the examples is DNA. If they are new developments, we will compare (with the DNA samples we have).
"For missing children, in some countries overseas, they reconstruct the photo of the victims as they age.
"If we spread these photos, maybe, the victims themselves, who had gone missing 10 to 20 years ago, can be found again," she said.
"Yes, there are many of these missing children but many also returned.
Bukit Aman D11 principal assistant director ACP Siti Kamsiah Hassan.
Bukit Aman D11 principal assistant director ACP Siti Kamsiah Hassan.
"Around 80% of those run away from their homes actually or go out from their house but then return (eventually).
"Some also involve accidents. There are cases that really are criminal in nature but those are only a handful," she said.
Sharlinie Mohd Nashar
“It may have been five years but to me it feels just like yesterday that my Nini was taken from us. I know in my heart that she is still alive .... How can I move on when I know that she is still out there?"
Jan 9, 2008
Happening only months after Nurin Jazlin's murder, Sharlinie's disappearance from a playground near her home in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, sent Malaysians into another round of frenzied search - extending even to Surabaya, Indonesia - for the five-year-old, and much soul-searching.
Read: Taman Medan residents make sure kids never alone
The playground where Sharlinie went missing in Taman Medan.
The playground where Sharlinie went missing in Taman Medan.
Learning from previous cases, alerts and posters about the missing child went up almost immediately, including one at this toll plaza in Sunway, after her family lodged a police report.
The photofit of a man implicated in the abduction of two girls in Petaling Jaya, who were released after having their private parts stuffed with brinjal.
The photofit of a man implicated in the abduction of two girls in Petaling Jaya, who were released after having their private parts stuffed with brinjal.
While it has never been confirmed by authorities, there was talk on social media for weeks of a "white van", which went around abducting children in the city.
To this day, Sharlinie's fate is unknown.
Read: Six years on, missing Sharlinie's parents have not given up hope
Sharlinie's parents, Suraya Ahmad (right) and Mohd Nashar Mat Hussin, looking at her portrait at their home. They have since moved to Terengganu.
Sharlinie's parents, Suraya Ahmad (right) and Mohd Nashar Mat Hussin, looking at her portrait at their home. They have since moved to Terengganu.
Muhamad Asmawi Jalaludin
“When he went out that day, he didn’t even ask me for pocket money or bring along his handphone."
March 9, 2008
Very little is know about what happened to the SK La Salle Brickfields pupil, who was last seen playing with his friends near his house in Pantai Permai, Pantai Dalam, in Kuala Lumpur.
Read: Boy missing in Kg Kerinchi
Police shared that before the boy went missing, Muhamad Asmawi had also been absent for 79 out of 190 schooling days.
Read: Search for Asmawi intensifies
Although a man was later detained for trying to extort the boy's family for RM5,000 on his supposed whereabouts, the boy was never found.
To this day, his mother, Rozita Abu Hassan (pix), is convinced that her son was being "kept" by someone.
Nisha Chandramohan
"Do not forget our little Nisha ... . We are still searching for our little girl. We will not give up ... we will never give up. How can we give up on our baby girl?''
June 4, 2010
Nisha's family never suspected that June 4, 2010, would be the last day they would see their two-year-old daughter.
The toddler, who is epileptic and has a weak leg, was taken out for a walk by her grandaunt from her home in Taman Bukit Bendera, Mentakab, Pahang.
When they did not return, an alert was raised by Nisha's parents, her father, G. Chandramohan, and mother, Wong Lai Lan.
The grandaunt, who suffers from mental illness, was eventually found but not Nisha.
Read: Special squad to find girl, RHB Bank hands out leaflets of her
The girl remains missing despite numerous public appeals by her parents and the wide circulation of her photos - even on ATMS.
Read: Mother of missing toddler believes daughter held captive
Credits:
Story by Farik Zolkepli and Justin Zack
Visualisation by Sim Leoi Leoi
Edited by A. Asohan
Data from Polis Diraja Malaysia
Built with Shorthand
