Boy in the Box

A little boy killed more than 60 years ago has finally been identified thanks to police work and DNA analysis, the Philadelphia Police Department said.

This facial reconstruction from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows the boy found dead in a box in Philadelphia in 1957. National ...

Police say they were finally able to identify the child as Joseph Augustus Zarelli through detective work and DNA analysis.

Philadelphia police identified the child known as the "boy in the box" on Thursday during a news conference.

His name was Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police ...

Investigators used DNA evidence and genealogical research to identify the “Boy in the Box” as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, a 4-year-old from West Philadelphia.

His name was Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police ...

More than six decades since a child was found dead and abandoned in Philadelphia, police have identified "the Boy in the Box."

Police say DNA technology and detective work helped them finally name the youngster in the case that remains the city's oldest unsolved murder. The mystery had ...

The boy, who was naked and badly bruised, weighed only 30 pounds and had several small scars on his body, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Detectives had attempted to use DNA testing to identify the boy from his remains before, but the sample was insufficient. He was born 13 January, 1953, the department said.

Sixty-five years after the boy was first found in a cardboard box in Philadelphia, police on Thursday identified him as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli.

Based on the birth father listed on the certificate, detectives found Joseph’s paternal relatives and matched DNA to his birth father’s side of the family as well. Drysdale first learned that Philadelphia police had found the name on Nov. The cemetery gave the boy a plot right by its entrance, Drysdale said. 25, 1957, after a man saw the box in the woods near a road in the northeast part of the city. The name of Philadelphia’s “Boy in the Box” is another clue in a mystery many have wondered about for decades. His plot was the only one with a headstone, which read: “Heavenly Father, bless this unknown boy.”

His name was Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police ...

Originally buried in a pauper's grave, the boy's remains now lie just inside the front gate at Ivy Hill Cemetery, under a weeping cherry tree, and a headstone designates him as "America's Unknown Child." The test results were uploaded to DNA databases, allowing genealogists to make a match on the child's maternal side. They investigated a pair of traveling carnival workers and a family who operated a nearby foster home but ruled them out as suspects. The homicide investigation remains open, and authorities said they hoped publicizing Joseph's name would spur a fresh round of leads. The child's naked, badly bruised body was found on Feb. "We may not make an arrest.