Identified! PA - Philadelphia, 'Boy in the Box', WhtMale 4-6, 4UMPA, Feb'57

Status
Not open for further replies.

christine2448

Retired WS Staff
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
10,390
Reaction score
280
I am new here and did a search for this case and couldn't find anything...forgive me if there is a reference here and I couldn't find it.

Anyone familiar with this case?

The website (listed below) has soooooo much information, it took me a couple of days to read it all!

Here is a link to the website http://americasunknownchild.net



Edit:
I admit I hadn't fully read the forum rules, I apologize, and I had posted the whole front page of the webpage here at first...I came back and took it off and just put the link...I have gone and read through all of the rules and will follow :)
 
I have been curious about this case for a while, I'm glad someone posted about it, hopefully someone will have some info on it. It seems like there will never be an answer. It is a sad story.
 
God. This case should be possible to resolve. I STILL think it has something to do with the foster home nearby where his body was found. If he has / had siblings, they'd only be late 50's or early 60's. Little man. No little baby deserves to be left in a box, beaten and all. How can people live with themselves? :( :(
 
This is so sad! I'm reading it but had to stop for a while once I saw the photos of that poor boy!

I could cry.

They couldn't tell from the boy's body/autopsy if he was beaten to death?
 
blueclouds said:
God. This case should be possible to resolve. I STILL think it has something to do with the foster home nearby where his body was found. If he has / had siblings, they'd only be late 50's or early 60's. Little man. No little baby deserves to be left in a box, beaten and all. How can people live with themselves? :( :(
Good points IMO, I posted this with hopes someone would know something. It's amazing the people that read these, you just never know. This case has haunted me for sometime. I think someone out there has info. I just pray they happen to come across this site or the actual site of The Boy in the Box.

I think one of the biggest clues is the box he was found in, if I remember correctly it was a bassett.
 
dont foster homes have reccords of all the children that were in the homes. dont they have records from back then on file somewhere that they can compare to the boy in the box?
 
about this case-a retired detective who is part of a group of retired LE personnel who "work" cold cases believes he may have ID'd this child(it was in the Nov 2003 issue). What this gentleman discovered was that the child had been given to a mentally unstable woman who supposedly was responsible for his death. He had located this woman's biological daughter, who even though has her own mental health issues, recounted the story of how her mother came to have the boy and how in a fit of rage, killed him.
Here is a link to the most recent info I could find(I'm originally from Philly, so this case has always had a special place in my heart!!)



http://www.northeasttimes.com/2003/1120/boyinbox.html
 
gatetrekker44 said:
about this case-a retired detective who is part of a group of retired LE personnel who "work" cold cases believes he may have ID'd this child(it was in the Nov 2003 issue). What this gentleman discovered was that the child had been given to a mentally unstable woman who supposedly was responsible for his death. He had located this woman's biological daughter, who even though has her own mental health issues, recounted the story of how her mother came to have the boy and how in a fit of rage, killed him.
Here is a link to the most recent info I could find(I'm originally from Philly, so this case has always had a special place in my heart!!)



http://www.northeasttimes.com/2003/1120/boyinbox.html

I recall that too. However, and I don't have the info handy - this was possibly debunked. There were several reasons her story never quite fit. About a year ago, I was in contact with one of the investigators of this little boy in the box - and they don't quite believe it was this child for many reasons. HOWEVER... THEY'RE still trying to verify her story. That's why, on the site - they first question whether anyone KNEW a child named Jonathan.

I wish there was an ending. Little man. I'm glad he became so loved in his death though. Hopefully he can feel that love from Heaven.


Here's an update from the site regarding this woman:
September 2004: During the past year, Vidocq Society investigators located and interviewed additional people who used to live in the Lower Merion neighborhorhood where, according to the unsubstantiated testimony of an Ohio woman, the unknown boy was secretly confined in a basement and subjected to physical and sexual abuse for two years prior to his death. Two of the former neighbors had been frequent visitors to the home, and they had access to all areas, including the basement. They flatly denied that a young boy lived there. A female neighbor who had been a close friend of the family and attended the same church, said that she was astonished to learn of the false accusations being made against them. She stated that the Ohio woman's allegations are "preposterous." The Vidocq Society investigators believe they have now exhausted all investigative options relative to the Ohio lead. Sadly, what had initially appeared to be the most significant breakthrough in the long history of this investigation, has ultimately turned out to be just another frustrating dead end."


