On February 25, 1957, the body of a young boy was found inside a cardboard box in the woods off Susquehanna Road, in the Fox Chase neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia. Investigators determined he had died of blunt force trauma and ruled his death a homicide. Despite a massive investigation — some 400,000 flyers bearing his likeness were circulated, included with every gas bill in Philadelphia, and police pursued leads for decades — no one came forward to claim him, and he became known as the Boy in the Box, or America's Unknown Child. He was buried without a name, and in 1998 his remains were moved to Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Sixty-five years after his discovery, police announced in late November 2022 that DNA analysis and genetic genealogy had finally determined his identity, and on December 8, 2022, he was publicly named: Joseph Augustus Zarelli, born January 13, 1953, four years old when he died. His murder remains an active, unsolved homicide investigation.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Joseph Augustus Zarelli
- Philadelphia Police Department — identification announcement, December 8, 2022 (press conference)