ATLANTIC CITY — For 45 years, two mysteries existed hundreds of miles apart.
In South Carolina, a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer had boarded a plane for Atlantic City, collected his luggage after arriving — and seemingly vanished.
In New Jersey, authorities had the unidentified remains of a man recovered from the ocean about a mile off Atlantic City's Raleigh Avenue.
Nobody knew the missing man and the unidentified man were the same person.
Now they do.
New Jersey State Police have identified the man long known as “Atlantic City John Doe” as Glen Napoleon Burbage, a retired Coast Guard chief warrant officer from Charleston, South Carolina.
Modern DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy finally gave investigators the answer that had eluded them since 1981.
But solving Burbage's identity has left perhaps the biggest mystery unanswered:
What happened to him after he arrived in Atlantic City?
A Flight to Atlantic City — Then Nothing
Burbage was born April 12, 1921, and had retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a chief warrant officer.
His disappearance is documented in an unlikely place: a decades-old federal government decision concerning his unpaid Coast Guard retirement benefits.
According to a 1991 U.S. General Accounting Office decision, Burbage retired from the Coast Guard on March 1, 1960.
More than two decades later, on March 23, 1981, he boarded an airline flight from Charleston to Atlantic City.
He made it to New Jersey.
Federal records establish that Burbage picked up his luggage at the airport after arriving.
Then the trail abruptly ends.
“He has not been seen or heard from since that date,” the GAO wrote in its decision.
There is no publicly established account of where Burbage went after leaving the airport, whom he may have met, where he stayed or why he had traveled to Atlantic City.
Two Months Later, A Body Off Raleigh Avenue
On May 22, 1981 — about two months after Burbage disappeared — boaters spotted a man's body in the Atlantic Ocean approximately one mile offshore from Raleigh Avenue in Atlantic City.
Investigators believed the man had been dead for several weeks.
But they couldn't determine who he was.
Traditional investigative methods produced no identification.
Even later DNA testing failed to solve the mystery. The unidentified man's DNA profile was entered into the FBI-managed Combined DNA Index System, better known as CODIS, but investigators found no match.
The body remained unidentified.
And Burbage remained missing.
His Wife Reported Him Missing
Back in South Carolina, Burbage's family was looking for him.
His wife, Doris H. Burbage, notified the Coast Guard on Jan. 4, 1982 that her husband was missing, according to the federal GAO record.
His Coast Guard retirement payments were then suspended.
Years passed without an answer.
On July 31, 1990, the Charleston County Probate Court formally declared Burbage dead.
His legal date of death was established as March 23, 1988 — exactly seven years after the day he disappeared.
What the family apparently did not know was that remains recovered off Atlantic City seven years earlier belonged to him.
That connection wouldn't be made for another three-and-a-half decades.
DNA Technology Reopens a 45-Year-Old Case
The breakthrough came this year.
Investigators developed a new SNP DNA profile for Atlantic City John Doe and turned to the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey for help.
Investigative genetic genealogy works differently from traditional law-enforcement DNA searches. Instead of requiring a direct match already contained in a database, genealogists can use genetic relatives and genealogical records to build family trees that may eventually point toward an unidentified person's identity.
In May, the Atlantic City case became part of a collaborative educational project involving Ramapo College, the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology Sydney and the New South Wales Police Force in Australia.
Researchers used genetic relatives of Atlantic City John Doe to essentially work backward through his family tree.
Eventually, one candidate emerged:
Glen Napoleon Burbage.
The details were striking.
Burbage had disappeared in 1981.
And the place where he disappeared was Atlantic City.
A Child's DNA Provides The Answer
A genealogical lead isn't enough by itself to conclusively identify human remains.
New Jersey State Police detectives therefore sought help from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to obtain a reference DNA sample from Burbage's family.
Investigators obtained DNA from one of Burbage's living children, according to published reports.
The New Jersey State Police Central Laboratory then performed a direct familial DNA comparison.
It confirmed the identification.
Atlantic City John Doe was Glen Napoleon Burbage.
“For 45 years, Glen Burbage had a name and a family, even though investigators did not yet know who he was,” Cairenn Binder, director of Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, said following the identification.
“Investigative genetic genealogy gives us a way to revisit cases that once seemed to have reached the limits of available technology.”
New Jersey State Police also credited forensic DNA company Othram Inc., Ramapo College, South Carolina authorities and the State Police Central Laboratory for their roles in solving the case.
The effort was supported through federal Missing and Unidentified Human Remains grant funding awarded to New Jersey State Police.
One Mystery Solved. Another Remains.
After 45 years, Atlantic City John Doe finally has his name back.
But investigators still don't know — or at least haven't publicly established — what happened during the final weeks of Glen Burbage's life.
Why did he fly from Charleston to Atlantic City on March 23, 1981?
Where did he go after retrieving his luggage?
What happened between his arrival and the discovery of his body offshore nearly two months later?
And how did he die?
New Jersey State Police say the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Burbage's death remains open. Authorities have not announced a cause or manner of death or said whether they believe his death involved an accident, suicide, foul play or some other circumstance.
That makes an important distinction in a mystery that has already waited 45 years for answers.
Investigators now know who the man in the ocean was.
They still don't know what happened to Glen Napoleon Burbage.
Anyone with information concerning Burbage's disappearance or death is asked to contact the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit at missingpinformation@njsp.gov. Anonymous tips are accepted.
About the Author
Karen Johnson
With over 30 years of news experience in major markets like Los Angeles, Denver, and Columbus, Karen now covers our area for South Jersey NewsBeat. She also brings her articulate and conversational news delivery to WOND radio listeners every weekday. Her background includes work with the NBC Radio Network, and she thrives in fast-paced news environments.
