BURLINGTON, N.J., April 5 (UPI) -- The body of a missing 19-year-old New York woman has been found by hikers in New Jersey.
Dina Tush, whose daughter Jessica had been missing for two days, said she was devastated to learn her child's body had been found in a shallow grave in the Pine Barrens of Burlington County, the New York Daily News said Saturday.
"No one should have to bury their child," Tush said. "She didn't do drugs or drink. She had a clean life. She didn't party."
After Tush's body was found Thursday in the heavily forested New Jersey area, police located and arrested 19-year-old Thomas Paolino. Police said Paolino was Tush's estranged boyfriend and a suspect in her death.
Police are still investigating where Tush may have been killed and whether the strangulation marks on her neck indicated her official cause of death.
Paolino's attorney, Joseph Sorrentino, says that investigation should exonerate his client once completed.
"This kid is innocent," Sorrentino told the Daily News. "The cops are conducting an investigation and have applied for warrants and court orders for evidence. The sooner they get the forensics, the sooner he
will be exonerated "
