The Boy in the Box
There have been a few cases throughout history of bodies being found that were never tied to anyone.
There have been a few cases throughout history of bodies being found that were never tied to anyone. These are typically a result of nobody being able to confirm who they were based on appearance, or nobody knew them enough to say if it was that person. Usually, when a body is found, people try their hardest to try and contact someone who may know who the body is. This is to try and be able to lay the person to rest while their family is able to mourn them. While most bodies are able to eventually be named, there’s one famous case where the person is still a mystery. The famous “boy in the box” was never able to be linked to someone, and he continues to be a mystery to this day.
Today, in the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, there’s a large plot covered in flowers and stuffed animals. The tombstone reads “America’s Unknown Child” as the body below the stone was never able to have a name tied to it. To this day, nobody can identify who the child was, and he remains one of America’s most well-known unsolved cases. For over 60 years, people have been stumped by the question: who was the boy in the box?
In February 1957, a young hunter set out to check on his traps near a park north of Philadelphia. As he was looking for his traps, he found a small box lying on the ground. Upon opening the box, he was faced with a terrible sight. Inside the box was the body of a naked boy, wrapped in a plaid blanket. He was afraid that the cops would confiscate his traps if he turned the box in, so he ignored it. A few days later, a college student who was driving through town noticed a bunny on the side of the road. He wanted to make sure that it was safe from traps, so he parked his car and searched through the bushes. He too came across the box, and he reported it to the police.
Who Was in the Box?
The boy was only between three and seven years old, so the police thought that he would be identified quickly. However, once they saw his body, they weren’t too sure about that. He was clearly malnourished and dirty, meaning that he likely didn’t have anyone who cared about him enough to be looking for him. His hair was matted and looked like someone had cut out clumps of it, and he was covered in surgical scars. Police fingerprinted him hoping to find a match, but one wasn’t made.
Over 400,000 flyers were sent out around Philadelphia and other towns of Pennsylvania hoping that someone would be able to identify the boy. A forensic facial reconstruction was done, and a drawing of a happy boy was put on the posters. No one came forward with any information. The police didn’t have any leads about who he was or who had done this to him, and he remains a mystery to this day.
Theories
In 1960, a psychic had told an employee of the medical examiner’s office that the boy came from a local foster home. The police inquired the home about the boy, and they found similar blankets to the one that he was wrapped in. They also found a bassinet that was sold in the same box that the boy was found in. The employee theorized that the boy had been born to the daughter of the man who ran the foster home and that the boy's death had been accidental. However, no facts were found that could officially tie the boy to the foster home.
Forty years later, a woman who went by “M” came forward claiming that the boy had been purchased by her abusive mother. M claimed that he had been abused for multiple years in her home, and one day after he vomited up his dinner of black beans, her mother bashed his head in and then tried to bathe him, but he had died from his injuries. The police initially followed this lead because the boy did have remains of black beans found in his stomach and his fingers appeared to have been wrinkled from being in the water. Those two pieces of information were ones that weren’t shared with the public, so M couldn’t have just seen them and created a story revolving around those clues. M also described the boy as being a young child with long hair, which backed up the police theory that his hair had recently been cut. However, police eventually let the theory slide, because they couldn’t factually back up her claims. After looking into M’s background, they found a history of mental illness, and all of her neighbors said that they’d never seen another child in M’s home.
A blue cap was found at the scene where the boy's body was, and it was turned in to the police. They questioned the shop where the cap came from, and the shop owner said that it had been customized for the person who bought it. He’d been between the ages of 26 and 30 with blonde hair, but he paid for the cap with cash and wasn’t seen again. The police were never able to link the cap to anyone. They also tried to track down everyone who had bought the kind of bassinet that came in the box he was found in, but this didn’t lead them anywhere.
Several other theories have been presented about what may have happened to the boy, but nothing has ever been proven. The scars and condition of the body show that he likely grew up unloved, with a sick person who clearly wanted to cause him harm. No orphanage reported having a child go missing, and nobody coming forward about the boy means that he may not have had any family alive, or at least any family who cared about him. Teeth were sent in to gather DNA and try to be able to figure out who the boy was, but nothing ever came up. The sad story of the mysterious boy and what happened to him is likely going to continue to be one of America’s unsolved cases.