A SUNY New Paltz student accused of helping her boyfriend hide his slain Tribeca mother’s corpse had her bail refunded Monday — because the crime is no longer eligible for bail under New York State’s reformed laws.
Prosecutors say Caitlyn O’Rourke, 22, joined boyfriend Jared Eng and another woman, Jennifer Lopez, in cleaning up inside Eng’s apartment after Eng slit the throat of his mother, Paula Chin.
On Monday her lawyer, Sarah Kauffman, argued O’Rourke was no longer required to pay bail under the state’s reformed laws that wen into effect this month.
“She is charged with a nonviolent offense, a nonqualifying offense,” Kauffman said in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Judge Melissa Jackson determined O’Rourke no longer has to put up bail money to remain free.
“This is [O’Rourke’s] first arrest," Jackson noted. "I see no reason to set supervised release. Bail is exonerated. It will be returned to whoever posted it for you,” said Jackson.
O’Rourke, a photography student, allegedly helped wash clothing taken from the victim’s apartment after her death.
Charged with concealment of a corpse and tampering with evidence, O’Rourke was initially held at Rikers Island on $50,000 bail. While incarcerated there, she spoke with the Daily News about the January 2019 slaying.
"It was like a nightmare,” O’Rourke said at the time. “Like in a movie.”
O’Rourke was eventually released after posting bail.
O’Rourke declined to answer questions about the case as she left Manhattan Criminal Court.
Chin’s body was found mutilated and stuffed in a garbage bag in Morristown, N.J., where she had a second home.
Eng confessed to the homicide in a phone call to O’Rourke and said it “took Ms. Chin a while to die,” according to court documents.
