Joseph Augustus Zarelli

It's the story of identifying a victim.

For decades, he was simply known as the Boy in the Box, a child without a name, without an identity, until one of the biggest forensic breakthroughs in modern history finally allowed investigators to tell the world who he really was.

Since this episode was originally released, investigators have continued to appeal for information about Joseph Augustus Zarelli's life and the circumstances surrounding his death.

Although his identity is now known, his murder remains unsolved, and the investigation is still active.

The Boy in the Box was naked.

He'd recently had a bath.

His hair was freshly cut, and a thin blanket was wrapped around his little body.

They'd only made about a dozen of those caps, but that one was special because of the leather strap.

Welcome back, everybody.

Today we're going to be looking at the boy in the box.

On February 25th, 1957, a man walking through a wooded area in Philadelphia's Fox Chase neighborhood... discovered a cardboard box lying near the road.

Inside was the body of a young boy.

Tens of thousands of flyers were distributed.

Investigators pursued countless tips, but nothing.

Eventually, the unidentified child became known as simply the boy in the box.

Decades passed.

Mm.

But it's gonna be more in regards to, uh, kind of the ethics of the Missing 411 phenomenon, uh, of some stuff regarding the boy in the box case-

Mm

... which, you know, just to come out and say it, um, we, we were right and the Philadelphia Inquirer came out two weeks after we put our video out and it got 200,000 views.

I just love that their credit-

[laughs]

... to us was, uh, it, "Reporters for the Philadelphia Inquirer, along with some internet sleuths, figured out who the parents of the boy in the box are." It's like, oh, thanks.

[laughs]