Murder of Joseph Augustus Zarelli

Joseph Augustus Zarelli
Born	January 13, 1953 (1953-01-13)
Status	Identified on December 8, 2022, 65 years, 9 months and 5 days after discovery
Died	February 1957 (aged 4)
Cause of death	Homicide by blunt force trauma
Body discovered	February 25, 1957 (1957-02-25) Fox Chase, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S
Resting place	Ivy Hill Cemetery, Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, U.S
Monuments	Grave memorial with "America's Unknown Child" engraved into it Sign memorial where the victim's body was found
Other names	America's Unknown Child Philadelphia Box Boy Boy in the Box
Known for	Formerly unidentified victim of homicide Unsolved murder victim
Height	3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)

Joseph Augustus Zarelli (January 13, 1953 – February 1957), previously known as the "Boy in the Box", was a boy whose naked, extensively beaten body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957. He appeared to have been cleaned and freshly groomed, with a recent haircut and trimmed fingernails, although he had suffered extensive physical abuse prior to his death, with multiple bruises on his body. He was additionally found to be malnourished. The body was covered with scars, some of which were surgical (most notably on his ankle, groin, and chin). The police believe that the cause of death was homicide by blunt force trauma. He was also known as "America's Unknown Child". On December 8, 2022, 65 years after his body was found, the boy was publicly identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli during a press conference held by Philadelphia Police Department.

Prior to the boy being identified, many tips and theories had been advanced in the case. Although most of these were dismissed, two theories generated considerable interest among the police and media. They had each been extensively investigated. The first was that the child was from a foster home. The other theory was that he was related to a woman named "Martha" who came forward in 2002.

Discovery of the body

Crime scene where the body was found

On February 25, 1957, Zarelli's body, wrapped in a plaid blanket, was found in the woods off Susquehanna Road in Fox Chase, Philadelphia. The body was first discovered by a young man who was checking his muskrat traps. Fearing that the police would confiscate his traps, he did not report what he had found. A few days later, a college student spotted a rabbit running into the underbrush. Knowing that there were animal traps in the area, he stopped his car to investigate and discovered the body. He was also reluctant to have any contact with the police, but he did report what he had found the following day, after hearing of the disappearance of Mary Jane Barker.

Memorial sign near the location where the body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road. The sign was erected 5 years before the identification of Zarelli.

The naked body was inside a cardboard box which had once contained a bassinet of the kind sold by J. C. Penney. Zarelli's hair had been recently cropped, possibly after death, as clumps of hair clung to the body. There were signs of severe malnourishment, as well as surgical scars on the ankle and groin, and an L-shaped scar under the chin.

Investigation

Posters showing the victim's postmortem photos that was distributed during the initial investigation

The boy's torso, showing signs of severe malnutrition, starvation and scarring

The boy's legs showing signs of severe bruising, malnutrition and scarring

The police received the report and opened an investigation on February 26, 1957. The dead boy's fingerprints were taken, and police at first were optimistic that he would soon be identified. However, no one ever came forward with any useful information.

The case attracted massive media attention in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. The Philadelphia Inquirer printed 400,000 flyers depicting the boy's likeness, which were sent out and posted across the area, and were included with every gas bill in Philadelphia. The crime scene was combed over and over again by 270 police academy recruits, who discovered a man's blue corduroy cap, a child's scarf, and a man's white handkerchief with the letter "G" in the corner; all clues that led nowhere. The police also distributed a post-mortem photograph of the boy fully dressed and in a seated position, as he may have looked in life, in the hope it might lead to a clue.

On March 21, 2016, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released a forensic facial reconstruction of the victim and added him into their database.

Despite the publicity and sporadic interest throughout the years, the boy's identity remained unknown until November 30, 2022 when the Philadelphia Police Department announced detectives discovered the boy's identity using DNA and genealogical databases.

Theories

The foster home

Forensic facial reconstruction by Carl Koppelman showing what Zarelli may have looked like when he was alive

This theory concerns a foster home that was located approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from the site of the body.

In 1960, Remington Bristow, an employee of the medical examiner's office who doggedly pursued the case until his death in 1993, contacted a New Jersey psychic, who told him to look for a house that matched the foster home. When the psychic was brought to the Philadelphia discovery site, she led Bristow directly to the foster home.

Upon attending an estate sale at the foster home, Bristow discovered a bassinet similar to the one sold at J. C. Penney. He also discovered blankets hanging on the clothesline that were similar to the one in which the boy's body had been wrapped in when they discovered him. Bristow believed that the boy belonged to the stepdaughter of the man who ran the foster home, and that they disposed of his body so the stepdaughter would not be exposed as an unwed mother.

However, the police had established that all the foster children were accounted for, and a reexamination by police investigators confirmed that the family were likely not involved.

