Content Warning: This story contains details of a young child’s death and may be disturbing for some readers.

The true crime community has been shaken in recent weeks. “The Boy in the Box” is a well-known unsolved mystery: a little boy who had been the victim of a tragic murder who remained for years unidentified has finally been given a name and been traced back to a family.

In February of 1957, the body of an unknown little boy was discovered on the side of Susquehanna road in the neighborhood of Fox Chase in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He was found to have been severely beaten, and was unclothed.

The boy was wrapped in a cheap flannel blanket and appeared clean, and freshly groomed with a haircut; his head shaved in a crude manner, clumps of hair still stuck to his body, and his fingernails trimmed.

The cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma. However, additionally he was malnourished, weighing only 30 pounds, his body was covered in scars, some of which appeared surgical and his hands and feet appeared wrinkled as if he had been submerged in water (it is unclear if this was pre or post-mortem).

The body was discovered on the evening of Feb. 23, 1957 by a LaSalle College student, Frederick J. Benonis. Articles place him to be between 18 and 26 at the time.

He did not report the body until the next day after speaking with officials at his school.

In his report to the police he told a story about chasing a rabbit through the brush, when he discovered a cardboard box just a few feet off the road, he opened it to find a young boy’s body and quickly fled, forgetting about the initial reason for being there.

Police thoroughly interrogated Benonis, and found out the reason he did not immediately report the body was due to the fact he feared anyone finding out that he would drive up to the Good Sheppard school to spy on the young “wayward girls.”

He was initially considered the prime suspect, but after extensive questioning and a lie detector test, he was found innocent.

The crime scene was thoroughly searched, nothing apart from a few clothing items were found and nothing turned up any leads for the Philadelphia Police Department, including the bassinet box he was found inside of and the blanket he was wrapped in.

Several attempts were made to identify the boy including fingerprinting, calling area hospitals to see if they had records to match the child, and hundreds of thousands of fliers with the boy’s face on them being circulated in hopes someone would come forward and claim the child.

5 months later the unidentified, unclaimed boy was laid to rest in a potter’s field, his headstone reading “Heavenly Father, bless this unknown boy.”

As with any unsolved crime, many theories of what might have happened to the boy circulated quickly, but none were ever found to be credible. 

In 1988 the body was exhumed for the first time, but the DNA obtained was not enough to identify the boy.

He was reburied, this time at Ivy Hill Cemetery, his headstone now reading “America’s unknown child.”

Authorities conducted a second successful exhumation in 2019 and were able to use new forensic techniques as well as forensic genealogy to identify and trace the boy back to a prominent family in Delaware County.

On Thursday, December 8th 2022 at 11:00am EST, the Philadelphia Police Department held a press conference and released the name of America’s unknown child.

Joseph Augustus Zarelli, born January 13, 1953. Name and details of birth parents and living relatives are not being released at this time.

Although this case remains unsolved and no suspects have been identified, Philadelphia Police are now one step closer to justice for this little boy.

You can read more about the Philadelphia Police Department’s press conference here.

You can read more about case details here.