Hudson County has the second highest number of unidentified bodies of any county in the state listed on the NJ State Police website, with 47 dating back to 1981.

Will we ever know who they are?

The county with the highest number of unidentified bodies listed is Essex, with 65 unidentified bodies between today and 1976, and 61 between today and 1981.

State Police Sgt. First Class Gregory Williams said the listings are posted on the State Police website upon request of local and county law enforcement. He said the actual number of unidentified bodies is higher.

Williams said the website allows law enforcement agencies to reach more people in the quest to identify the bodies. The website also lists five living babies who are unidentified, and it includes their images.

The 47 listings of unidentified bodies found in Hudson County include information such as the date and location they were found, their estimated date of birth, body description, artist renderings or reconstructions of their faces, identifiers such as tattoos and scars, as well as images of clothing and jewelry.

“We have had success with missing persons,” Williams said, adding that the information is usually provided to the State Police Missing Persons Unit and posted by the State Police Office of Public Affairs.

The most recent among the Hudson County listings is that of a male recovered on July 29, 2008 in Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The estimated date of his death was July 26, 2008 and he is thought to have been born in 1963 to 1978. He was white, stood about 6-feet 2-inches-tall, weighed about 209 pounds, had brown hair, blue eyes and was clean shaven, the website says.

The man was wearing a blue and white polo shirt, blue jeans, black socks, nonslip shoes and aviator style sunglasses, the site says, adding that dental characteristics are available as is DNA, the website says.

The body of a young black woman was found on Oct. 18, 2007 in Bayonne. She was between 5-feet-2-inches and five-feet-five-inches tall with brown hair and a 28-inch braided hair extension. It's estimated she was born between 1987 and 1991.

The oldest Hudson County case listed is that of a man found in the Hudson River on May 4, 1981, according to the website, which is not more specific on the location.

The estimated date of death of this white man was April 29, 1981 and he is thought to have been born between 1941 and 1961. He was wearing a gold colored loop earing in his left ear, had a tattoo of an outline of a cross on his upper right arm and a tattoo on his upper left arm with the word “Mike,” “Niko,” or “Nino,” the website says.

Finally, the 1981 victim was wearing a white sneaker on his left foot, white sweat socks and blue pants with thin white stripes. His right sneaker was found on the embankment about 15 feet from his body. Partial x-rays are available, as are dental records, the website says.

Also among the listings is a baby girl found in the Hudson River on Jan. 14, 1993. The baby’s date of death is listed as Jan. 8, 1993 and her year of birth is thought to be 1992 to 1993. The baby’s race is unknown, she weighed about 6 pounds and was not wearing clothing, the website says, adding that full x-rays of the 20-inch baby are available.

"The cases never die," said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino today, adding that every unidentified body case is reviewed and investigators check with local municipalities and with New York City.

Rubino said "The person's friend and family members are out there and we want to get them identified so we can bring some type of closure."

Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon and Cumberland counties have no unidentified listings on the state police website.

The information on all 47 Hudson County unidentified bodies is available at www.njsp.org/miss/ui_hudson.html.

Anyone with information on any of the cases is asked to call the New Jersey State Police at 1-800-709-7090 or e-mail missingp@gw.njsp.org.