Unknown: 1976 - Denville John Doe - Denville, NJ

On October 24, 1976, the badly decomposed body of a young male was found in a wooded area of I-80 at milepost 39E in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey. The newspaper article states that he was a Caucasian male in his late 20's but Namus puts him in the 30-40 age range. He had short dark brown with 3/4" curls (very specific) and was estimated to be 5'6" (though he could have been taller) and was estimated to have been dead for about six months which would place his date of death around mid-April of 1976. That means that, as of this posting, he's been without a name for 43 years.

The decedent had a couple of very distinctive items on him, which I think could possibly make this case solvable if the right people see it.

Clothing & Shoes:

• Black long-sleeve shirt with white buttons open at the neck with both cuffs rolled up 2 times
• Gray knit "Indian design" (zig-zag pattern) trousers with no belt loops.
• Dark colored jockey style short underpants
• Black ribbed 11-inch socks
• Blue pseudo-patent leather shoes with 2 inch raised heel (Shoes are 10 1/2 inches long.)

Other Items:

• Watch: Hamilton or Hormilton Electra 25 wristwatch (It looks like "Hormilton" to me, which was a knock-off brand of Hamilton)
• Two keys on a ring
• Eagle Medallion (Eagle - "U.S. type")

I've posted photos of the clothing and items below. How common were these pants in the 1970s? Can we find a similar image? Maybe find a brand?  Does the medallion mean anything? Do the keys have any significance?

If you have any information about Denville John Doe or have leads on any of the items, please contact the New Jersey State Police (Netcong Station) at 973-347-1000 and reference case #H207671

NamUs Case #UP1524: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/1524/details.

Grey knit pants with a distinctive pattern.

Hormilton Electra 25 wristwatch

Keys and medallion found with the body

Close up of the medallion or keychain

Mon, Oct 25, 1976 – 3 · The Daily Register (Red Bank, New Jersey) · Newspapers.com  Mon, Oct 25, 1976 – 3 · The News (Paterson, New Jersey) · Newspapers.com

Unknown: 1990 - Galesi Drive Jane Doe - Wayne, NJ

The reason that I choose to feature this as my first case is because it happened fairly close to where I grew up and where I currently live. My family and I shopped at the stores around there often and since it was generally considered to be a safe community, we were pretty shocked when we heard about the discovery. I always wondered who she was and what happened to her - and hopefully, someday, we'll know.  So while Galesi Drive Jane Doe isn't her "official" name, I feel that it's more respectful than just using her case number and this is something that I'll continue to do for other unnamed Does.

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On July 16, 1990, partial human remains were discovered by an employee at a construction site behind, what was then, G&H Precision Machining on Galesi Drive in Wayne, New Jersey. One of the employees had been watching a rabbit when he spotted what he thought was teeth. Those teeth turned out to part of the remains that were discovered at the scene: A human jawbone (with near perfect teeth), the C2 (second) vertebra and two rib bones. They were said to be in relatively good condition and the police suspected that the bones hadn't been out there for too long.

Upon further examination by the county medical examiner, she was able to confirm that the jawbone was, in fact, human but was unable to provide a manner or date of death.

Galesi Drive in Wayne, New Jersey in 2019. Approximately where the remains were discovered in 1990.

Detectives dug a trench that was 3' deep, 40' wide and 65' long and sifted through the dirt to search for any additional bones, bone fragments or other evidence but didn't come up with any additional items. They did find a pair of pantyhose and a bra but it was later decided that they hadn't been there long enough to be linked to the crime. Now, almost 29 years later, she still remains a Jane Doe.

Galesi Drive Jane Doe was a Caucasian female, estimated to have been 20-30 years old and is believed to have died sometime between1985-1990.

If you have any information about Galesi Drive Jane Doe, please contact the Wayne Police Department at 973-694-0600 and reference case #90-20470.

NamUs Case #UP1717: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/1717/details

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Wed, Jul 18, 1990 The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) Newspapers.com (Part 1) Wed, Jul 18, 1990 The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) · Newspapers.com (Part 2)

The Why: The 712

According to Namus, in the state of New Jersey alone there are currently 304 open missing persons cases, 399 unidentified persons & 9 unclaimed persons. That's a total of 712 people who have been reported missing, unidentified and unclaimed. And there are many more people who are missing that have gone unreported.

How do these people go unnoticed for so long? Unfortunately, some of them wind up losing touch with their loved ones due to a falling out, a fight with their significant other or just by being someone who likes to wander off from time to time but sometimes it's a case of the family being lied to about the whereabouts of their loved ones and they don't even know that they're actually missing or deceased.

And that's why I wanted to start this blog and Facebook page - to try to help shed a little light on these cases, get the information in front of fresh eyes and hopefully provide some new leads to help bring these people back to their loved ones. Some have been missing for only a few years, while others have been gone for 30, 40, 50 or more years and their family may have had no idea whatever became of them. I'm hoping that by harnessing the power of the internet that we may be able to bring some of these people home.

Interested in helping? This is what you can do to get started:

1) Share new posts on social media with family, friends and other relevant pages and groups - the more exposure a case gets, the greater the chance that someone, somewhere may know or remember something that could help generate a new lead for the detectives.

2) Put your detective hat on - If you think you have any information about any of the cases featured, please contact the police department. If you don't feel comfortable contacting the police right away, feel free to send me a message on Facebook but please don't post the information publicly. You wouldn't want to jeopardize the case in any way.

3) If there's a case that you'd like me to feature, please send me a message on Facebook. I'm looking to feature cases involving people who were found or went missing from New Jersey and also cases where a person may have gone missing elsewhere or was found elsewhere but was from New Jersey.

4) I'm open for suggestions - if you feel there is anything we can do to make the page better let us know :)

Now let's get those detective hats on and start seeing what we can do!