‘Boy In The Box’ Identified

December 8, 2022 12:25 pm

Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police have identified him as 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli.  Authorities said Thursday that the investigation into who is responsible for his death remained ongoing.  Police say detective work and DNA analysis helped them learn the name of the youngster who’d been known to generations of Philadelphians as the “Boy in the Box.”  His naked, badly bruised body was found in a wooded area on Feb. 25, 1957. The case is Philadelphia’s oldest unsolved homicide.