"
 
The thing I don't understand is where the man with the specially made hat comes in. Could it have been his father? A worker at the foster home? The hatmaker remembered the man who came in to buy the hat but couldn't give very many details on him. Anyone have any thoughts?
 
smile22 said:
dont foster homes have reccords of all the children that were in the homes. dont they have records from back then on file somewhere that they can compare to the boy in the box?
Although each state has its own laws governing the foster care system, in all cases it is regulated (usually on the county government level) by a Child Protective/Welfare department. Foster homes are licensed through them and foster parents are required to be screened by social workers. Each child who enters a foster home is assigned there by the state or county, and it is the state or county which holds all the records on the child. There are also requirements for social workers to visit or meet with the child - and with the foster parents - on a regular basis.

Foster homes are required to submit reports and maintain records while the child resides with them, and while they are licensed, and during the time that they are active, they might be requested to provide certain records. Those records, however, usually relate to expenses, medical visits, school grades etc, and copies would normally be submitted to the County officials. While an individual foster parent might keep his or her own records for many years after having the child, I doubt that any such requirement exists anywhere.

Generally speaking, although there certainly are abuses and laxness in the system, Foster children are better regulated and accounted for than individual children not in foster care. The little boy found in the box was a victim of long time abuse, prior to his death. If there had been any kind of Foster Care assignment or records on him, I would think that those would have come to light early on in the investigation.
 
I was reading on the America's unknown child website and they are looking for doctors from the Philadelphia area who may remember giving medical treatment to this boy in the early 1950's. Would it be possible to send a letter out to all doctor's who practiced in that area in the time frame asking about it? There could be someone who did remember but has no knowledge of the case. The chances of a doctor remembering this many years later are slim but you never know.
 
If there was a doctor, who was practicing in the 1950s he/she would have had to be at least, at a minimum, what... 25?

Which means they would be, at a minimum, 71-80 yrs old today (or thereabouts). Most likely retired...

Perhaps an article(s) in various medical association newsletters would be more applicable? Nurses associations too?
 
2sisters said:
I was reading on the America's unknown child website and they are looking for doctors from the Philadelphia area who may remember giving medical treatment to this boy in the early 1950's. Would it be possible to send a letter out to all doctor's who practiced in that area in the time frame asking about it? There could be someone who did remember but has no knowledge of the case. The chances of a doctor remembering this many years later are slim but you never know.
The American Medical Association used to print directories of Doctors, and older copies of their publications might still exist in some libraries. Advertisment of medical skills was usually not done back in the 1950's, but phone directories and AMA directories might yield a list of potential MD's and pediatricians of that place and time.
 
2sisters said:
I was reading on the America's unknown child website and they are looking for doctors from the Philadelphia area who may remember giving medical treatment to this boy in the early 1950's. Would it be possible to send a letter out to all doctor's who practiced in that area in the time frame asking about it? There could be someone who did remember but has no knowledge of the case. The chances of a doctor remembering this many years later are slim but you never know.
The American Medical Association used to print directories of Doctors, and older copies of their publications might still exist in some libraries. Advertisment of medical skills was usually not done back in the 1950's, but phone directories and AMA directories might yield a list of potential MD's and pediatricians of that place and time.
 
PonderingThings said:
If there was a doctor, who was practicing in the 1950s he/she would have had to be at least, at a minimum, what... 25?

Which means they would be, at a minimum, 71-80 yrs old today (or thereabouts). Most likely retired...

Perhaps an article(s) in various medical association newsletters would be more applicable? Nurses associations too?
Retired or deceased. Unfortunately, this happens the older a case gets.
 
Sherlock said:
This is so sad! I'm reading it but had to stop for a while once I saw the photos of that poor boy!

I could cry.

They couldn't tell from the boy's body/autopsy if he was beaten to death?
I know this is off-topic but your sig makes me laugh my butt off everytime I see it.
 
Just bumping this little guy up. I have looked at his autopsy photos and can't belive that someone could do that to their child. His life must have been awful.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Staff online

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
227
Guests online
1,290
Total visitors
1,517

Forum statistics

Threads
589,168
Messages
17,914,869
Members
227,741
Latest member
Drury Lane
Back
Top