Hey there and happy holidays, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER is here to tell you about a case that has finally reached a breakthrough! The murder of the child formerly known as the “Boy in the Box,” whose actual name is Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
Now, a few posts earlier I discussed this case and the link is here, but before, the boy was not identified until 65 years after his body was first discovered on December 8th, 2022.
Joseph Augustus Zarelli was born on January 13th, 1953 and he passed in February 1957, when he was only four years old. Now, what I am able to reveal here is a bit graphic so please feel free to skip forward if you do not wish to hear the details of this boy’s murder.
When Joseph was found, his body displayed signs of severe malnourishment, he had surgical scars on his groin and ankle, he had an L-shaped spot under his chin, and his hair had been cut very short. He was also nude. Although the police had opened the case on February 26th, 1957, and his fingerprints were taken, he was not identified until after 60+ years.
However, on November 30th, 2022, thanks to genetic testing and forensic genetic investigation, the Philadephia police department discovered that he had been the child of a prominent family from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The boy’s body had been exhumed twice to obtain DNA, once in 1998 and another time in 2019. The police continue to investigate further and will update the public on any more information they find.
I hope you have enjoyed this storytime as much as I did, DETECTIVES! Please let me know in the comments if you want more storytime! Have a great day, night, afternoon, or evening, DETECTIVES! Stay tuned for next week’s post; until then, keep on sleuthing, DETECTIVES!
Detective Writer 