Jared Eng, a former student at SUNY New Paltz, pleaded guilty on September 16 to murdering his mother, Paula Chin, in a violent attack in late January 2019 in an apartment they shared on Vesey Street in the Tribeca section of lower Manhattan. Eng’s two girlfriends at the time, Caitlyn O’Rourke and Jennifer Lopez, are accused of helping clean up the scene and dispose of the body; those cases are pending. Chin was 65 at the time, while Eng was 22.
Eng, who will be sentenced October 18, is facing up to life in prison for the crime of second-degree murder, which prosecutors believe was committed to receive an inheritance that Eng valued at $10 million to $11 million. Eng’s father died of cancer when Eng was a child, but Eng and a sibling weren’t to receive their share until each of them turned 35 years old — unless their mother somehow perished before then.
Chin was stabbed in the neck on January 30 or 31, 2019. Her head was also hit hard multiple times. The evidence leading to the admission of guilt by Eng included text messages to Lopez and O’Rourke about being “free,” as well as changing passwords to Chin’s bank accounts, and searching online for inheritance lawyers and the term “DIY bone meal,” purportedly for body disposal. Bloody gloves, and traces of blood at both locations, strengthened the case.
Prosecutors also claim that Eng enlisted the other two after the fact; Lopez helped in Manhattan, and then the pair called O’Rourke on speaker phone. Eng allegedly told O’Rourke during that call that the death was not a quick one. Chin’s body was transported to a family property in Morristown, New Jersey.
Eng’s elder brother Brandon reported Chin missing on February 4 of that year. The investigation didn’t take long. The trio were arrested the day following Chin’s mutilated body was found in a garbage bag at the New Jersey home.
Eng was living in the family home and taking classes at Manhattan Community College at the time of the crime. It was while attending SUNY New Paltz that Eng met O’Rourke, who was still a student at the time of arrest.
O’Rourke and Lopez, who according to a 2019 interview were in a polyamorous relationship with Eng, allegedly washed bloody laundry, helped clean up the crime scene, and assisted with moving and attempts to permanently dispose of the body. O’Rourke was originally held on $50,000 bail at Riker’s Island, but was released after bail laws in New York State were reformed because hiding the body is not itself a violent crime.
It’s not immediately clear how Eng and Lopez met.
Alvin Bragg, district attorney in Manhattan, called the murder “brutal and shocking.”
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