THE BOY IN THE BOX
On February 25, 1957, police – acting on a tip from an informant – discovered a cardboard box that had been dumped off the side of a country road near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Inside the box, officers found the naked corpse of a young boy, partially wrapped in an cheap flannel blanket.
The child’s body was covered in bruises, and a medical examiner later concluded the boy had died after he sustained multiple blows to the head. Detectives unsuccessfully tried to identify the child – who the media eventually named the “Boy in the Box.”
The young boy was thought to be aged around 4 or 5 years and had had his hair cut in a rushed manner, with chunks of his hair stuck to his body.
The crime scene was combed over and over again by 270 police academy recruits, who discovered a man’s blue corduroy cap, a child’s scarf, and a man’s white handkerchief with the letter “G” in the corner; all clues that led nowhere.
To this day, there have been no leads in the case, despite theories including accidental death in a foster home, being the abandoned son of a carnival worker and the speculation he may have been a child that was kidnapped years earlier.
What are your thoughts on this case? Had you heard about it before?
