Of course we don't know if Joseph was in a facility or with parents, biological or otherwise, but had he been institutionalized he may have been known by a lot more people. I think the odds of someone recognizing him in the media blitz that followed the discovery of his body would be fairly high under those circumstances.
Identified! PA - Philadelphia - 'Boy in the Box' - 4UMPA - Feb'57 - Joseph Augustus Zarelli #4
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Of course we don't know if Joseph was in a facility or with parents, biological or otherwise, but had he been institutionalized he may have been known by a lot more people. I think the odds of someone recognizing him in the media blitz that followed the discovery of his body would be fairly high under those circumstances.
I agree. I don’t think he was institutionalized. I’m saying it was acceptable to place special needs children in institutions, so the idea of “hiding” him or beating him to death because he had issues is less likely given the times.
Vern
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I'm still not over the previous theory of him being bought by M's mother who abused him then disposed of him. The baked beans. They gnaw at my brain as absolutely too conincidental a fact to pull out of one's behind. <modsnip>
I'm still not over the previous theory of him being bought by M's mother who abused him then disposed of him. The baked beans. They gnaw at my brain as absolutely too conincidental a fact to pull out of one's behind. <modsnip>
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I'm reading through the america's unknown child site and I'm not seeing any article that states Joseph wasn't found to have any fractures. Each article states that the left arm had no fracture, so he wasn't the missing Daman boy, but I'm not seeing any article or indication that Joseph was found to have no fractures at all. The articles also state that the police were certain early on that Joseph had not been in any institutionalized place for children.
When you read through articles from that time it seems that there were a great number of children in foster homes, some of those homes with children that the family wanted to legally adopt but couldn't due to finances. For instance, there was an article about a young girl who been raised by a family who didn't adopt her until she was 16 because as long as she was a foster child the state would pay for her medical bills. Seems like the majority of children back then were living in foster homes which were far harder to track.
When you read through articles from that time it seems that there were a great number of children in foster homes, some of those homes with children that the family wanted to legally adopt but couldn't due to finances. For instance, there was an article about a young girl who been raised by a family who didn't adopt her until she was 16 because as long as she was a foster child the state would pay for her medical bills. Seems like the majority of children back then were living in foster homes which were far harder to track.
There were no baked beans in Joseph's system. Not a one.
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The medical examiner said x-rays revealed no present or prior fractures.
Vern
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Do you have a link to that?
It seems to me that M bringing them up as what he vomited is what lent credibility to her story by LE at the time because the fact he had consumed beans had not been publicly disclosed.
You'll need to look up the ME report which I'm sure you can find. I read it in the book The Boy In The Box. His stomach was completely empty and the examiner said he hadn't eaten in several hours. There was a very small amount of brown substance found in his esophagus which may have been consistent with vomit, but not confirmed as such and definitely not identified as any sort of food. This information was reported in some newspapers at the time and it was available on the internet as early as the late 1990s on at least one site dedicated to the case.
M was not considered credible by LE, and this may be one of the reasons why. What's browner than backed beans if someone were concocting a story?
fred&edna
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There were no baked beans... ever.
Here's a link to a news report:
Mysterious 1957 slaying of boy found in cardboard box still baffles nation
America has a slew of enduring mysteries: Who killed the Black Dahlia? What happened to Judge Crater? Where is Jimmy Hoffa? One of the most baffling is “Who was the Boy in the Box?” His…
www.nydailynews.com
"There was a dark substance in the boy's esophagus, but he had not eaten for about three hours before his death."
I agree with the groin scar being a repair of a hernia.
In my opinion,
Rh incompatibility between Mary Able and JAZ - lead to Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy - lead to hernia
Cerebral Palsy - lead to ankle scars and underweight
iamshadow21
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On the page called Case Summary, in the section called 'The Victim'. This is the section where the summary of the findings of the autopsy/physical examination is laid out. There is a line towards to bottom of that section that specifies that there were no broken bones, past or present.
Or it may have been that he was born prematurely. I wish we could see the birth certificate. Sometimes it give gestational age and that would clear up a lot. Rh incompatibility usually gets worse with subsequent pregnancies, but not always because it only happens when the baby is Rh positive. We've all been assuming MEA's first child was Rh positive, so by the time she had the third child, it died from Rh incompatibility. But Joseph may have been the first Rh positive child. For the first child it's not as bad, in fact in some cases just using phototherapy and monitoring bilirubin levels is enough. But severe Rh incompatibility can cause hypoxia resulting in CP and CP children do have a higher incidence of inguinal hernias.
