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Dr. Shane Todd was an American engineer who died under disputed circumstances in Singapore in June 2012. Local authorities said Dr. Todd had committed suicide, though his family insists that he was murdered, possibly in connection with the work he had been doing at the Institute for Micro Electronics ("IME"), part of the Singaporean government-run Agency for Science, Technology and Research ("A *STAR") involving a gallium nitride-based semiconductor amplifying device purportedly for the Chinese telecom company Huawei. Dr. Todd's death was the subject of a single major investigative report in February 2013 by the Financial Times newspaper. The article carried the Todd family's claim that Singapore police had not properly investigated Dr. Todd's death, and also contained their allegations that the IME was collaborating on a project with potential military implication with Huawei, a major Chinese electronics and telecommunications company. Both Huawei and A *STAR's IME institute subsequently denied that their work had progressed beyond the discussion stage.〔Feng Zengkun (19 February 2013). (Is it suicide or is it murder? ). The Straits Times. Retrieved 19 February 2013.〕 Ex-colleagues of Dr. Todd also testified that there had been no such collaborations. The police also defended their role in the investigation.〔Spolar, Christine. (17 February 2013). (Police defend probe into Singapore death ). The Financial Times. Retrieved 19 February 2013.〕〔Reuters (February 18, 2013). ("Huawei denies work in field linked to U.S. death in Singapore" ).〕 The Todd family's suspicions of foul play stemmed from various pieces of circumstantial evidence. For instance, they alleged that police had failed to properly investigate the scene of the crime, that the police neglected to dust for fingerprints, that the suicide notes ostensibly left by Dr. Todd were out of character, that the crime scene did not match the description given by authorities, and that a pathologist in the United States found that his body showed evidence of a struggle, rather than a suicide.〔 According to the Todd family, Shane Todd had told his family that he was increasingly anxious at work in the months leading up to his death. He worried the project he was working on with an unnamed Chinese company may have been endangering U.S. national security. He had also told his family that he felt he was under threat because of his work with the Chinese.〔 A Coroner's Inquiry was conducted over two weeks from 13–27 May 2013. Evidence was presented to show that multiple visits had been made to suicide websites from Dr. Todd's laptop and that he had been prescribed antidepressants by a psychiatrist. The finding by the Singapore government's forensic pathologist that no injuries to Dr. Todd's body indicated he was garotted or had put up a struggle was corroborated by two independent Chief Medical Examiners from the United States. No hacking attempts on Todd's laptop to upload suicide notes were found. On July 8, the coroner released the verdict which ruled the death as "asphyxia due to hanging". ==Background== Todd had earned his bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Florida in 2003 and 2005, respectively. He then pursued doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he researched silicon-based transmission lines.〔 Upon completion of his PhD in 2010, he took a job offer to work for IME. During this assignment, he worked on a project involving a proposed cooperation between A *STAR's IME institute and Huawei Technology. A project proposal outline recovered from Dr. Todd's external hard drive found in his apartment showed that there was a proposal for IME and Huawei to co-develop an amplifying device powered by gallium nitride (GaN). Such devices have both commercial as well as military applications. Dr. Todd's research in GaN also involved traveling to New Jersey to procure the equipment necessary to further the GaN research from Veeco, a U.S. publicly listed technology company.〔 As Todd worked on GaN research, he became increasingly anxious about his role. In conversations with his family, he said that he was collaborating with a Chinese company, and was "being asked to do things" that made him uncomfortable. Namely, his mother said that "he felt he was being asked to compromise American security." On one occasion, Dr. Todd told his mother that if she didn't hear from him every week, she should contact the American embassy.〔 He turned to religion, and was prescribed antidepressants to help cope with the stress.〔 In late February 2012, Todd decided to leave IME and return to the United States. He put in 60 days' notice, then decided to stay an additional 30 days. As his time at IME ran down, he was offered a job with Nuvotronics, an American research firm. Friends and co-workers recalled that he was upbeat on his final day of work at IME on Friday, June 22.〔 Todd's girlfriend, Shirley Sarmiento, expected to hear from him on Friday or Saturday, but he did not respond to her messages. On Sunday, June 24, she went to his apartment. Finding the door unlocked, she entered, and discovered Todd's body hanging from a bathroom door. A chair was about five feet away. Sarmiento then contacted Todd's family in the United States to alert them to his death.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death of Shane Todd」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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