The Cold Case of The Boy in the Box

The "Boy in the Box" is 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli, identified in December 2022, 65 years after his body was found in a cardboard box in Philadelphia on February 25, 1957. Known for decades as "America's Unknown Child," he was murdered, with his body showing signs of physical abuse. While named using DNA, his killers remain unknown

Let’s pull back the shadows that have kept these cold cases in the dark for far too long. Piece by piece, we’ll work to rebuild the truth not just for the story, but for the victims and the families still waiting for answers. The puzzle isn’t complete yet, but together, we’re getting closer.

Transcript

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Hey guys, I'm your host Sarah, and welcome to Shadows Uncovered. Today, the case I want to talk about is a deep dive of a case that's still to this day very popular 65 years later. I'm going to title this one The Boy in the Box. A name restored. And trust me, guys, you're going to know why I named it this after I go through this, because this one, you definitely had to get down to the nitty gritty just to get his identification and where this boy came from, what his conditions of his life was, who was his legal guardian, and the family that could be related. Well, let's dive in. For sixty five years, he was known only as America's unknown child. Found in a cardboard box in the Fox Chase Woods of Philadelphia. In nineteen fifty seven, he became a symbol of a city's collective heartbreak. But in December 2022, the silence was finally broken. Today, I'm telling the story of Joseph August Zarelli, how he was lost to how he was found, and the secrets that still remain. So it's february twenty fifth, nineteen fifty seven. A young man checking muskrat traps finds a large JCPenney bass net box. Inside is a boy, no more than four years old. He is malnourished, badly beaten, and his hair has been roughly hacked off. Police find curious clues. A blue corduroy cap, a child's scarf, and a handkerchief with the letter G. But the leads go cold. For decades, the boy in the box becomes Philadelphia's most haunting ghost. We look back at the theories, like the M for a witness who claimed her mother bought the boy, or the foster home led lead investigators to a dead end. Bought the boy. Okay. But the question I have is the science of what they call this quote unquote confetti DNA. Okay. My question is, how do you identify someone after sixty-five years in the ground? Yes, you heard me. In the ground. He was buried without any identification of who he was. It took two exhuminations. The nineteen ninety eight attempt gave us a glimpse, but the twenty nineteen examination changed everything. The DNA was so degraded, experts called it confetti. It was sent to the Max Penlanck Institute in Germany, where they use ancient DNA protocols, the same use for nithandrels to knit the genetic code back together. From there, forensic genealogists like Misty Gillis use GEDMatch, GED match, to find a second cousin. That single match was a thread that unraveled the mystery. So now we have a family that was finally revealed for this poor boy. The DNA led to a name Joseph August Zarelli, born january thirteenth, nineteen fifty-three. His parents were August, known as Gus Zarelli, and Mary Elizabeth Abel, known as Betsy. They were married, and both had passed away long before Joseph was even identified. But the discovery revealed a whole secret. History. Half siblings on both sides who didn't even know Joseph existed. While his parents lived in West Philadelphia, near Sixty Fourth and Calau Hill, the most chilling part is that Joseph never had a social security number. He lived his entire four years of life entirely off the grid. Now that we know his name, but we don't know his killer, police are now focusing on a small radius, sixty first and Market Street in West Philadelphia. They believe someone in that neighborhood saw this boy between nineteen fifty-three and nineteen fifty seven. Now the question arise, was he even raised by a relative? Was it a hushed up quote unquote adoption gone wrong? Forensic artists like Frank Bender, even once theorized, he might have been raised as a girl because of his groomed eyebrows. Today there is still a twenty thousand dollar reward for the truth. Can you believe that guy's hushed up adoption? Like earlier, I just said that quote, that he was purchased and a theory that his gender might have been disguised with no social security number? You want to talk about fishy? And this poor boy has to dies with a John Doe kind of identity. Exhumed twice to finally figure out who he was? And to find his birth certificate that had at least his parents' information on it? Like that that's all it is is a piece of paper with names of a mom and a dad, and they find half siblings just to figure out who he is. Other than that, there was no trace of him. Crazy, don't you think? To this day, if you visit Ivy Hill Cemetery today, the headstone no longer says unknown child. It says Joseph August Zarelli. The box is gone, but the name is back. But yet the search for this justice continues to this day. Can can anyone wrap their head around that? Sixty-five years. And it's literally going off of ancient DNA techniques that they use today to trace back Neanderthals. This poor four-year-old boy, just to figure out who he was. And like, honestly, anyone live then, that's even if they're alive now, as a witness account of seeing this boy at that time. This poor kid was literally tortured and left out in a box in the woods for any animal to take the opportunity, basically. Now, whoever killed him, were they trying to get away with the most perfect murder because there was nothing to trace him? Was it somebody they that raised him? And I don't know, just wanted a quick way out. I mean, I don't know. But again, he wasn't, they don't have any information on who actually raised him. Like I say previously, they didn't even know who he was. So, guys, come on, tell me, what do you think about this? Is this not crazy? Yeah, I told you. A case that is completely, let's just call this one off grid. But all right, guys, catch me next week for another chilling, unsolved cold case that to this day we are still hunting details down. All right, guys. Bye.