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

[Daphne1972]

At the time, at least until the child was in school the parents kept the records.

The doctor may have it, but people switch doctors. If he didn't see the baby, it could mean that the parents switched doctors.

Kindergarten was not big until the 1960's and he would started first grade in 1959, at the earliest.

It would have been a noticable scar!

 

[Daphne1972]

I’m not sure vaccines where given then, I’m 66 and I remember getting the smallpox vaccine in the mid sixties at a church, like an assembly line. I did have the whooping cough when I was young.

Yeah I don’t think they vaccinated babies then like they do now.

Jmo

Polio vaccine was introduced in 1953.

 

[Daphne1972]

They said they are going to test DNA on clothing found? Does anyone know what clothing? Is it the handkerchief? Other things?

I so hope it will yield results.

 

[RoseTree]

I wonder why one eye turned blue under fluorescent light?

 

[steff13]

I wonder why one eye turned blue under fluorescent light?

They thought it was a diagnostic dye.

 

[RoseTree]

I just wonder if he was receiving medical care, it seems like someone would miss him…..

Also, if he was sent away, then it seems like someone would want to come get him at some point or he would be acknowledged by the family.

I keep thinking I’d the dozier home for boys in Florida and how kids were beaten to death and they would write the family and say, “he died of pneumonia”

But if that happened it seems like he would have been acknowledged

My dad was sent away at the school for the deaf and his parents rarely came for him. He spent holidays at school. I know this was common. It’s devastating and he is still experiencing the effects of the trauma. He was also badly mistreated at the school for the deaf. My mom was also.’once she was forced to clean up vomit.

All speculation of course. This is the saddest of the sad.

 

[Friday Fan]

A4_probe

Article from 1957 regarding vaccines. Says, "He was preschool age because the body did not have a vaccination mark"


I believe different jurisdictions had different schedules, especially with regards to smallpox vaccines. Smallpox was waning by then. The age to administer the vaccine was debated..(The scab itself posed health risks, since it contained a live virus)

 

[CCJD]

As a child of the 50s, I didn't get the smallpox vaccine (the one that leaves a permanent scar) until the spring or summer before entering 1st grade (didn't go to kindergarten). That was RI but looks like PA had the same law.

The Bristol Daily Courier 15 May 1957, page Page 14 - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from The Bristol Daily Courier dated 15 May 1957, page Page 14.

www.newspapers.com

 

[Sillybilly]

This thread is closed for review.

Check back tomorrow.

 

[Sillybilly]

As no POI/suspect has been named by LE, attempts to identify the parents or family is covered under our policy of not sleuthing anyone who is not officially named a POI/suspect.

This thread is open again with zero tolerance for posts that sleuth or attempt to identify the parents or the family until such time as LE releases that information.

 

[iamshadow21]

As no POI/suspect has been named by LE, attempts to identify the parents or family is covered under our policy of not sleuthing anyone who is not officially named a POI/suspect.

This thread is open again with zero tolerance for posts that sleuth or attempt to identify the parents or the family until such time as LE releases that information.

Thank you, @Sillybilly . <3

 

[PJFL]

As no POI/suspect has been named by LE, attempts to identify the parents or family is covered under our policy of not sleuthing anyone who is not officially named a POI/suspect.

This thread is open again with zero tolerance for posts that sleuth or attempt to identify the parents or the family until such time as LE releases that information.

Thank you, @Sillybilly.

 

[PJFL]

A new article from Philadelphia Inquirer.

“On the maternal side, I used a whole bunch of third and fourth cousins that I was able to build out their genetic trees and see where they married into,” Gillis said by phone this week. “And so I built those trees down and down, painstakingly. It took me about two months until I was able to identify who the birth mother was.”

What helped ID Joseph Augustus Zarelli? His mother’s family dabbles in genetic genealogy.

 

[MountainLover]

Excellent article and major kudos to the genealogist who pursued the DNA strands that led to darling Joseph's identification.
So this article contains verifiable confirmation that his parents were not married at the time he was born. Hard to believe looking back from 2022 that this was such a societal taboo in many communities.

 

[iamshadow21]

A new article from Philadelphia Inquirer.



What helped ID Joseph Augustus Zarelli? His mother’s family dabbles in genetic genealogy.

There are legions of self-taught ancestry bloodhounds who upload their DNA to multiple databases in search of kin who did likewise, plugging gaps in their family tree.

Joseph Augustus Zarelli’s biological mother had third and fourth cousins who did just that. They had uploaded their DNA to GEDmatch — a database that law enforcement and forensic scientists can access to help solve cold cases.


Well done, you distant cousins. You probably just joined GEDmatch to untangle your family tree, and you ended up giving dear Joseph back his name. Well done to everyone on BOTH sides of Joseph's family who gave their DNA freely to help solve this case. What a wonderful, unexpected gift to have this Christmas, for everyone who cares about this little boy.

 

[LookingForClues]

There's another article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, written yesterday. They talk about all the craziness on the Internet once the name was released. It's very interesting, and deeply distressing too. One example that stood out to me is that someone went into "Find a Grave" and added Joseph to pages for several people with Joseph's last name, even though they had no proof there is a relation. "Find a Grave" had to post a disclaimer. Another example is a former Philly police captain who apparently posted his theory in a blog, and named who he thought were the parents and how they might have murdered him, even though he had NO evidence and had no connection to the case. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would change his blog post, but his blog has been shared all over the Internet so the harm is already done. This is why we have to be so careful about what we see on the Internet.

Waves of speculation followed the release of Joseph A. Zarelli’s name

One genealogist called it “true crime nutballery.”

www.inquirer.com

 

[nhmemorymaker]

i just do not want to purchase the inquirer subscription just for this case.... so am hoping people share more of the facts as they see them in these articles...
thank you

 

[PJFL]

This is why we have to be so careful about what we see on the Internet.

rsbm

This is what I like most about Websleuths. Enforced rules are in place to ensure only verified and reliable information is posted. Too much outlandish, crazy unconfirmed theories are available elsewhere. Thankfully, that's not the case here.

 

[Alleykins]

rsbm

This is what I like most about Websleuths. Enforced rules are in place to ensure only verified and reliable information is posted. Too much outlandish, crazy unconfirmed theories are available elsewhere. Thankfully, that's not the case here.

This is why I like WS, too.

 

[Shamrock1]

It's my understanding that there was some of the hair found stuck to his body. I wonder how long that hair was? It seems like if he had been wearing his hair very long that at least some of it that was stuck to the body would have reflected that.

Pointing to the hair and eyebrows, Frank Bender theorized that he may have been raised as a girl. Bender really had an otherworldly gift but I’m inclined to discount this theory simply because that wasn’t among M’s *released* statements. However, M stated he was sexually abused, which could generally fit with the idea of being raised as a girl.

Mystery of "Boy in the Box" sparks various theories over six decades

New DNA evidence has allowed police to identity the boy and find his birth certificate according to reports.

www.newsweek.com