Changes: Joseph Zarelli

Revision as of 00:09, 22 August 2019

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Boy in the Box (also known as America's Unknown Child and The Fox Chase Boy) is the nickname given to a boy found murdered in the Fox Chase area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1957.

Case

Due to the cool weather, a time of death could only be given between a couple of days to a few weeks. However, due to the rain between the week of February 18-25 (and the lack of water damage to the card board box he was discovered in), it is hypothesized he was killed in the timeframe of the earlier estimate.

The child's body was found nude, wrapped in a Native American style blanket cut in half. He was placed in a cardboard box, which led to his nickname. The boy had been beaten severely, as many bruises were visible on his body. Severe bruising of the face pointed to blunt force trauma as the cause of death.

Despite an exhausting investigation of countless leads by police and high publicity of the case, the boy still remains unidentified, and the case is considered cold. However, there exists a 24-hour hotline to a special task force in charge of the case to provide tips, and callers can remain anonymous if they wish.

Gallery

Theories

He may have been Steven Damman
He may have been Frederick Holmes
He may have been the son of a mentally ill woman and her stepfather, who ran a foster home with his wife less than a mile from the discovery site.
He might have been a child at the foster home before his murder.
He was possibly a boy named "Jonathan", who was allegedly purchased from his birth parents, sexually abused, and later murdered by the mother of an anonymous woman called "M".
He may have been raised as a girl before his murder, as the unprofessional haircut may have been done in haste to conceal his identity.
He may have been a recent immigrant to the United States from Europe.
He may have been Transgender

Media appearances

His case appeared on America's Most Wanted

Links

Boy in the Box on Wikipedia ^{UNCENSORED POSTMORTEM WARNING}
Joseph Zarelli at the Doe Network
Joseph Zarelli at NamUs ^{UNCENSORED POSTMORTEM WARNING}
Website ^{UNCENSORED POSTMORTEM WARNING}
Joseph Zarelli at NCMEC

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 The Face of America's Unknown Child (Artistic Reconstruction)|Reconstruction process by M.A. Ludwig (contains postmortem photos)
 BoyInTheBoxRecolored.jpg|Recolored Reconstruction
+BoyBox.png
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