On the afternoon of 9 September 2005 at 1 pm, 41-year-old Malaysian cleaner Maria Yee Marutham was doing her work when she found a sports bag nearby a mosaic wall outside Orchard MRT station.
Fingerprints recovered from the hands enabled the police to identify the victim, who was a 26-year-old Filipino maid named Jane Parangan La Puebla, who was reported missing by her employer a day before the discovery of her dismembered corpse.
Based on the torn newspaper pages wrapped around the severed body parts, the police discovered a bearing the name and address of an Indian immigrant living in a condominium at Serangoon.
Soon after the police's arrival, the household's Filipino maid Guen Garlejo Aguilar, who was the best friend of the victim, was arrested on 10 September 2005, twelve hours after the body parts were discovered.
[7] The police suspected Aguilar had killed La Puebla inside the condominium before dismembering her, and a 18 cm meat cleaver was also retrieved as evidence.
The execution of Contemplacion for the double murders sparked protests from the Filipino public and severely damaged the democratic ties between Singapore and the Philippines.
[20] Singaporean officials reassured that Aguilar had been receiving fair treatment by the Singapore authorities and Philippine Ambassador Belen Anota advised the Filipino public and media to not recklessly report or speculate on the case and add sensation to the case, and it was added that they should allow the law to run its course and sent a reminder that any Filipinos in Singapore should abide by the country's laws and regulations.
[22] The case itself was also shocking to Aguilar's employers, who reportedly experienced sleepless nights since the murder took place at their home, and they contemplated the possibility of moving out.
[23] The body of Jane Parangan La Puebla was flown back to the Philippines on 25 September 2005 after the completion of forensic examinations, and her family retrieved it for burial.
[24] Buddhist monks were also invited to make final prayers and rituals for La Puebla at the Orchard Road area where her body parts were found.
[35][36] On 29 May 2006, after hearing the submissions from the defence and prosecution, Justice V K Rajah, the trial judge presiding over Aguilar's case, delivered his verdict.
[37] Justice Rajah also noted that while Aguilar's conduct was "grotesque and abominable", her decision to abandon the body parts outright in two different public spaces was "incoherent and incomprehensible", and the workings of "a tortured mind".
[43] During the time while Aguilar was still imprisoned behind bars, Singaporean crime show Crimewatch re-enacted the Orchard Road body parts murder.