The boy in the box

This case happened in 1953, a boy’s body was discovered in a box in Philadelphia. He was beaten and shoved into an old bassinet box. His hair was freshly cut with some of it discovered in the box with him

His murder shocked the nation, as many tried to find out who he was and what happened to him. As the search went on the boy was given the tittle of American’s unknown child. There was almost no leads and with no identification the case went cold

Some of main theories of this case are the Martha theory and the theory that Joseph was raised as a girl instead. The Martha theory centers around a woman named Martha who informed the police that her mother had bought the boy off of his parents and then killed him. Seeing as Martha had a history of mental illness, the police did not take her seriously. The girl theory centers around how Joseph’s hair had been freshly cut. Some investigators believe that he was raised as a girl instead which is why no one could identify him.

In much better news, 2022 was an extremely good year for cold cases. This investigation was one of them that also took a turn for the better as the boy was given back his identity as Joseph Augustus Zarelli. His murderers are sadly still not identified but the investigators did announce they had some major suspects. They revealed that they were not naming them as the Zarelli family still had existing family members that could potentially be harmed if names were released