By DAVID GREENE and DAVID CRUZ

Police remain on the hunt for a person of interest related to the death of a New Jersey man found within the borders of the 52nd Precinct on Jan. 15. The victim was later identified as Jordan Johnson. 

Surveillance video shows a person leaving a black 2013 BMW in the early hours of Jan. 14. That person, wearing a light blue winter coat, rushed quickly within the frame as they walked along Gun Hill Road before clenching their hood enough to conceal their identity. The lack of identity made it tough for police to determine if that person of interest was a man or woman, according to police.

Johnson was found in the trunk of that same BMW hours later. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Johnson was strangled. The vehicle was parked next to the Woodlawn Cemetery gates along East 211th Street, between Tryon Avenue and Kings College Place in Norwood. Residents of the quiet and secluded block that overlooks the southern end of the cemetery and P.S. 94 were in disbelief. One resident who declined to give his name, recalled, “Nothing like this ever happens over here. It’s fairly quiet. I’m surprised.”

Johnson was reported missing by his girlfriend on Jan. 13. Johnson lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey, a half hour drive from Norwood. Police sources say Johnson’s girlfriend received a text message from Johnson’s cell phone to meet him in Harlem the night before and claimed when she returned, the apartment was ransacked and a large amount of cash and jewels were missing. Police

Video still courtesy NYPD sources also say Johnson was known to have family in the north Bronx. Johnson’s vehicle was tracked by the recently deployed automated license plate scanner, when police opened the trunk and discovered his body.

The investigation is being handled by detectives from Fort Lee and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office, who are being assisted by the NYPD.

As police shut down the streets for more than five hours, sources said authorities in Fort Lee returned to the man’s home at the Carriage House at 1275 15th St.

Several published reports, citing an unnamed police source, said officials were looking into the possibility that Johnson was involved in an identity theft ring.

The Fort Lee Police Department would not say if Johnson had a criminal background. At this time it appears that Johnson was likely killed at another location and dumped in Norwood. If determined he was killed on East 211th Street, this would be the 52nd Precinct’s first homicide of 2015.

Editor’s Note: The published version of this article calls the person of interest a man. Video surveillance makes it unclear if it’s a man or woman.