A New Jersey college DNA team has identified a murder victim in a cold case dating all the way to 1979.
The body was discovered in a shallow grave in a wooded area in Quinton Township, Salem County, 41 miles from Philadelphia. According to a statement from New Jersey State Police, the victim had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and died at some point during the winter of 1978-1979.
Now, the victim has been identified as Robert Dean Irelan by a team at the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center.
The researchers told CBS News that they used DNA technology to search for family connections in the case.
“In this case, we knew that our John Doe was located in South Jersey,” Tracie Boyle, a case manager at Ramapo College, said. “So we had been looking for any kind of connections to the Atlantic City area, and we were able to find them pretty quickly.”
Now, New Jersey State Police are searching for Irelan’s killer. The cops have already spoken to Irelan’s family, but are appealing to the public for more information.
“We’re really hoping that the public will reach out and have something that they can give to the law enforcement agency and help figure out who did this,” Boyle added.
The victim was found wearing white painter’s trousers, a plaid cotton shirt and Pro-Keds sneakers. His distinctive blue jacket, which was made by Lee, featured a gold-plated letter “R” on its right pocket flap and a small gold-plated cross on the left pocket flap.
Irelan’s body was also found clothed in a black-and-white pullover sweater.
According to police, he lived in Pleasantville, New Jersey, and was known for spending time in Atlantic City.
The case was reopened in March 2023 and involved researchers carefully building a family tree in order to identify the victim.
“We received a match list back from Match List Pro and Family Tree DNA, and we would just start building back the family trees of his genetic relatives, hoping to find common ancestors among them,” Boyle told WPVI.
Before Irelan was identified, investigators released a composite sketch of the victim.
Eventually, a photograph of Irelan, whom investigators believe was in his late teens and early twenties, was found to match the victim.
Herbert Ladner, a local resident who says he remembers hearing about the case when it first made headlines, told WPVI that the community is grateful for the advances in genetic technology.
“I think it will keep the crime down a little bit and, if not, make a little easier on the people that’s got to process it,” he said.
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