For upwards of four and a half decades, the offspring of Glen Napoleon Burbage have pondered what became of their dad following his disappearance during an Atlantic City trip. That mystery has finally reached a turning point as investigators in New Jersey used genealogical research to identify a set of unidentified remains recovered from the ocean shortly after his disappearance.
The breakthrough, achieved through a collaborative effort by the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit and experts associated with Ramapo College of New Jersey, brings a measure of closure to surviving relatives who have long sought to bring their loved one home to South Carolina.
Glen Burbage, a 60-year-old mariner and retired Coast Guard chief warrant officer, flew to New Jersey in March 1981. Plans were in place for him to serve as a first mate on a vessel set to embark shortly on an expected months-long cruise. While he had regularly traveled to Texas for similar work, this was his first time heading to New Jersey to board a ship. After arriving via airplane, he never made it to the ship.
Decades of Uncertainty and Unanswered Questions
His failure to report for work spurred a search, but authorities at the time could not determine what happened to the Charlestonian, who grew up downtown on Wall Street. Danny Burbage, who was 32 years old when he last saw his father, described him as a tall, good-natured, blue-collar man who was dedicated to his kin. Away from his duties aboard vessels, he occupied his time doing household chores and spending time with his relatives.
The disappearance left the family stunned and searching for answers. Danny Burbage noted that his father was not a gambler and was therefore unlikely to be hiding about in any of Atlantic City’s casinos, making his sudden and complete vanishing baffling to investigators. Over the ensuing decades, hopes of finding him alive faded, leading the family to place a marker for him in Charleston’s Bethany Cemetery despite not recovering his body.
The case remained stalled for years, compounded by the loss of evidence when a basement containing police files was flooded. Yet, investigators persevered.
Genealogical Breakthrough and Identification
Earlier this summer, a New Jersey investigator reached out to Danny Burbage’s brother, Pete, to coordinate a DNA submission through the State Law Enforcement Division. Investigators associated with Ramapo College of New Jersey compared the familial profile against unidentified human remains recovered by boaters about a mile offshore of Atlantic City in May 1981.
The testing yielded a match, confirming that the body found at sea in 1981 was indeed Glen Burbage. Much like the original investigators, current New Jersey investigators could not determine a cause of death. No physical trauma or injuries were sustained by Burbage, and authorities estimated he had been deceased for several weeks prior to the recovery of his body from the ocean.
Bringing Dad Home to Charleston
Despite the lingering unanswered questions surrounding his final days, the surviving family members expressed deep gratitude for the persistence of cold-case investigators.
With the identification officially secured, the family is now making arrangements to transport Glen Burbage back to Charleston. Plans are underway to inter his remains in the family plot at Bethany Cemetery, laying him to rest beside his wife and two daughters in a long-awaited homecoming.
