A cold case about to be solved 65 years after the fact. In 1957, the unidentifiable body of a 4-year-old boy was found in a wood in Philadelphia, USA. Today, investigators were finally able to put a name on this child and identify his parents.
It’s a macabre scenario that could be the subject of a series netflix. In the United States, the mystery has just been lifted on the identity of the one that our colleagues across the Atlantic have nicknamed “boy in the box”, in French “the boy in the box”. A considerable step forward for this 65-year-old cold-case that has become a sad emblem of the city of Philadelphia.
The year is 1957 when a college student discovers the body of a 4-year-old child wrapped in a blanket and placed in a cardboard box in the middle of a wood on the outskirts of the City of Brotherly Love. The boy with the shaved head shows signs of malnutrition, traces of punches and numerous scars. So many clues that suggest that during his brief existence this little boy has experienced horrors that no one deserves to suffer. And while the police think they can solve this case quickly, no one reports the disappearance of a little boy at the time.
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Science solves the mystery
Despite the many wanted notices and calls for witnesses made in the region, the Philadelphia police are up against the wall. And this, despite the exploitation of the many clues found at the crime scene, however promising: a blue corduroy men’s cap, a child’s scarf and a white handkerchief bearing the embroidered letter “G”. Nothing works. Impossible to find the identity of the little boy or even that of his murderer. As time passes, no one forgets this case on which dozens of detectives also come up blank. Twice, in 1998 and in 2016, the body of the little boy was exhumed in order to take DNA samples.
It will take a few years to finally revive the case when a man, who turns out to be a cousin of the little boy, uploads his DNA to a public database. Results confirmed by the analysis of the DNA of his mother and then by that of the parents of the little boy. The genes correspond which allows to finally put a name on “the boy in the box”. This is Joseph Augustus Zarelli, 4 years old, born on January 13, 1953. Information made public by the investigators in December 2022 who however refused to communicate the identity of his parents. But according to the investigation of our colleagues from Philadelphia Inquirer, it would be Augustus J. “Gus” Zarelli and Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Abel. Impossible to know if Joseph is the fruit of a real love story or a simple passing fancy. In any case, the boy was obviously put up for adoption shortly after his birth. It remains to be seen who killed little Joseph and why? “This is still an active homicide investigation and we still need the public’s help to complete this child’s life story.”said Danielle Outlaw, the chief of the police of Philadelphia during a press conference.