️♂️ NJ State Police reopen 1979 Salem County cold case homicide
️♂️ Victim identified through genetic genealogy
️♂️ Authorities now seek public tips to solve decades-old murder
New Jersey State Police need the public’s help with a Salem County cold case homicide investigation dating back to the 1970s.
1979 Salem County cold case homicide discovered in shallow grave
On June 2, 1979, the body of an unidentified man was found in a shallow grave off a dirt road in a wooded area near Jericho Road in Quinton Township.
The victim had a gunshot wound to the head, and police estimated the time of death was during the winter of 1978-1979.
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He was dressed in white painter’s pants, black Pro-Keds sneakers, and a plaid, cotton shirt. The man was also wearing a heavy black-and-white pullover sweater and a dark-blue, waist-length Lee wool jacket. The jacket featured a gold-plated initial “R” on the right pocket flap and a small gold-plated cross on the left pocket flap, police said.
Victim identified through genetic genealogy breakthrough
The case went cold until nearly 50 years later, when in March 2023, the NJSP Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation, and began investigative genetic genealogy in partnership with the Ramapo College of New Jersey Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center.
Through this collaborative effort, the victim was identified as Robert Dean Irelan, who had lived in Pleasantville and was known to have spent time in Atlantic City.
State Police seek tips to solve decades-old New Jersey murder
Now, State Police is asking anyone with information or who may have known Irelan to contact them…