He has remained unidentified for 46 years.
In 1973, the area in Prince Georges County, Maryland (where he was found) was still quite rural. Upper Marlboro is the county seat, but a relatively small town and there were no other towns or villages close to his location.
Even today, that area where Route 4 (it becomes Pennsylvania Ave in DC) and the exit area where his body was found is rather remote. It was not the sort of place where a hitch hiker would want to get off, or where a person would intentionally want to spend a December night.
As I have suggested in earlier posts, it is quite possible that this boy had been placed in the Cheltenham Boys Village for some reason such as Delinquency, Homelessness, Truancy, etc. and that he simply ran away from there. He might not have known where he was or where he was going when he arrived at Route 4. Being sick, he probably died of exposure or Pneumonia while sleeping in the open.
The scuff marks or abrasions on his face could have been put there by a beating administered by staff or other inmates at Boys Village - and that could have been his motivation for running away FROM there - rather than a well thought out plan to get TO some where.
Boys Village has been in existence for many years (both before and after 1973). At the time, there were no fences or guards as there are today, and it might have been possible for a boy to run away. The remoteness of the place, however, was what kept most boys there.
There was/is a constant turnover of boys and it might have been possible for one to "slip thru the cracks". If his name appeared on a roster and he was not present at a roll call, there might have been any number of "assumptions" by staff as to why he was absent: at sick call, being counseled, in court, transferred to another facility, picked up by parents, etc, etc.
The boy COULD have come from anywhere, but the fact that he was so thinly dressed for December weather, and had no money or identification on him might mean that he had been at Cheltenham boys village - which was the nearest facility of any kind at the time. When a boy would enter Cheltenham, all of his personal property would be taken from him, along with his belt and shoe laces.
The poor boy... he looks like he didn't have a soul in the world to take care of him. I can't get his face out of my mind. What tragic back story he had, one can only speculate. He very well could have come from an immigrant background. Central Maryland is a very international place due to its proximity to Washington, DC. 
