The location where Joseph Augustus Zarelli was found

The body of four-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli was found at this site on Susquehanna Road in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957.

Zarelli was known as the "Boy in the Box" until his identification in 2022.

Today, a memorial marker stands across from 722 Susquehanna Road.

The memorial was erected in November 2017 by Eagle Scout Nicholas Kerschbaum as part of an effort to raise awareness about the long-unsolved case.

Although the marker is on the north side of the street, the cardboard box containing Zarelli's remains was found in a wooded area on the opposite side of Susquehanna Road.

At the time, it was an undeveloped area with dense underbrush. In 1967, a housing development was built on the land.

Discovery

On February 25, 1957, the four-year-old's body was found inside a cardboard box that had been discarded in the woods off Susquehanna Road.

An autopsy revealed the boy was severely malnourished, weighing 30 pounds (14 kg). A skull fracture, contusions, and extensive bruising indicated he had been physically abused.

Police determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Although hundreds of thousands of flyers bearing his image were distributed across Philadelphia, no one came forward to identify him.

Consequently, it became a cold case.

Identification

For 65 years, the identity of the "Boy in the Box" remained a mystery, as did the circumstances surrounding his death. Over the decades, authors, amateur detectives, and psychics put forward dozens of theories and potential suspects.

However, none of them yielded results.

In 2019, authorities exhumed the body to obtain a fresh DNA sample. Using the new profile, they began tracking down family members.

On November 30, 2022, the Philadelphia Police Department announced that they had uncovered the boy's identity.

Eight days later, he was publicly identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, a four-year-old who had lived near the corner of 61st Street and Market Street.

His parents were Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Abel and Augustus J. "Gus" Zarelli. Historical phone directory records show Abel was living in the Lawson residences at 21 South 61st Street in West Philadelphia.

The apartment complex is approximately 15 miles southwest of the discovery site.

The boy's identity was confirmed after Zarelli's niece submitted her DNA. Investigators matched this sample against Abel's relatives, who had uploaded their DNA to a genealogical website.

Zarelli's parents never reported him missing.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the pair were not married, and there were no accounts of them being in a relationship. Both married other people in the years that followed.

Abel had placed a child for adoption two years before Zarelli's birth.

Abel died in 1991. Zarelli's father, Gus Zarelli, died in 2014.