Identified! PA - Philadelphia - 'Boy in the Box' - 4UMPA - Feb'57 #3 - Joseph Augustus Zarelli

[AliceInPain]

Saw this the other day, not sure it's been mentioned. Something to keep in mind, especially the bbm.

A message from the Vidocq Society on their (official and public) Facebook page:

Please remember that the Joseph Augustus Zarelli case remains an active homicide investigation. The assigned detectives are both capable and diligent and we need to let them do their jobs. Speculation is dangerous and can cause harm to people who may be completely innocent of any wrongdoing. If someone knows something — FACTS, not speculation — then they should contact PPD homicide and provide their information.

... there is a vast difference between speculating and making assumptions on the one hand, and publicizing personal information and making accusations on the other. What is being protected is an investigation, an important one. If the police department has chosen to withhold information from the public as they continue to investigate, then be assured that it was done for good reason. Let them do their job.

The Vidocq Society

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Here is a link to the video: St. Donato History

Thanks so much. Great old visual, isn't it?
And how amazing when they mentioned the leader when the parish was started in 1910--Father Macchietti.. Not sure how they spell it, but it is my husband's family name. Weird to hear it mentioned many times in this little film.

I swear, I can't wait to come visit my daughter who lives in Philly!

She already thinks I'm sortof crazy, telling her we are going to visit Callowhill St and that whole neighborhood, and even Swarthmore where M's mother lived....
yeah...she thinks I'm crazy.. but I have now gotten her more involved in this case!!!

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The police are not naming the biological parents. We need to stop doing that. The world is very weird now and this can lead to people being doxxed. It is potentially harmful speculation.
I have personally let go of the M story. She is deceased, the police investigated her story and couldn’t prove any of it. Baked beans are not confirmed in the autopsy report. It is not out of the question that something like that (adoption, formal or informal, followed by abuse) happened, though.
Let’s deal in facts. No Counselor Troi or Colonel Mustard stuff please.
If law enforcement does not share more, we may have to be content that he has his name back.

Did anyone notice that it looks like they had left room for his name on his grave marker?

I have trouble giving up M's accounts. The post by the individual who knew her, added to my feelings about her integrity. I feel we are all over dramatizing 'mental illness', when we merely know she went to a psychiatrist. I guess that could make 75% of us be saddled with the label 'mental illness'.

MOO. The reason I hope it can eventually come out, if M's story is true, would be to to free the Zarelli family of the actual atrocities.

MOO. I also feel that the people , here on Websleuths, who seem to post with the most knowledge of DNA interpretation do point to a female Zarelli, to most likely be the mother of the child. My guess is that the father's name will eventually be leaked, so yet another family will be cursed with discovery.

 

[AliceInPain]

MOO. I also feel that the people , here on Websleuths, who seem to post with the most knowledge of DNA interpretation do point to a female Zarelli, to most likely be the mother of the child. My guess is that the father's name will eventually be leaked, so yet another family will be cursed with discovery.

sbm
There is a problem with this though: Joseph's mother and her children was already known in 2020 when the request for documents was made. JT (the Z link) wasn't contacted until last year.

This is info from the press conference, JT article and Misty Gillis interview.

 

[Daphne1972]

sbm
There is a problem with this though: Joseph's mother and her children was already known in 2020 when the request for documents was made. JT (the Z link) wasn't contacted until last year.

This is info from the press conference, JT article and Misty Gillis interview.

Could you link the JT article? Thanks.

 

[Daphne1972]

The fact that the bio parents' names are withheld but not Joseph's name, makes me conclude that neither parent's last name was Zarelli. In other words, the mother filled in a bogus name for the father. But I could be wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[loveplace]

sbm
There is a problem with this though: Joseph's mother and her children was already known in 2020 when the request for documents was made. JT (the Z link) wasn't contacted until last year.

This is info from the press conference, JT article and Misty Gillis interview.

This feels slightly off. It took two and a half years according to the press conference to prepare the DNA for comparison. Do you have a link stating that mothers line was identified in 2020?

 

[loveplace]

The fact that the bio parents' names are withheld but not Joseph's name, makes me conclude that neither parent's last name was Zarelli. In other words, the mother filled in a bogus name for the father. But I could be wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

They said the father listed on the birth certificate was confirmed by DNA in the original press conference.

