Slain NJ mom may have been dead for days before abducted toddler son was found in Tennessee, court docs say

Updated: Jul 16, 2021 / 06:41 AM CDT

A New Jersey woman was found dead in Tennessee Saturday night after she and her 2-year-old son were abducted by the child’s father earlier in the week, officials said Sunday. (Credit: Uyar family handout)

UNION COUNTY, NJ (WPIX) — A New Jersey mom believed to have been abducted with her toddler son likely died days before her body was found in Tennessee, a criminal complaint obtained by NewsNation affiliate WPIX on Thursday revealed.

On Friday, an uncle of alleged killer Tyler Rios contacted police, telling them Rios had called his mother and told her that he had a body in the back of his car, according to the criminal complaint. Rios’ mother believed the body to be Yasemin Uyar. Police reached out to Uyar’s sister, who was unable to reach the Rahway woman.

She never arrived for work that day and her son never made it to day care.

Officers went to Uyar’s home and entered through a window after no one answered, officials said. No one was home. Uyar, her 2-year-old son and her car were missing.

An Amber Alert was issued.

A second call Rios made helped police zero in on him and the missing toddler in Tennessee, where officers found Uyar’s car in a motel parking lot. Police arrested Rios and located the unharmed toddler early Saturday.

Officers found Uyar’s body, naked from the waist down, in a duffle bag in a wooded area nearby later on that day, according to the criminal complaint.

Her cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, an autopsy revealed.

Rios, who’d initially been charged with first-degree kidnapping, was charged with murder on Thursday. Prosecutors said he was still in custody in Tennessee awaiting extradition to New Jersey for trial.