Full Notification

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan, Woodbridge Police Chief William Trenery and Perth Amboy Deputy Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz announced today that authorities are actively investigating the disappearance of human remains taken from two cemeteries in recent months.

An investigation by Detective Richard Yanak of the Woodbridge Police Department, Detective Sandy Rivera of the Perth Amboy Police Department and Sgt. Patrick Dacey of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that the thefts of the remains of a 72-year-old male in Woodbridge and two-year-old boy in Perth Amboy may be the work of individuals involved in a non-traditional religious practice.

Police are seeking help from the community in identifying the suspects who removed the remains, and are contacting cemeteries and visitors, asking they report any suspicious activity to police.

The families of the deceased individuals have been notified.

The investigation began on November 28, 2010, after a visitor at St. Mary’s Cemetery at Amboy and Eagle avenues in Perth Amboy discovered an open grave and contacted police, who determined that the remains of the two-year-old boy had been removed.

In the second incident, a passerby at Most Holy Rosary Cemetery on Oregon Avenue in the Fords section of Woodbridge contacted cemetery officials on February 15, 2011, to report that a granite mausoleum had been disturbed. It subsequently was determined that the remains of the 72-year-old male had been removed.

Anyone with information on either incident is asked to contact Detective Yanak of the Woodbridge Police Department at (732) 634-7700, Detective Rivera of the Perth Amboy Police Department at (732) 442-4400, or Sgt. Dacey of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3300.

Additionally, anyone seeing suspicious activity at any cemetery is asked to call the local police department.