Is Body of 400-Year-Old Murder Victim Buried in Keansburg?

The Bayshore area of the Jersey Shore has been the backdrop for some fascinating -- and bloody -- episodes of New Jersey and American history. Maybe it's the proximity to New York harbor and the massive Hudson River farther north. If you were jockeying for land during the Revolutionary War, the Sandy Hook Lighthouse was a critical spot to hold.

And if you were an early 17th Century explorer searching for the elusive Northwest Passage to China, you'd find yourself exploring the nooks and crannies of the Raritan Bay before sailing up the Hudson.

It wasn't the Hudson River in 1609, of course. That was the year Henry Hudson arrived with a crew on his ship the Half Moon and sailed the river that would eventually bear his name.

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The Half Moon crew's exploration of the Raritan Bay shoreline proved historic in its own right.

The death of a Half Moon sailor during this voyage may be the first documented murder in the Tri-State area -- and the body of the victim may be buried in the shadow of a Jersey Shore amusement park in the Bayshore.

John Colman: Half Moon Crew Member Murdered in 1609

After the Half Moon passed Sandy Hook, Hudson sent five men to explore the area in a small boat. This group included doomed Englishman John Colman.

According to a journal kept by crew member Robert Juet, the sailors found the Jersey Shore to be "pleasant with grass and flowers, and goodly trees, as ever they had seen, and very sweet smells came from them."

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The exploratory mission wouldn't stay pleasant for long, however.

The men encountered two canoes with 26 Native Americans. A conflict ensued and John Colman was killed with an arrow to the throat. Two other crew members were injured.

Local historian Robert Scifo told NorthJersey.com the site of the fatal blow was likely Kill Van Kull, the strait between Staten Island and Bayonne.

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Juet's contemporaneous journal indicates the men returned to the Half Moon with Colman's body: "By ten of the clock they returned aboard the ship, and brought our dad man with them, whom we carried on land and buried, and named the point after his name, Colmans Point."

Where Was John Colman Buried?

"Point Comfort is Colman’s Point," said Scifo told NorthJersey.com.

Point Comfort is the northernmost part of Keansburg jutting into the Raritan Bay and located where Beachway and Carr Avenue meet.

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This possible burial site is directly across from the Keansburg Amusement Park.

Not all historians are convinced that Colman's Point in Keansburg. Other possible burial sites include Sandy Hook, Staten Island or Coney Island, according to The New York Times.