SINGAPORE, Sept. 19 -- Police are investigating a 40-year-old man for alleged murder after a 43-year-old woman was found dead in a residential unit along Everitt Road in Joo Chiat on Monday night.

Officers received a call for assistance at about 9.30pm and discovered the woman lying motionless inside the unit, according to CNA.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Preliminary findings showed the man, who was known to the woman, had left Singapore before the call for assistance.

If convicted of murder, he faces the death penalty.

The unit, located at Lotus on Everitt Road, was previously occupied by a couple, a young child, and two domestic helpers, neighbours said.

One neighbour told CNA that the man was "shy and reserved" and that...