A decades-old mystery involving human bones washing ashore on multiple New Jersey beaches has been solved with the help of college students and advanced DNA testing, as reported by The New York Post.
Officials announced Wednesday that the remains, discovered between 1995 and 2013, have been identified as those of a 19th-century ship captain who died in a maritime tragedy off the coast of Brigantine Shoal.
The remains were identified as belonging to Henry Goodsell, a 29-year-old ship captain from Connecticut who perished in the 1844 sinking of the schooner Oriental.
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The identification was confirmed through investigative genetic genealogy conducted by students at Ramapo College’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center.
Goodsell and four crew members were transporting marble from Connecticut to Philadelphia when their vessel reportedly sprang a leak and sank less than a mile from the coast. According to historical records, none of the five men survived.
The first remains were discovered in 1995 when a skull washed ashore in Longport, Atlantic County. Four years later, additional bones were found in Margate, followed by more remains in Ocean City, Cape May County, in 2013.
Despite multiple discoveries over the years, traditional investigative methods failed to identify the remains.
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In 2023, the New Jersey State Police partnered with Ramapo College’s IGG Center and Intermountain Forensics to reopen the case. A genetic sample was submitted in November 2023 and uploaded to public ancestry databases.
Ramapo students began a detailed investigation, tracing genealogical records back to the 1600s. They identified relatives in two Connecticut counties and found 19th-century newspaper clippings referencing the Oriental’s sinking.
One article from December 1844 reported that only one body had been recovered after the shipwreck. It also named Henry Goodsell as the vessel’s captain and noted that he had left behind a wife and three children.
In March 2025, a family reference sample was obtained from a great-great-grandchild of Goodsell. The following month, the match was confirmed by authorities.
“This is one of the oldest cold-case identifications made with investigative genetic genealogy,” Ramapo College said in a statement.
New Jersey State Police Superintendent Patrick Callahan praised the outcome, stating, “The ability to bring answers to families — even generations later — shows how far science and dedication can take us.”
Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives Patrick Snyder added, “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.”
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