 

[Daphne1972]

They said the father listed on the birth certificate was confirmed by DNA in the original press conference.

I see. Thx.

 

[AliceInPain]

This feels slightly off. It took two and a half years according to the press conference to prepare the DNA for comparison. Do you have a link stating that mothers line was identified in 2020?

The sources are in my post, they've been linked several times here.

 

[loveplace]

The sources are in my post, they've been linked several times here.

I guess I'm missing that direct reference. I'll go back and watch again. Do you happen to have a time stamp for the 2020 part?

 

[AliceInPain]

I guess I'm missing that direct reference. I'll go back and watch again. Do you happen to have a time stamp for the 2020 part?

Around the 5 min mark (Misty Gillis interview):

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[RaspberryMama]

sbm
There is a problem with this though: Joseph's mother and her children was already known in 2020 when the request for documents was made. JT (the Z link) wasn't contacted until last year.

This is info from the press conference, JT article and Misty Gillis interview.

The genetic genealogist at the PC said it took two and a half years to get the DNA at a point where they could use it. It was obtained in April 2019. They didn't have answers of any kind until roughly Oct. 2021. Where are you finding that they ordered the BCs in 2020??

 

[AliceInPain]

Could you link the JT article? Thanks.

How an at-home DNA kit helped identify the ‘Boy in the Box’

Then, last year while he was at work, Thomas said he got a “random phone call” from a woman who identified herself as Misty Gillis, a forensic genealogist and cold case liaison with Identifinders International. She said he was a match to a “cold case in Philadelphia” but she needed more DNA to crack the case.

 

[RaspberryMama]

The genetic genealogist at the PC said it took two and a half years to get the DNA at a point where they could use it. It was obtained in April 2019. They didn't have answers of any kind until roughly Oct. 2021. Where are you finding that they ordered the BCs in 2020??

Well, I'm watching the video interview right now, and Misti Gillis does indeed seem to indicate that they ordered the BCs in 2020. She doesn't actually say the year, but she mentions a 6 week wait because of Covid.

Hm. So now I'm wondering how they tracked mom down if the DNA wasn't usable for 2.5 years.

Eta: Maybe they used the mitochondrial DNA they had extracted earlier? Was it in good enough shape?

 

[bears10]

The fact that the bio parents' names are withheld but not Joseph's name, makes me conclude that neither parent's last name was Zarelli. In other words, the mother filled in a bogus name for the father. But I could be wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

The fathers name on the birth certificate was confirmed by DNA and LE confirmed in the presser that the father on the BC is Joseph's father.

 

[AliceInPain]

The genetic genealogist at the PC said it took two and a half years to get the DNA at a point where they could use it. It was obtained in April 2019. They didn't have answers of any kind until roughly Oct. 2021. Where are you finding that they ordered the BCs in 2020??

It's in the video above your post.
Misty says they got distant matches in Italy for the father, but the "maternal side of the family was really easy" and they were eventually able to get the birth certificate.
"...a lot of it was waiting because COVID shut everything down".
JT says in his interview he was contacted last year.

 

[Elley Mae]

How an at-home DNA kit helped identify the ‘Boy in the Box’

Snipped from link.

The Zarelli family lived in West Philadelphia before moving to Delaware County, he said.

…

Wonder what year they moved to Delaware County?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Snipped from link.

The Zarelli family lived in West Philadelphia before moving to Delaware County, he said.

…

Wonder what year they moved to Delaware County?

Guess on my part, but I'd suspect between late 70's and late 90's.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Thanks so much. Great old visual, isn't it?
And how amazing when they mentioned the leader when the parish was started in 1910--Father Macchietti.. Not sure how they spell it, but it is my husband's family name. Weird to hear it mentioned many times in this little film.

I swear, I can't wait to come visit my daughter who lives in Philly!

She already thinks I'm sortof crazy, telling her we are going to visit Callowhill St and that whole neighborhood, and even Swarthmore where M's mother lived....
yeah...she thinks I'm crazy.. but I have now gotten her more involved in this case!!!

Very little of that culture remains. That was from 1985. The church closed in 2013, though the school is still there.