In 1995, a human skull washed up on the beach in Longport, New Jersey. Over the next two decades, additional bone fragments were discovered in 1999 and 2013. Investigators were unable to identify the remains, which were eventually nicknamed “Scattered Man” due to their fragmented condition and widespread discovery.
But in the fall of 2023, a breakthrough came. The New Jersey State Police partnered with the Ramapo College IGG Center to apply modern forensic genealogy techniques to the case.
DNA and Genealogy Reveal the Truth
With help from Intermountain Forensics, the sample was uploaded to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA in February of 2024. From there, undergraduate students at Ramapo College began the meticulous process of triangulating family connections and examining historical documents.
Incredibly, they identified the remains as belonging to Henry Goodsell, a young captain of the merchant vessel Oriental, who died along with his crew in a storm off Brigantine Shoal in the winter of 1844.
