Body found with crate of fake Christmas trees
South Brunswick police working with Chinese officials on investigation

BY MELISSA CIFELLI
Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Employees of Home Depot made a gruesome discovery when they opened a shipment of Christmas decorations last week.

Two employees found a body Sept. 8 lying atop boxes of artificial Christmas trees, shipped in a 40-foot metal container on July 25 from Yantian, China, according to police.

According to South Brunswick Police Department Detective James Ryan, the container arrived at Home Depot from Newark on Aug. 30 but was sent by workers to a fumigation plant in Elizabeth because of a strong stench.

The container arrived back at Home Depot on Sept. 7. The body was discovered, Ryan said, when the container was finally opened the following day by workers who still noticed a peculiar smell.

According to police, the body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition.

“It’s a challenge to try to identify the individual,” Ryan said.

Ryan said the investigation remains ongoing as to how the victim entered the container and the exact cause of death.

“There are a number of theories,” he said.

Ryan said the medical examiner’s investigation, while still ongoing, has so far not revealed any indications of trauma to the victim’s body.

The investigation has involved several different agencies including the police department, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office, the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office, the New Jersey Division of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs, according to Ryan.

In addition, Ryan said South Brunswick officials are working with numerous individuals at Home Depot and the fumigation plant where the container was sent, as well as officials in China to find information on the history of the container, the identity of the victim and the cause of death. It’s going to take time, Ryan said, to relay information back and forth between officials in South Brunswick and those in China.

Ryan said the case will be treated like any other murder investigation.

According to the medical examiner’s office, the victim is described as an Asian male, between the age of 20 and 40. He is 5 feet 3 inches tall with straight black hair and weighs between 100 and 120 pounds.