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Post by Graveyardbride on Nov 30, 2022 19:12:56 GMT -5
‘Boy in the Box’ IdentifiedOn February 25, 1957, the naked corpse of a badly beaten child estimated to be between the ages of 3- and 7-years-old was found in a cardboard box on the side of Sesquehanna Road in a Philadelphia neighborhood known as Fox Chase. Now, through DNA testing, his remains have been identified and the boy’s name will be revealed next week.
According to Bill Fleisher of the Vidocq Society, the “Boy in the Box” case is the “longest continuously investigated homicide in the history of the Philadelphia Police Department. ... He was one of those throwaway, forgotten children.”
The area where the boy was found has now been developed and is nothing like it was on that cold February day 65 years ago.
“There have been rapid developments as it pertains to that investigation,” Captain Jason Smith of the Philadelphia Police Department said. Now, he continued, the investigation “will start all over again and then we’ll start searching for a suspect.”
According to unnamed sources, the most recent DNA sample led investigators to a prominent family in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
The inscription on the child’s original grave marker (above) in Ivy Hill Cemetery read, “Heavenly Father, Bless this Unknown Boy.” A new and much larger stone with the inscription “America’s Unknown Child” was placed in 1998.Sources: WCAU, November 30, 2022, and Joe Holden, KYW, November 30, 2022.
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Post by catherine on Nov 30, 2022 19:55:39 GMT -5
This is one that I didn't think would ever be solved!
If the DNA sample did lead to a prominent family, I wonder if the boy was a member of that family, or if someone in the family killed him.
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Post by kitty on Dec 2, 2022 9:55:35 GMT -5
This is one that I didn't think would ever be solved!
If the DNA sample did lead to a prominent family, I wonder if the boy was a member of that family, or if someone in the family killed him. |
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Post by aprillynn93 on Dec 2, 2022 17:45:00 GMT -5
This is one that I didn't think would ever be solved!
If the DNA sample did lead to a prominent family, I wonder if the boy was a member of that family, or if someone in the family killed him. Maybe they were complicit in covering it up. He could also have been the child of an estranged family member and therefore the rest of the family didn't know he was dead and/or existed. Certainly there are many questions to be answered. I wish they would release his name. |
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Post by JoannaL on Dec 8, 2022 13:16:15 GMT -5
'Boy in the Box' is Joseph Augustus ZarelliAfter 65 years, Philadelphia’s “Boy in the Box” has been identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, born January 13, 1953. However, after making the announcement, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw reminded reporters and others in attendance that the child’s identification closes only “one chapter in this little boy’s story while opening up a new one. This is still an active homicide investigation and we still need the public's help in filling in this child's life story.”
Although the child was identified through the DNA of one of his siblings, the parents have not been named. “Joseph has a number of siblings on both the mother and father’s side who are living and it’s out of respect for them that their parents’ information remain confidential,” Police Captain John Smith explained.
The injuries on the child’s body were consistent with blunt force trauma, which investigators suspected ultimately caused his death. “He had abrasions, he had contusions, basically he had blunt force trauma,” Smith said. “From what I understand, he was also emaciated, but I’m going to say that blunt force trauma was more than likely the cause of death.” The boy was clean and well-groomed with a recent haircut when his corpse was discovered.
In spite of the identification, the case still remains unsolved and there is a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of a suspect. “We have our suspicions as to who may be responsible, but it would be irresponsible of me to share these suspicious as this remains an ongoing and active criminal investigation,” Smith added.Sources: WPVI, December 8, 2022, and Mac Bullock, The Daily Voice, December 8, 2022.
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Post by pat on Dec 8, 2022 13:29:51 GMT -5
This doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to believe that the child of a prominent family goes missing and the parents say nothing? Then a child of the same age is found in a box and there are newspaper articles and TV reports with pictures of his corpse all over the country and the parents never come forward to see if it's their child? Either the parents or some other family member was responsible for that boy's death.
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Post by snowfairy on Dec 8, 2022 15:22:50 GMT -5
This doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to believe that the child of a prominent family goes missing and the parents say nothing? Then a child of the same age is found in a box and there are newspaper articles and TV reports with pictures of his corpse all over the country and the parents never come forward to see if it's their child? Either the parents or some other family member was responsible for that boy's death. Some people online are saying that his father was Augustus Joseph Zarelli, who died in 2014, but the obituary says he and his wife had been together for 55 years, which would mean they married in 1959, 6 years after the Boy in the Box was born. If this man was his father, then the boy was probably born out of wedlock. |
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Post by aprillynn93 on Dec 8, 2022 18:27:09 GMT -5
This doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to believe that the child of a prominent family goes missing and the parents say nothing? Then a child of the same age is found in a box and there are newspaper articles and TV reports with pictures of his corpse all over the country and the parents never come forward to see if it's their child? Either the parents or some other family member was responsible for that boy's death. Yeah I think it was probably either the parents, or one of his siblings and the parents covered it up, just like in the Jonbenet Ramsey case. The boy was never even reported as missing so pretty much the parents must be involved in some way. |
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