Green Brook Skeleton Belongs to Missing Long Hill Man

After a year-long investigation, the New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office has identified the skeleton discovered near Warrenville Road as being the remains of Long Hill resident Joseph Williams, 50, according to a statement by Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives Stuart A. Buckman and Green Brook Township Chief of Police Martin Rasmussen.

Williams was a resident of Woods End in the Gillette section of Long Hill Township, and was reported missing in 2006. 

His skeleton was found at about 6 p.m. Jan. 29, 2012, by two men hunting in the area along the border between Green Brook and Warren townships, west of Warrenville Road. Detectives assigned to the Green Brook Township Police Department, in conjunction with detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad’s Cold Case Unit, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Crime Scene Investigations and Forensics Unit investigated the discovery. Also assisting were Investigators and an Anthropologist from the New Jersey Regional Medical Examiner’s Office, Newark, New Jersey.

Prosecutor Soriano said the human remains were submitted to the New Jersey State Police Laboratory where a mitochondrial DNA sample was obtained from the remains. Detectives assigned to the investigation, with the assistance of the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit, identified that the remains could possibly be those of Joseph Williams.

Green Brook and Long Hill detectives coordinated with the New Jersey State Police Laboratory and the University of North Texas DNA depository to ascertain if the human remains matched the DNA profile of Joseph Williams. 

The detectives were notified by the New Jersey Medical Examiner’s Office that the remains were positively identified as Joseph Williams on Feb. 6.

Soriano, Buckman and Rasmussen ask anyone with information regarding this incident to contact either the Green Brook Township Police Department at 732-968-1188, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad at 908-231-7100, or the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS(8477) or online at www.888577tips.org or www.scpo.net and click on either “Crime Stoppers” or “TIPS HOTLINE”. All calls are confidential.