In 1998, Philadelphia police lieutenant Tom Augustine, who was in charge of the investigation, and several members of the Vidocq Society (a group of retired policemen and profilers), interviewed the foster father and the stepdaughter (whom he had married). The foster home investigation was closed.

The woman known as Martha or "M"

Another theory was brought forward in February 2002 by a woman identified only as Martha, or "M". Police considered her story to be plausible but were troubled by her testimony, as she had a history of mental illness. Martha claimed that her abusive mother had "purchased" the unknown boy (whose name was Jonathan) from his birth parents in the summer of 1954. Subsequently, the boy was subjected to extreme physical and sexual abuse for two and a half years. One evening at dinner, the boy vomited up his meal of baked beans and was given a severe beating, with his head slammed against the floor until he was semiconscious. He was given a bath, during which he died. These details matched information known only to the police, as the coroner had found that the boy's stomach contained the remains of baked beans and that his fingers were water-wrinkled.

Martha's mother cut the boy's distinctive long hair (accounting for the unprofessional haircut which police noted in their initial investigation) in an effort to conceal his identity. Martha's mother forced Martha to assist her in dumping the boy's body in the Fox Chase area. Martha said that as they were preparing to remove the boy's body from the trunk of a car, a passing male motorist pulled alongside to inquire whether they needed help. Martha was ordered to stand in front of the car's license plate to shield it from view while the mother convinced the would-be Good Samaritan that there was no problem. The man eventually drove off. This story corroborated confidential testimony given by a male witness in 1957, who said that the body had been placed in a box previously discarded at the scene.

In spite of the outward plausibility of Martha's confession, police were unable to verify her story. Neighbors who had access to Martha's house during the stated time period denied that there had been a young boy living there and dismissed Martha's claims as "ridiculous".

Other theories

Forensic artist Frank Bender developed a theory that the victim may have been raised as a girl. The child's unprofessional haircut, which appeared to have been performed in haste, was the basis for the scenario, as well as the appearance of the eyebrows having been styled. In 2008 Bender released a sketch of the unidentified child with long hair, reflecting the strands found on the body.

In 2016, two writers, one from Los Angeles, California (Jim Hoffmann) and the other from New Jersey (Louis Romano), believed they had discovered a potential identity from Memphis, Tennessee, and requested that DNA be compared between the family members and the child. The lead was originally discovered by a Philadelphia man (who introduced Romano and Hoffmann to each other) and was developed and presented, with the help of Hoffmann, to the Philadelphia Police Department and the Vidocq Society in early 2013. In December 2013, Romano became aware of the lead and agreed to help the man from Philadelphia and Hoffmann to obtain the DNA from this particular family member in January 2014 – which was sent quickly to the Philadelphia Police Department. Local authorities confirmed that they would investigate the lead, but said they would need to do more research on the circumstances surrounding the link to Memphis before comparing DNA. In December 2017 Homicide Sgt. Bob Kuhlmeier confirmed that DNA taken from the Memphis man was compared to the Fox Chase boy, and there was no connection.

Identification

The child was an unidentified murder victim for decades. However, on November 30, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department announced that they had identified the child through the use of genetic testing and investigative genetic genealogy, and that they would provide a case update in the following week. Sources state that he was the child of a prominent family in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Authorities say that the investigation will use this new information to continue to search for suspects. On December 8, 2022, the child was publicly identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, born on January 13, 1953.

Burial

Joseph Augustus Zarelli's grave at Ivy Hill Cemetery

Joseph Augustus Zarelli was originally buried in a potter's field. In 1998, his body was exhumed for the purpose of extracting DNA, which was obtained from a tooth. He was reburied at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, which donated a large plot. The coffin, headstone, and funeral service were donated by the son of the man who had buried the boy in 1957. There was significant public attendance and media coverage at the reburial. The grave has a large headstone bearing the words "America's Unknown Child". City residents keep the grave decorated with flowers and toys.

The body was then exhumed in 2019 to retrieve yet more DNA samples.

See also

• List of murdered American children
• List of unsolved murders
• Miss X (decedent)

Bibliography

• Evans, Colin (1996). The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-07650-3.
• Hoffmann, Jim (2012). The Boy in the Box: America's Unknown Child (Revised ed.). Bloomington, IL: Rooftop Publishing. ISBN 978-1-600-08034-0.
• Newton, Michael (2004). The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-816-07818-9.
• Stout, David (2008). Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America's Unknown Child. United States: Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1-599-21269-2.
• Thompson, Emily G. (2004). Unsolved Child Murders: Eighteen American Cases, 1956–1998. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc. ISBN 978-1-476-67000-3.

External links

• Boy in the Box at The Doe Network
• Boy in the Box at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Boy in the Box at NamUs