Identified! PA - Philadelphia, 'Boy in the Box', WhtMale 4-6, 4UMPA, Feb'57 #2 - Joseph Augustus Zarelli

[CCJD]

According to what I've read - no. Colleen Fitzpatrick and her group Identifinders are mentioned as solvers of this boy's identity. She helped in solving the identity of Somerton man.

Link, please?

 

[spacedcurls]

Believe me I know of the family of which you speak, but I truly think calling it a “Delaware county” family would not be the way the Philly LE would describe it, even if the branch from which he was came lived in Delaware county, PA

Oh absolutely! Like I said, it was just a possible explanation for the situation -- and isn't entirely impossible, but it definitely isn't the typical/standard way the family would be referenced.

 

[milkymama]

Prominent families can have secrets and “black sheep” relatives.

 

[chaddylex]

Philadelphia Police to Reveal Identity of 'Boy in the Box' Next Week

More than six decades since an unidentified boy was found dead and abandoned in Philadelphia, police have identified the child and are set to reveal the boy's name next week, sources confirmed with NBC10.

www.nbcnewyork.com

Smith told NBC10 he couldn't discuss the new revelation ahead of the scheduled news conference. He had previously said that identifying the boy was just the beginning.

"The investigation will start all over again and then we'll start searching for a suspect," he said.

Throughout the years, numerous leads and theories have emerged regarding who the boy was and what happened to him.

"We thought maybe he was a Hungarian kid who came over in '56 when they had the Hungarian Revolution," Fleisher said. "We had all these theories. Thought maybe he was in the military."

Most of the tips and theories have been debunked however.

The boy's body has been exhumed twice and DNA was extracted each time.

Sources told NBC10 the most recent DNA sample finally led investigators to the child's identity. The sources say the DNA traced the child to a prominent family in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

"It's a Philadelphia story," Fleisher said.

The boy's headstone at Ivy Hill Cemetery reads, "America's Unknown Child." As soon as next week however, that headstone could finally have a name.

 

[cvaldez1975]

this was my old fave show, they had an episode loosely based on it

"Cold Case" The Boy in the Box (TV Episode 2004) ⭐ 8.2 | Crime, Drama, Mystery

1h | TV-14

www.imdb.com

 

[chaddylex]

this was my old fave show, they had an episode loosely based on it

"Cold Case" The Boy in the Box (TV Episode 2004) ⭐ 8.2 | Crime, Drama, Mystery

1h | TV-14

www.imdb.com

Awe I loved that show, but didn't realize they did an episode about this. It breaks my heart what this poor boy must have went thru. I am glad he is finally identified, but I am guessing the people that are responsible for this death are long gone.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I'm the odd one out here but I've never believed M's story. I guess we'll find out next week. Kids from prominent families can be abused too. Hoping his parents are still alive to face prosecution. They would definitely be in their 80's or 90's but it's a possibility.

wondering if this wasnt an unwed birth taht was kept hidden

 

[cvaldez1975]

Or he had some kind of mental disability and so he was hidden from people like a shameful secret, then shipped to some institution, or locked somewhere away.

like they did in the movie "rain man"

 

[iamshadow21]

this was my old fave show, they had an episode loosely based on it

"Cold Case" The Boy in the Box (TV Episode 2004) ⭐ 8.2 | Crime, Drama, Mystery

1h | TV-14

www.imdb.com

There was a CSI episode that was really obviously riffing off the case, too, though it was set in the present era and the child in that story was a little girl. The episode's called A Thousand Days on Earth. It has bits of Ruby Ridge in there, too, I think.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Awe I loved that show, but didn't realize they did an episode about this. It breaks my heart what this poor boy must have went thru. I am glad he is finally identified, but I am guessing the people that are responsible for this death are long gone.

same. all the scenarios are going through my head

 

[tbgo]

LE put out A LOT of info about the boy hoping someone would come forward. Are we sure that baked beans weren’t mentioned in the media?

 

[Ontario Mom]

LE put out A LOT of info about the boy hoping someone would come forward. Are we sure that baked beans weren’t mentioned in the media?

I don't know how accurate it is, but on the wiki page it mentions that detail was only known to police. Boy in the Box (Philadelphia) - Wikipedia

 

[AgathaJessica]

Somerton Man, Lady of the Dunes, Boy in the Box. Who’s next?

Maybe the woman at Oslo Plaza Hotel, June 1995...

 

[squish]

I believe the woman, M, that came forward and said the boy was bought or illegally adopted by her mother and father and then abused. She knew aspects of the case (the baked beans, the water soaked fingers and the cut hair) I do know her identity after doing a little sleuthing. She passed away in 2020. I do not know if she is biologically related or not, there was some speculation that her uncle could have been the boy’s father.

I believe her too.

Whether she was correct or not, or just mentally ill, it’s very sad that she passed away before receiving the peace of mind of knowing his real name.

 

[squish]

Somerton Man, Lady of the Dunes, Boy in the Box. Who’s next?

I hope the middle child of the Allenstown four. The other three victims have been ID and were a mother and two daughters; the other child is unrelated to this family, but was the daughter of the perpetrator, Terry Peder Rasmussen. This child’s mother is also unknown, and knowing TPR’s history of killing his girlfriends, also likely to be dead.

 

[breachtones]

Somerton Man, Lady of the Dunes, Boy in the Box. Who’s next?

Hopefully the Dane County Doe, though they have a decently high match already. St Louis Jane Doe I hope to god genetic genealogy gets involved there, STL police are so incompetent.

 

[Springrain]

Just throwing a thought out here...I know it has been speculated by many, including if I'm not mistaken M herself? that BITB may have been secretly fathered by M's uncle, which would make him M's biological cousin . Now, if we are assuming that that information is correct (I guess we may find out?), maybe BITB was born to the daughter of a promeninent Delaware County family and M's uncle. On top of this, he may have disabilities or developmental delays. M's uncle is uninvolved with his life, the mother's family sells him to M's family, to keep him at least with his father's family, and washes their hands of him, so to speak. It explains him being traced to that family at least.

 

[Blackbirdsitdon]

I believe the woman, M, that came forward and said the boy was bought or illegally adopted by her mother and father and then abused. She knew aspects of the case (the baked beans, the water soaked fingers and the cut hair) I do know her identity after doing a little sleuthing. She passed away in 2020. I do not know if she is biologically related or not, there was some speculation that her uncle could have been the boy’s father.

Is there a reason after someone dies that they cannot be identified? I am curious because I've seen different approaches in this case.

 

[tbgo]

Maybe the woman at Oslo Plaza Hotel, June 1995...

THAT one is such a mystery. I hope they solve it. I’m not sure what the laws are in other countries when it comes to DNA and using ancestry databases though.

 

[janewall]

Believe me I know of the family of which you speak, but I truly think calling it a “Delaware county” family would not be the way the Philly LE would describe it, even if the branch from which he was came lived in Delaware county, PA

Agreed - if the family to which @spacedcurls refers is the one I'm thinking of, their philanthropy regarding specialized health and care facilities for children has always been a subject of local lore. I can't even remember the first time I heard about them in that context - it had to be at least 40 years ago. But a few family members who live or have lived in Delaware County aside, their prominence is not truly centered here, and it's an odd way for the Philly police to characterize them. There are other prominent families with more extensive ties to Delco - especially on the Main Line and western edge of the county - so I'm not convinced that this breadcrumb points strongly in their direction.