PERTH AMBOY, NJ—The county’s top law enforcement official announced on March 20 that his agency was seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who was found dead in Perth Amboy last August.

The unidentified man’s body was found in the woods near the intersection of Riverview Drive and Herbert Street, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO).

Riverview Drive is located in a desolate area of the city, between the Victory Bridge and the location where a cruise ship operated by Conucopia Cruise Line is kept. 

This is at least the second body to be found in those woods during in a five-month span.  In April 2016, the body of a military veteran who had been missing since New Year’s Eve turned up there.

Police said they did not suspect “foul play” in that case, and it took just a couple of weeks to connect the decomposing body with the man’s disappearance.

In this case, the MCPO has had no luck in its attempts to identify the deceased.

That agency has now sought assistance from the NJ State Police Forensic Photograph and Composite Artist Unit, and from forensic anthropologist Donna Fontana, who worked together to create composite sketches of what the person may have looked like.

Those sketches were shared with the public using the MCPO’s Nixle alert system, marking the first time the system was used in over 10 months.

“Forensic examination of the deceased revealed that the unidentified male was between the age of 25-35 and between 5’2” to 5’5” tall,” read the official MCPO statement.

It’s not clear if either of the bodies found in these woods last year came as a result of suicide attempts.

The nearby Victory Bridge had been the site of nearly two dozen suicides, which caused the NJ Department of Transportation to erect 5-foot fences on the structure.

But that has not prevented additional people from taking their own lives by leaping from the bridge that connects Perth Amboy and South Amboy.

As recently as December, authorities were looking for someone who apparently jumped from the bridge.  It’s not clear if authorities ever located the person.

Anyone with information as to the identity of this individual is asked to contact MCPO Detective Joseph Chesseri at 732-745-3115, or Perth Amboy Police Department Detective Jose Rosario at 732-324-3811, or Detective Sergeant Joel Trella of the State Police’s Missing Person Unit at 609-882-2000, ext. 2554 

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.