Philadelphia’s “boy in the box” has been identified 65 years after his battered body was found wrapped in a blanket as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
Police provided the update on the decades-old cold case during a press briefing on Thursday. The boy’s parents will not be identified out of respect for his living siblings, according to Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith.
At this point, the investigators only have “suspicions” about who is responsible for Zarelli’s murder, which they won’t discuss either as the homicide is an active investigation.
Joseph was found severely beaten and wrapped in a blanket in a box on February 25, 1957 in a wooded area in the Fox Chase neighborhood. He “experienced horrors that no one, no one should be subjected to,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said.
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No one came forward to claim the child.
Blunt force trauma is believed to be the cause of death. Police say they may never make an arrest or ID who is responsible, but they will try.
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The murder of a boy in 1957, known as the “boy in the box,” has been a mystery for decades, but now police have revealed his identity.
(Philadelphia Police Department)
Zarelli’s parents are dead, according to authorities.
Countless professionals from law, medicine and other fields worked on the case for six decades. Zarelli’s birth certificate was located after his biological mother was identified. Her biological father was listed on the certificate and relatives on the child’s paternal side were contacted.
Philadelphia police have announced the identity of the “Box in the Box” found in 1957.
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Investigators say a social security number was never issued to Zarelli, who was born on January 13, 1953.
Authorities hope the technology used to identify Zarelli will help them solve other crimes.
