UPDATED 12:44 pm:
New York City police have charged three people with concealing the corpse of a woman found Tuesday at her Morris Township home.
The body of Paula Chin, 65, was found stuffed in a garbage bag at her Bailey Hollow Road residence, after being stabbed in the throat during an argument over money at her Vestry Street apartment in lower Manhattan, according to WNBC News 4 .
Police have charged Chin’s son, Jared Eng, 22, of the Vestry Street address; Jennifer Lopez, 18, of Avenue D in New York; and Caitlyn O’Rourke, 21, of Patterson, NY, with concealment, said New York Police Lt. John Grimpel.
Chin was reported missing to the 1st Precinct on Monday. The cause of death awaits findings from the Medical Examiner as the Manhattan South Homicide unit continues its investigation, Grimpel said.
“She was very petite, very friendly. She always had a very big smile on her face, and asked ‘How are you doing,'” Morris Township neighbor Mark Abbott said of Chin.
Township neighbors said dozens of local and New York investigators, some in white hazmat-type suits and others with police dogs, descended on their wooded lane starting at 6 am Tuesday.
In a statement around noon on Wednesday, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said “the investigation is related to an alleged homicide. The investigation remains ongoing and further information will not be released at this time. There is no danger to the public at this time.”
Bailey Hollow Road was closed to through traffic on Tuesday as authorities combed the area.
“They checked the creek” across the road from Chin’s house, said neighbor Nick Vanella.
Another neighbor said she saw authorities remove what appeared to be a body bag from the home between 6 pm and 7 pm on Tuesday. Two police vehicles remained in Chin’s Morris Township driveway on Wednesday morning.
Abbott said he observed no unusual activity at the house prior to the police arrival. Since he and his wife moved to Morris Township a year ago, they saw Chin perhaps a half-dozen times, sometimes when she was doing yard work. She told them she had two sons and spent most of her time in New York.
Chin was a gracious lady who allowed the couple to park in her driveway when they were having work done on their property, said Abbott, a retired teacher.
Property records list the contemporary-style home’s owners as Chin and husband Philip Eng. Purchased in 1983, it sits atop a steeply sloped hill on 1.5 acres and its assessed value is $706,000. Eng died in 2008.
A new roof and deck were added recently, according to Abbott.
MorristownGreen.com will update this story as more details unfold.
