Current Murder victim 'The Boy in the Box' is finally identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli

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After 65 Years, the 'Boy in the Box' has a name. Detective work and DNA analysis helped officials learn the identity of a 4-year-old boy whose beaten body was found naked and stuffed inside a cardboard box in Philadelphia in 1957.

The brutality of his death shocked people’s consciousness – and the question of his identity for decades vexed both area residents and investigators alike.

While Joseph's parents are now deceased he has living siblings and has been identified as related to a prominent Delaware family. He was never reported as missing.

Police will release more details next week.

 
From Ancestry - seems convenient and timing is good ie 26 at birth of child - Find A Grave record

NAME:Augustus J. Zarelli
BIRTH DATE:1926
DEATH DATE:14 Jun 2014
CEMETERY:Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery
BURIAL OR CREMATION PLACE:Springfield, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States of America
HAS BIO?:Y
SPOUSE:Cynthia C. Zarelli
CHILDREN:Baby Boy Zarelli
 
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From Ancestry - seems convenient and timing is good ie 26 at birth of child - Find A Grave record

You might have found his father and mother.

There's a suggestion in another article that there was siblings on both the maternal and paternal side, with a hint that the 'father' may not have even known Joseph existed. Not sure what to take from that information, so the next presser should be interesting.

What a sad story.
 

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You might have found his father and mother.

There's a suggestion in another article that there was siblings on both the maternal and paternal side, with a hint that the 'father' may not have even known Joseph existed. Not sure what to take from that information, so the next presser should be interesting.

What a sad story.
The only thing I don't know is when the ' baby boy' was added to the info.

Fair to say I was shocked to see . I only saw the transposition of names and then I looked further
 
Amazing work - maybe those detectives could come to Australia and help solve some of our cold cases.
 
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Still so sad. It's believed he might have been put up for adoption soon after birth.

His parents, who never married, have been revealed as Augustus Zarelli and Mary Abel, who went by Betty, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. Family members believe that the boy was put up for adoption through a Catholic organization shortly after his birth. His mother died in 1991, his father in 2014.


 

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