Cold case solved: College students help ID the remains of a 19th century sea captain

Undergraduate students at a New Jersey college have helped to identify the skeletal remains of a sea captain who made his final, ill-fated voyage nearly 200 years ago.

Henry Goodsell was the 29-year-old captain of the schooner Oriental, which was hired in 1844 to deliver 60 tons of marble to a Philadelphia boarding school, according to research released this week from the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center (IGG).

After setting sail from Connecticut, the ship made it within a mile of the shoreline before a leak in the vessel dragged Goodsell and his small crew to their watery graves, according to the college.

Between 1995 and 2013, a skull and bone fragments washed ashore on the beaches of South Jersey, including in Longport, Margate and Ocean City.

Having made little progress on the case known as “Scattered Man John Doe,” in the fall of 2023, the New Jersey State Police partnered with the IGG to try to put a name to the remains.

Using investigative genetic genealogy — which combines consumer DNA testing, like 23andMe, with genealogical research — the students set to work to solve the mystery.

A sample from the bones was uploaded to genetic genealogy company Intermountain Forensics — a nonprofit that works with law enforcement to help identify human remains through DNA — which then submitted it to DNA matching sites GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA in February 2024.

This year, through researching reported shipwrecks in the area and genealogy of the tested sample, the team made a breakthrough in identifying Goodsell.

“Using modern genealogy testing to identify bone fragments from the 19th century is a powerful reminder of our unwavering commitment to resolving cases no matter how old,” Patrick Callahan, New Jersey State Police superintendent, said in a statement.

“The ability to bring answers to families — even generations later — shows how far science and dedication can take us. Our partnership with Ramapo College has been instrumental in making this possible, and we are incredibly proud of the meaningful progress we continue to make together,” he said.

Ramapo officials said the Goodsell case is one of the oldest cold case identifications using this form of identification.

Since launching the IGG in late 2022, the program has been consulted on 92 cold cases and has successfully helped identify more than a dozen human remains nationwide.