Unidentified people · Shamong Township, Burlington County
The Shamong Township skeletal remains (1979)
Unresolved · Remains unidentified
A man’s skeletal remains were found in woods in Shamong Township in December 1979; the New Jersey State Police still list him as unidentified.
A wooded find in the Pines
The state police record says the skeletal remains turned up on December 7, 1979, in a wooded part of Shamong Township, a Burlington County community in the Pine Barrens. The record does not say who made the discovery. The New Jersey State Police carry the case as number H207955, with NIC number U640553955, on their current list of unidentified deceased persons for the county.
The listing gives an estimated date of death of December 7, 1978, exactly one year before the discovery. It does not explain how that estimate was reached.
What the record describes
According to the listing, the remains were male, with an estimated birth year between 1909 and 1918. That would have made him roughly 60 to 70 at the time of the estimated death. His height is given as 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 8 inches and his hair as brown. Race, weight, eye color, clothing, and any scars or marks are all listed as unknown.
The one personal item recorded is a gold watch of the “Carvelle” brand that he was wearing. The listing says full x-rays are available for comparison.
What remains unknown
No name, cause of death, or account of the circumstances has been published for this case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the New Jersey State Police at 1-800-709-7090 or missingp@gw.njsp.org, or the NJSP Major Crime Unit at 609-882-2000, the contacts given on the official case page.
Sources and research limits
- New Jersey State Police, Unidentified Persons/Bodies — Burlington County, case H207955 / NIC U640553955 — Official case page, reopened and checked September 11, 2026, for the date found, location, estimated date of death, biological profile, the watch, and tip contacts. The page does not say who found the remains, how the date of death was estimated, or what the cause of death was. No contemporary newspaper account of the discovery was located.