Skull And Remains Found At Jersey Shore Linked To Shipwreck By NJ Students

NEW JERSEY — When a skull and human bones washed up on South Jersey beaches between 1995 an 2013, the authorities were unable to trace them.

Now, thanks to students and faculty in a North Jersey genealogy program, "Scattered Man John Doe" has a name — and the title of sea captain.

According to a spokesperson for the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center — a program that has used genetic genealogy to solve dozens of cold cases in the United States — a skull washed ashore in Longport, in Atlantic County, in 1995.

More bones were found in Margate in 1999. Then, in 2013, remains were found in Ocean City, in Cape May County.

Ten years later, in the fall of 2023, the New Jersey State Police partnered with the Ramapo College's relatively new IGG Center to see if they could help.

In November, a sample was sent to Intermountain Forensics, who uploaded the sample to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA in February of 2024.

Ramapo College students found ancestry dating back to the 1600s, with genetic relatives hailing from Litchfield and Fairfield counties in Connecticut.

From late 2024 to February of 2025, students from the certificate program kept digging, and looked into shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey. But they didn't realize they'd have to go back more than 180 years.

'The Storm Was Tremendous'

They discovered clips from two newspaper articles dated Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, 1844 about the wreck of a ship heading from Connecticut to Philadelphia, in which all five crew members died.

The ship Oriental had departed from Connecticut en route to Philadelphia to deliver 60 tons of marble for use to construct a college prep boarding school, Girard College, which opened in 1848 and still exists.

The ship was wrecked off the of Brigantine Shoal in 1844, according to the stories.

The stories said that the ship likely sprung a leak and went down less than one mile from the shoreline. "The storm was so tremendous that no help could be given from the shore," noted the Boston Daily Bee.

The newspaper also said that parts of the boat washed up on shore, as did the body of crewman John Keith, identified by marks on his arm. No other bodies washed up.

The captain of the ship was 29-year-old Henry Goodsell.

"The widow of Capt. G. with three young children, has been left in very embarrassed circumstances," noted the story, which said there was no insurance on the ship or cargo.

In March 2025, the New Jersey State Police were able to get a DNA sample from a great-great grandchild of Goodsell.

Went Down With Ship

In April, the state police confirmed that the remains were Goodsell's.

“Identifying human remains is one of the most solemn and challenging responsibilities law enforcement is charged with,” said the Atlantic Council Prosecutor's Office Chief of Detectives Patrick Snyder. “Law enforcement works hard knowing that behind every case is a promise: that no one will be forgotten, and that we will pursue the truth until families have the answers they deserve."

The center said this was one of the oldest cold case identifications using investigative genetic genealogy.

Col. Patrick Callahan of the New Jersey State Police said, “The ability to bring answers to families—even generations later—shows how far science a, NJSP superintendentnd dedication can take us. Our partnership with Ramapo College has been instrumental in making this possible."

The IGG program has been consulted on 92 cases, and in some cases brought suspects to justice.

Ramapo College of New Jersey is a public liberal arts college based in Mahwah, New Jersey.

Other Cases

Read these other stories about how the IGG program has helped solve cold cases:

• Man Found On Sidewalk Is Identified Thanks To North Jersey Students
• Missing Mom Walked Away From Pennsylvania Home. Now Her Kids Have Answers.
• Female Artist, A Hitchhiker, Was Killed 50 Years Ago. NJ Students Cracked The Case.
• Jawbone In Boy's Rock Collection ID's As That Of Dead Marine By NJ Students