Human remains found in N.J. creek ID’d as man missing for 42 years

Human remains found in a northeastern New Jersey creek earlier this month have been identified as a 26-year-old man who had been missing for 42 years, authorities said Tuesday.

The investigation began on May 3, after a private, nonprofit dive company notified police it had detected “submerged artifacts” in Overpeck Creek in the Village of Ridgefield Park, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a news release.

A joint operation involving state and local police, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department and the county’s regional dive team confirmed the presence of the artifacts, which appeared to be approximately 40 years old.

County divers also detected the presence of human remains, but forensic testing was still needed to establish identity, officials said.

On Monday, testing confirmed that the recovered remains were those of Charles Murphy.

Murphy, a resident of Maywood, just outside Ridgefield Park, was last seen on April 28, 1982. The specific circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain under investigation, the prosecutor’s office said.

Authorities initially suspected his disappearance had “occurred under foul or suspicious circumstances,” but in 1984 an investigator told The Record that “there was never an indication of foul play.”

According to the paper, Murphy disappeared in the early hours of April 28 after dropping a friend off in Ridgefield Park. Murphy and three other friends were returning home after attending a game at Yankee Stadium.

Additional information about this month’s findings is being withheld by the prosecutor’s office while investigators review the results of the dive and the forensic examination, Musella said.

Last week, human remains found in Cooper River, in the southwestern part of the state, were identified as those of a woman last seen in Camden nearly 14 years ago.

The remains of 52-year-old Bernadine Waters Gunner were found in the 2006 Hyundai Elantra she owned and drove.