THE Murder of Joseph Augustus Zarelli

On February 25, 1957, the body of a young boy was discovered inside a cardboard box at an illegal dumping site near Bury Road in Philadelphia. The boy was estimated to be between 4 and 6 years old, weighing around 30 pounds and standing 3 feet 3 inches tall.

He was found naked but wrapped in a blanket. His hair had been freshly cut, and his body appeared to have been recently washed. Several small scars were found on his body — on the chin, groin, and left ankle — some of which suggested he may have undergone a medical procedure. The cause of death was determined to be head trauma, and there were no witnesses.

The body was first discovered by a young man walking through the abandoned area, but he waited an entire day before notifying the police. It was later revealed that another man had come across the body even earlier but chose not to report it, claiming he didn’t want to get involved.Due to the cold weather at the time and the delay in reporting, authorities were unable to determine exactly when the boy had died.

Hoping to learn his identity, the police kept his body at the morgue while people from over ten different states came to try and recognize him — all without success.

More than 400,000 flyers featuring the boy’s image were distributed to police stations, post offices, and courthouses across the country. Even the American Medical Association circulated a description of the child — but none of these efforts led to any answers.

People wondered what kind of description the authorities were even circulating — was it just: "Boy. Found in a box."?

Sure, they had physical details, but kids often look alike. As one person joked, “Newborns always get the same reaction — ‘Oh, what a cute baby’ — when really, most babies just look like babies. Either they’re ugly or just… normal.” They imagined this boy being born with a disproportionately large head, dragging it like a crab creature.

But the truth was much darker.

Police took fingerprints from the boy, but they didn’t match any known records. They also compared his footprints to hospital birth records in the area — and found nothing. It was as if the child had never officially existed.

This was unsettling. In an era when most births were recorded, how could someone — especially a young child — be completely off the grid?

As for the box itself: the investigators followed up on it, because it offered one of the few tangible clues. It had a serial number, which allowed police to trace it back to a shipment from a JCPenney store located about 15 miles away. Before it held the boy’s body, the box had contained a bassinet. The store had sold 12 of these boxes, all paid for in cash — which meant there were no names, no credit card trails.

Eight of the twelve buyers came forward after hearing about the case in the news. They stated that they either still had their boxes or had thrown them out — making it clear their box was not involved. The police were able to confirm that the box had originally been shipped to Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

Investigators also examined the blanket the boy was wrapped in. The Philadelphia Textile Institute analyzed the fabric and concluded that it was likely manufactured either in Granby, Quebec or Swannanoa, North Carolina. However, since thousands of such blankets had been produced and sold across North America, there was no way to track down the specific buyer. That clue, too, was a dead end.

A potentially more promising lead was a hat found about 15 feet from the box — a blue corduroy Ivy League-style cap, size 7 1/8. It was labeled “Eagle Hat & Cap Company,” a small business owned by Mrs. Hannah Robbins in South Philadelphia.

Mrs. Robbins remembered the man who bought the hat — because she had customized it for him. He was a blond man, between the ages of 26 and 30, and he had requested the addition of a leather strap and buckle. He paid in cash and was never seen again.

Detectives followed this lead vigorously — visiting more than 100 stores in the area to try and trace either the man or the boy. But no one recognized them. Nothing came of it.

Back to the boy: forensic evidence showed stray hairs on his body, suggesting his haircut was done quickly and possibly under stress. One forensic artist, Frank Bender, proposed a chilling theory — that the child might have been raised as a girl. Supporting this, Bill Kelley, an original investigator on the case, recalled that in 1957 and 1958, a West Coast sketch artist had circulated a rendering of the child as a girl — but, once again, it led nowhere.