Ramapo College DNA team identifies 1979 murder victim as New Jersey cold case heats up

A New Jersey cold case is heating up after a team at Ramapo College helped identify a man found murdered in the 1970s.

The Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center worked with the state's cold case unit to identify Robert Dean Irelan, whose body was found with a distinctive jacket on in a shallow grave in Salem County in 1979. 

DNA reignites New Jersey cold case

The team at Ramapo College identified Irelan hours after using DNA to search for family connections in the murder mystery. 

"In this case, we knew that our John Doe was located in South Jersey. So we had been looking for any kind of connections to the Atlantic City area, and we were able to find them pretty quickly," said Tracie Boyle, a case manager at Ramapo College. 

According to police, Irelan was shot and killed in the winter of 1978 or 1979. He lived in Pleasantville at the time and was known to spend time in Atlantic City.

Who killed Robert Dean Irelan?

The New Jersey State Police said the next step is figuring out who Irelan's killer was. 

Officials said they already spoke with his family, but they need anyone who knew him or remembers something from around the time he was killed to come forward. 

"We're really hoping that the public will reach out and have something that they can give to the law enforcement agency and help figure out who did this," Boyle said. 

With the right information, even decades-old cases can move forward.