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When Paula Chin, a 65-year-old TriBeCa mother and businesswoman, was reported missing on Monday, the New York City police reached out to the public for help.

“Known to wear a white flowered nightgown and a purple grey jacket,” the Missing Persons Squad said on Twitter.

But by Tuesday, Ms. Chin’s body had been found stuffed in a garbage bag outside her family’s weekend home in Morristown, N.J. Her throat had been slashed. By Wednesday, her son, Jared Eng, 22, had been arrested and charged with concealing her body, with the help of his girlfriend and a friend.

Though Mr. Eng had not been charged with his mother’s killing, he was the prime suspect, the New York police said. Detectives believed the motive for her murder was financial.