You may have never heard of "the Boy in the Box," but it's hard to forget about him once you have (warning: clickthrough contains graphic images):
In February 1957, the boy's body, wrapped in a plaid blanket, was found in the woods off Susquehanna Road in Fox Chase, Philadelphia.[6] The body was first discovered by a young man who was checking his muskrat traps. Fearing that the police would confiscate his traps, he did not report what he had found.[7] A few days later, a college student spotted a rabbit running into the underbrush. Knowing that there were animal traps in the area, he stopped his car to investigate and discovered the body. He was also reluctant to have any contact with the police, but he did report what he had found the following day...
The naked body was inside a cardboard box which had once contained a bassinet of the kind sold by J. C. Penney. The boy's hair had been recently cropped, possibly after death, as clumps of hair clung to the body. There were signs of severe malnourishment, as well as surgical scars on the ankle and groin, and an L-shaped scar under the chin.
Rough stuff. Also the sort of thing that makes investigators absolutely determined to solve a crime, even if it takes decades.
Much time has passed. Here's a shot of where the young boy's body was found on the outskirts of Philadelphia in 1957; here's the same stretch of road today.
But good cops don't give up. And for every good cop who eventually retires, there's another coming onto the force to take up the mantle. And now, after 65 years, it looks like authorities are one step closer to figure out what happened to this poor boy.
The unidentified victim of one of America's oldest unsolved murders is expected to be named on Thursday in Philadelphia, raising hopes that the boy's shocking 1950s slaying could someday be solved.
Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, her top deputies, the Philadelphia medical examiner and volunteer sleuths have scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference to reveal findings connected to the so-called "Boy in the Box" murder probe, officials said.
The police reportedly used "genetic genealogy" to determine a list of the boy's closet blood relations:
Armed with a list of possible relatives, police dug through old case files and eventually learned the child's identity and found his birth certificate, NBC Philadelphia reported.
