Philly 1957 cold case victim ID'ed (TW: Child abuse/death)

[redheadbaker]

I don't know how famous this case is outside of the Philly area, but "The Boy in the Box" has been a mystery since 1957. Today, he was finally identified. 

www.inquirer.com/news/live/boy-in-box-philadelphia-name-identity-solved-20221208.html

This is a history of the case, but the first photo (artist's reconstruction of how the boy may have looked when alive) may be disturbing to some. 

www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/boy-in-the-box-philadelphia-case-backstory-20221207.html

[karinothing]

I am so glad he has a name..Hopefully his killers will be brought to justice

[fernweh]

I only know the case because they did an episode on it on BuzzFeed Unsolved. I’m glad he was finally IDed and hopefully they can find who did it.

[basilosaurus]

Dec 8, 2022 12:34:23 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I am so glad he has a name..Hopefully his killers will be brought to justice

A nearly 70 year old case? I'd be surprised if the killers were still alive. Knowing his name will hopefully bring peace to the family, but even if killers are found, tried, convicted, a few years of geriatric prison is hardly justice after decades of what could be complete freedom, although I'm willing to guess this is not the one and only crime.

[karinothing]

Dec 9, 2022 3:40:48 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Dec 8, 2022 12:34:23 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I am so glad he has a name..Hopefully his killers will be brought to justice

A nearly 70 year old case? I'd be surprised if the killers were still alive. Knowing his name will hopefully bring peace to the family, but even if killers are found, tried, convicted, a few years of geriatric prison is hardly justice after decades of what could be complete freedom, although I'm willing to guess this is not the one and only crime.

I don't know how much peace is brought to the family since they never reported him missing and there are theories they sold or informally adopted him to those that likely killed him. Don't know if they really cared. There is a reason that the police gave his family time to shut all their social media before announcing his name and its likely not because they were going to get positive messages.

Anyway, even if his killer(s) aren't alive or are now very old solving the crime would still be a form of justice for him. 

[CrazyLucky]

Dec 9, 2022 6:38:05 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Dec 9, 2022 3:40:48 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

A nearly 70 year old case? I'd be surprised if the killers were still alive. Knowing his name will hopefully bring peace to the family, but even if killers are found, tried, convicted, a few years of geriatric prison is hardly justice after decades of what could be complete freedom, although I'm willing to guess this is not the one and only crime.

I don't know how much peace is brought to the family since they never reported him missing and there are theories they sold or informally adopted him to those that likely killed him. Don't know if they really cared. There is a reason that the police gave his family time to shut all their social media before announcing his name and its likely not because they were going to get positive messages.

Anyway, even if his killer(s) aren't alive or are now very old solving the crime would still be a form of justice for him. 

This may answer my question, which is how in the world did they not know his ID? How many missing 4 years olds could there have been at the time? The family didn't report him missing? The article said there were siblings. Did the siblings know something was up?  This is such a horrible and sad story.

[basilosaurus]

This is the first I'm heading out this story, so I know absolutely no details.

They never reported the missing kid?!

[karinothing]

Dec 9, 2022 8:20:02 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Dec 9, 2022 6:38:05 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I don't know how much peace is brought to the family since they never reported him missing and there are theories they sold or informally adopted him to those that likely killed him. Don't know if they really cared. There is a reason that the police gave his family time to shut all their social media before announcing his name and its likely not because they were going to get positive messages.

Anyway, even if his killer(s) aren't alive or are now very old solving the crime would still be a form of justice for him. 

This may answer my question, which is how in the world did they not know his ID? How many missing 4 years olds could there have been at the time? The family didn't report him missing? The article said there were siblings. Did the siblings know something was up?  This is such a horrible and sad story.

Yeah never reported missing. There was a woman (Martha or "M") that came forward at once point saying that her mom had bought a child named Jonathan and killed him one night (the wiki has more details but I will spare them from this post en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joseph_Augustus_Zarelli) but police couldn't verify her story and I think she had a history of mental illness so she was sort of dismissed. I think she came forward in 2002 and Johnathan and Joseph are pretty close (close enough the decades and trauma could conflate the two). 

I think it is odd that the police refuse to name his parents but I guess the last name is linked top a somewhat prominent family in the area. But the amateur crime solving theory links him to a man named August Zarelli who didn't marry his wife until 1958/59 (so after this boy was born). So i guess the theory is that he was born out of wedlock and adopted/given/sold. If the child was placed at birth they may never had known it was their child when it hit the news and it looks like his siblings weren't born until after he was so they may never have known he existed (again this is all amateur crime solving and not verified by police) but it would be nice if we eventually get a bit of a story of at least why he wasn't reported missing by his birth parents. 

[Velar Fricative]

If the parents were involved, they're deceased. And though there are living siblings, I don't think we know whether they were alive when the boy went missing, or if they were old enough to even remember. This was the 1950s - kids would be "sent away" to institutions so even if the siblings were alive and old enough to know they had a brother who disappeared, the parents (if they were involved) could have come up with plausible explanations or simply told their other kids to stay out of it.

[omgzombies]

Yes, I believe the siblings were all younger.

[redheadbaker]

Dec 9, 2022 8:20:02 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

Dec 9, 2022 6:38:05 GMT -5 karinothing said:

I don't know how much peace is brought to the family since they never reported him missing and there are theories they sold or informally adopted him to those that likely killed him. Don't know if they really cared. There is a reason that the police gave his family time to shut all their social media before announcing his name and its likely not because they were going to get positive messages.

Anyway, even if his killer(s) aren't alive or are now very old solving the crime would still be a form of justice for him. 

This may answer my question, which is how in the world did they not know his ID? How many missing 4 years olds could there have been at the time? The family didn't report him missing? The article said there were siblings. Did the siblings know something was up?  This is such a horrible and sad story.

I think one theory is it was a hidden pregnancy and undocumented birth, otherwise I would think grandparents or aunts/uncles or cousins would have reported it even if the parents didn't. I heard in one news report that he was never vaccinated (I guess they tested his blood for antibodies?). 

[bugandbibs]

I read that part of the investigation process involved subpoenaing birth, adoption and death records. I haven't followed this story closely, but I suspect he was given up for adoption and either mistreated by his adoptive family or a children's home. Given what we know now about the abuse in institutionalized care settings, I wouldn't be shocked to find that he died in care and it was covered up. The whole situation is heartbreaking.