Missing NYC Mother Found Dead at New Jersey Home, Son and His Girlfriend Charged

A stock police tape photo. (Stock photo CC0)

A missing New York City mother was found dead in New Jersey, and her son and his girlfriend were charged with concealing her body, said police.

Paula Chin, 65, of Manhattan, was found at a home she owned on Bailey Hollow Road in Morristown, New Jersey, reported NBC New York.

Officials believe she was stabbed to death in her lower Manhattan apartment on Vestry Street after a fight over money. Her body was then driven across the Hudson River by her alleged killer, the NBC affiliate reported.

Jared Eng, 22, who lives at the Vestry street address where she lived, and his girlfriend, Caitlyn O’Rourke, 21, were charged with concealing her body. A third woman, Jennifer Lopez, 18, of Manhattan, was also charged, officials said.

None of the three have been charged with murder, officials said.

However, authorities told NBC that murder charges may be filed in connection with the woman’s death this week.

Eng told reporters that “[he] did not” kill his mother when he was being led to a police station in handcuffs, according to the report. He said he loved his mother.

O'Rourke and Lopez didn’t respond, NBC reported.

Officials said they believe Chin was stabbed in the throat during an argument over money. NYPD detectives are expected to carry out a search warrant of Chin’s apartment as well as a parked car nearby.

People who work on the block said Chin was the landlord at 17 Vestry.

“I got nothing bad to say about her. I got nothing bad to say about her son, because I liked him,” said Robert Jones, a neighbor who knew Chin and Eng.

“I’m in shock,” said local woman Emma Greis. “I can’t believe that it would happen in an area like this.”

The New York Daily News reported that Eng was remanded without bail, and O’Rourke’s was held on $50,000 bail, and Lopez’s was held on $100,000 bail.

The New York City medical examiner is now scheduled to perform an autopsy because prosecutors “have strong evidence she was murdered there,” a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office told the Daily News.

O’Rourke’s brother told the newspaper that he believed Eng was dating his sister, but he didn’t know anything about the crimes.

“This is the first I’ve heard about this,” the brother said. “I haven’t even talked with my sister, she’s at college.”

According to their Facebook pages, Both O’Rourke and Eng go to SUNY New Paltz located in the Hudson Valley, New York.

People who live on Bailey Hollow Road in New Jersey noticed police and other officials swarming their neighborhood.

“We got a bit nervous yesterday,” said local Mark Abbott, CBS New York reported. “It was a very strange day here yesterday at about 6 a.m. All these emergency vehicles pulled in and they were here through the night.”

“What happened that made him do this? I really can’t see him doing this,” said Jones.