MACABRE MYSTERIES: Philadelphia's "BOY IN THE BOX" Finally Identified After 65 Years
After 65 years, a Philadelphia mystery has finally been solved and now more questions are being raised about “The Boy In The Box.”
Philadelphia police identified the child known as the "boy in the box" on Thursday during a news conference. According to Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, the child has been identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
Joeph was born in 1953 and believed to have originally resided in West Philadelphia. The child's naked, badly bruised body was found on Feb. 25, 1957, in a wooded area of Philadelphia's Fox Chase neighborhood. The boy, who was 4 years old, had been wrapped in a blanket and placed inside a large JCPenney bassinet box. Police say he was malnourished and had been beaten to death.
"This announcement only closes one chapter in this little boy's story while opening up a new one. This is still an active homicide investigation and we still need the public's help in filling in this child's life story," Outlaw said.
The remains of this child were had never been identified and the case itself remains one of Philadelpia’’s longest running unsolved murders. "Without the hard work, dedication, passion and doggedness of the many we would not be here today to give America's formerly unknown child Joseph Augustus Zarelli a voice," Outlaw said.
"It was determined the case of the unknown child...would benefit from the application of modern forensic techniques," Philadelphia Captain John Smith said.
In another sad piece of this story, police said both of Joseph's parents are dead, but he has living relatives.
"Joseph has a number of siblings on both the mother and father side who are living and it's out of respect for them that their parents' information remain confidential," Smith said.
It was also mentioned by Smith that the police department still does not have any leads on who could have killed poor Joseph and the case will remain open.
"We have our suspicions as to who may be responsible but it would be irresponsible of me to share these suspicious as this remains an ongoing and active criminal investigation," he said.
The boy's missing identity gnawed at police officials, generations of whom took up the case.
Bill Kelly took the young victim's fingerprints at the scene back in 1957. His family says he never stopped trying to find out the boy's identity or assailant up until his death.
"He was one of the first on scene that fateful day. He never forgot about that image. I mean how could you? ... He was the fingerprint expert on scene. Those fingerprints were ingrained in his mind his whole life, and when he closed his eyes in his mind that's what he saw," said Kelly's granddaughter, Jessica Greene, who knew him as Pop-Pop.
Sadly, this does not end the ongoing search for who did this and now more questions are being raised as to why.
There is a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of a suspect in this case.
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