I do think he may have been a preemie, which would explain a chest scar. And it would explain the ankle scar. Although I checked with an old friend of mine who said it wasn't uncommon to do cut down's for simple IV fluids in very young children. She was saying it's not uncommon for newly adopted infants to have hydration issues and need some IV fluid. Back then it was the common practice to do a cut down and a splint to keep the IV in place (babies move and kick around).
I think the problem with this case is that so many things have changed over the years. It's hard to find a thread of something to follow because of all the variables that existed back then. It's great to know who the child was born as, but was he adopted out? And if he wasn't, was he raised by his mother? Or given to a relative?
I have been looking through the Philadelphia Inquirer for any mention of any domestic disturbances in that area in the months preceding Joseph's murder, but so far haven't honed in on anything. My thought is that whoever beat him to death may have beaten his wife. But I'm assuming it's a man who killed Joseph, if it's a woman there's probably not going to be much in the news about woman hitting her husband or partner. Another thing that was different in those days was how females were viewed in cases of assault.
I have been looking through the Philadelphia Inquirer for any mention of any domestic disturbances in that area in the months preceding Joseph's murder, but so far haven't honed in on anything. My thought is that whoever beat him to death may have beaten his wife. But I'm assuming it's a man who killed Joseph, if it's a woman there's probably not going to be much in the news about woman hitting her husband or partner. Another thing that was different in those days was how females were viewed in cases of assault.
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I'm concerned that line was an implication made from ME statements about looking for evidence of a broken arm in connection with the missing Damman boy. When you read through all the articles that reference an xray, the ME says there was no evidence of a broken arm, not that there was no evidence of any fractures anywhere. It's confusing without the ME's actual report. It's unclear whether this site is relying on information gathered through news articles or whether the site owner has actually viewed the full report.
iamshadow21
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This article specifies no broken bones.
Philadelphia Police identify the “Boy in the Box” after 65 years
Sounds like it came from the flier, which came from the Police. I'll try to find a big enough file of the image of the flier, see if I can read it.
EDIT: The picture of the flier in that article goes bigger, you can read it, it specifies 'no bone fractures'.
steff13
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I've read this, and while it's possible, IMO it's not likely. They were dumping a body. A body wrapped in a blanket looks much more suspicious than a body in a cardboard box, IMO. This place was a dumping ground, people hunted there, and it was within the line of sight of the girls' home. Who would risk being seen dumping something that looks like a body out in the open like that with any manner of people around? Plus, bodies are floppy. Being in a box makes it easier to transport. Also, LE said the box didn't appear weathered, so it likely wasn't there long.
I agree that the box and Joseph probably arrived at the dumping site together. Considering it's overall good condition, it hadn't been in the winter elements very long. Of course, this doesn't mean the perp had the actual bassinet. The box could have been plucked from someone else's trash when he was deciding how to conceal Joseph's body during the trip.
I say "he" because I have trouble imagining a 1950's woman carrying a 30 pound child in a bulky box into a wooded area at night. Possible? Sure. But likely? I'm not sure about that. If a woman killed Joseph, I think a man helped her dispose of the body. If a man killed Joseph, I have to imagine there was at least one woman around Joseph who knew what happened to him. I don't see this crime as a totally solo venture either way.
steff13
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I hadn't thought about Joseph being premature, but I think that's very possible. There's a possibility that Mary was a smoker, it wasn't considered bad then and it's known to cause prematurity. There's a possibility she didn't seek prenatal care, because she was a young woman pregnant with a second illegitimate child at at time when that was really frowned upon so she may have hidden it for as long as possible. Both of those are things that could have resulted in a premature birth.
Threw it out there, but I agree. It would be much easier to transport the child in a box rather than just wrapped in a blanket. And it would seem that the box would have been damaged.
iamshadow21
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Just to bring Martha back into things for a moment, one of the reasons why her story held some weight for a very long time, was that it echoed another witness statement - the man who saw who he thought was a woman and a young teenage boy, stopped, who ignored his offer of help and seemed to stand in a way to conceal the numberplate. We know that they have decided that Martha wasn't the 'boy', that her story doesn't connect with Joseph's, but if that woman and child WERE there disposing of Joseph's body, then a woman is involved in this, somehow. It's entirely possible that the woman and child were just there for nothing to do with Joseph, maybe having changed a tyre or something, but we know, in all likelihood, Joseph was taken to the scene in a car, so it is noteable.