Police responding to a call around 2 p.m. Thursday found the car at East 211th Street and Tryon Avenue. They found the man in the trunk of the black 2013 BMW.
He was identified as Jordan Johnson, of Fort Lee. Emergency workers pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police in New Jersey said his girlfriend had reported him missing on Tuesday after he didn’t meet her as planned. She told authorities she returned to their home to find that it had been burglarized, with money and jewelry missing.
The city’s medical examiner will determine a cause of death.