When asked by a reporter if he had killed his mother, Jared Eng responded, "I did not. I loved her. She gave me everything"
A New York City man charged in connection with his mother’s death allegedly told his girlfriend the woman took “a while to die,” according to newly-released court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The son, Jared Eng, 22, and two women, Caitlyn O’Rourke, 21, and Jennifer Lopez, 18, have been charged with concealment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence after the death of Eng’s mother, Paula Chin, 65, according to the New York Police Department.
On Monday, Chin, of Manhattan, was reported missing. The following day, she was found dead outside her other home in Morristown, New Jersey. Her body had been stuffed in a garbage bag left outside beside other trash, NBC New York and ABC7 report.
Chin died of multiple blunt impacts to the head and a “stab wound” to the neck, according to the New York City Medical Examiner. Her death was ruled a homicide, but no murder charges have been filed as of Friday afternoon.
Authorities believe Chin was killed in her apartment in Manhattan’s TriBeCa neighborhood before being transported to her Morristown home on Jan. 31, the criminal complaint states.
O’Rourke, who is dating Eng, allegedly told police Eng called her and admitted to killing his mother, saying that it had taken her “a while to die,” according to the complaint.
O’Rourke also allegedly told police Lopez admitted to helping Eng move his mother’s body. Phone records recovered by police appear to show O’Rourke and Lopez discussing moving Chin’s body, the complaint alleges.
“It’s all clean, the hardest part was backing up the car,” Lopez texted O’Rourke, according to the complaint.
During a search of Chin’s Manhattan apartment, bloody gloves and traces of blood were found, the complaint states.
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Security footage obtained by police allegedly shows a woman resembling Lopez backing Chin’s car in front of her apartment building early on Jan. 31, the complaint states. The footage also shows someone resembling Eng allegedly putting a large duffle bag in the trunk of the car.
When police searched the car, they found blood, duct tape and a blanket, the complaint alleges.
The complaint alleges Eng made two separate trips from Manhattan to Morristown: One on Jan. 31, the other on Feb. 1.
O’Rourke allegedly told police that on Feb. 1, she, Eng and Lopez placed Chin’s body alongside other trash outside her Morristown home, though it was not immediately clear where her body was before then. O’Rourke allegedly admitted to attempting to clean up the scene.
When police searched the property, they found bloody rubber gloves in the garbage and blood stains on the garage floor.
Chin was reported missing Monday, the NYPD previously told PEOPLE. She owned the Manhattan building where she and her two sons lived in on the third floor, NBC reported.
Eng, O’Rourke and Lopez are being held on bail and have not entered pleas, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Attorneys for O’Rourke or Lopez could not immediately be reached for comment.
Eng’s attorney, Joel Cohen, could not be reached for comment Friday. In a statement to the New YorkTimes, he said, “The case is in its early stages and will ultimately be resolved in the courtroom, not in the media.”
The Times reports that when asked by a reporter whether he killed his mother, Eng responded, “I did not. I loved her. She gave me everything.”