Identified! PA - Philadelphia, 'Boy in the Box', WhtMale 4-6, 4UMPA, Feb'57

[alliemay]

While searching info re. the dye in the eye, I came across something about diabetes. It included the cut down and the test on the eyes as one procedure. I wouldn't know where to start looking to find it again. Sorry.

"I wouldn't know where to start looking to find it again", I know what you mean, sometimes I don't even know what site I am on when I'm reading things, if its a good read I bookmark it, but not all the time.

So maybe he had diabetes? In those type of tests I wonder if one eye needs to be tested or both eyes? ......Just thought of something, maybe it wasn't an eye doctor that he went to because I think they put dye in both eyes when they are doing an eye exam, so maybe he was having a problem with just one eye and was taken to a hospital, or Clinic......it all just seems strange with all the medical problems he had he had to be seen by SOMEONE with professional background. I also think I read he had some growth problems, so he would have had some contact with an orthopedic specialist possibly.

 

[alliemay]

Right Skeet, the dye would likely be absorbed or washed away by tears within a few hours. But--I think if the circulation were stopped (if the person died), it would maybe not be washed away as fast.

Still--I think it must have been placed within hours of his death. I cannot come up with another scenario that would explain why it was still there when he was examined.

JMO

I am also intrigued by the 'surgical' scars. If three of these are really from surgical procedures, then this is a boy who had access to extensive medical care. I read that the scar on his ankle looked like a "cut-down" scar. This would probably only happen in a hospital setting. Of course, we don't know the timing of this, but it must have been within the previous 4-6 years, right? I assume (hope) someone checked nearby hospital records.... University of Pennsylvania Medical School was around in the 1950s.

I assume the groin scar was from a hernia repair, and the 1.5 inch scar on the left chest--that I have no idea. Pediatric cardiothoracic surgery was in its infancy and pretty dangerous back then. Chest tube maybe? Pretty rare in the 50s but not unheard of for chest trauma (I don't know about in kids). What else?? Think.. think.. think..

Again, just my thoughts. IDK if they will be of any help.

Any thoughts are helpful, it keeps the thread and his memory alive.

 

[alliemay]

Since I didn't get an e-mail reply back, I called. I gave my name and phone number and asked if they did an Isotope test on the boy when they exhumed his body, the receptionist told me she wasn't sure if the society could give out that info to me. Hoping they call me back.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Since I didn't get an e-mail reply back, I called. I gave my name and phone number and asked if they did an Isotope test on the boy when they exhumed his body, the receptionist told me she wasn't sure if the society could give out that info to me. Hoping they call me back.

You need to call Philadelphia Homicide police or the tip line.It is really their case. You will get better chances of talking to someone with these two. I totally agree they need to do isotope testing with this little boy in the box and put him also in genealogy and CODIS data bases and on NAMUS.I mean seriously.Do they really want to Identify him? Nothing is being done here. Why? Can someone else please do this for him and re investigate this sweet little ones case again.

 

[alliemay]

You need to call Philadelphia Homicide police or the tip line.It is really their case. You will get better chances of talking to someone with these two. I totally agree they need to do isotope testing with this little boy in the box and put him also in genealogy and CODIS data bases and on NAMUS.I mean seriously.Do they really want to Identify him? Nothing is being done here. Why? Can someone else please do this for him and re investigate this sweet little ones case again.

You are correct, I called them and was able to talk to someone, I asked about the Isotope test and he said he would check and call me back, when he does I will ask about NamUS also.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

You are correct, I called them and was able to talk to someone, I asked about the Isotope test and he said he would check and call me back, when he does I will ask about NamUS also.

May I please ask what he says is going on with this little ones case.

 

[alliemay]

He didn't say anything about the case, he said he was newly assigned to it and would have to look for that info because he wasn't familiar with all the details of the case yet, I'm sure there is a lot for him to read. The original investigators did a lot of foot work from what I am reading. One even when though thousands of passport records, that's enough to make you go blind.

If IRC I think I read somewhere that the boy was possible Hungarian. So I've been reading a little about the culture, seems that in 1956 there was an uprising in that country and many immigrants came to the United States at that time. If he was from another country that would at least explain why no medical can be found for him. But then again I do not know what hospitals they checked in the surrounding states.

Many of the immigrants settled in Ohio in 1956. They said he was between four and six years old, but I think I read somewhere that he had growth problems. If he was six years old you would think he would have been in school? I wonder if any schools were checked?

 

[alliemay]

I wonder where all the other posters went to that posted in the earlier threads, I know there was a man named Rutt, don't know if he ever found out any more about his families renters or not, I found that interesting. Then there was a lady I think out in California that helped to organize a memorial for the boy, I don't see her on here anymore. Ms Suzanne do you know if anyone is planning a memorial for this February?

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I wonder where all the other posters went to that posted in the earlier threads, I know there was a man named Rutt, don't know if he ever found out any more about his families renters or not, I found that interesting. Then there was a lady I think out in California that helped to organize a memorial for the boy, I don't see her on here anymore. Ms Suzanne do you know if anyone is planning a memorial for this February?

No I don't know if any one is planning a vigil or memorial for him.I have asked for a few years now if anyone was planning on having one for him and there was never any vigils for him.It made me sad.I visited this little ones grave last March and I talked to him and prayed with him.I promised him I will do everything I can to find out who he is and I will.It was very special to me.I was going to go this February to visit him again.But I cannot afford to go this year.But I will next year.I will save up my money to go.

 

[alliemay]

No one has called me back yet, if I don't hear anything by Friday I will try calling again....

 

[RRW]

While searching info re. the dye in the eye, I came across something about diabetes. It included the cut down and the test on the eyes as one procedure. I wouldn't know where to start looking to find it again. Sorry.

That makes sense as to why he may have had the bruises on his body. Perhaps he had a diabetic seizure of some sort while getting his hair cut. (I'm thinking of the scene in Steel Magnolias where Shelby has her episode while getting her hair done.) Of course the part that doesn't make sense is why someone seemingly took such good care of him only to toss his lifeless body aside.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Regarding the J. C. Penney bassinet box.

The label on the box indicated it had been shipped to the J. C. Penney store ("Penney's") in Upper Darby, PA .. ~15 miles from where the body was found.

I've not been able to determine if there were J. C. Penney's stores located closer to the discovery site .. the answer to this question might indicate the perp(s) as being either local or not-so-local.

At the time, J. C. Penney had not yet started its catalog business (not until 1962) so the bassinet was purchased at the Upper Darby store, not ordered via catalog.

Also at that time, J. C. Penney operated as a cash-only business, no credit cards (not until 1959), so no records existed of the purchasers of the twelve units that were sold from that shipment.

With the help of newspaper publicity, LE received calls from eight buyers, all of whom said they had either put the box out for trash or still had it in their homes. Local trash collectors said they had long since burned their loads of refuse which might have contained the other boxes. The four remaining purchasers of the white bassinets were never found.

Since there were no missing child reports that matched with the discovery, we might conclude the boy met his demise by the hand of and was disposed by:

1) Family
affluent or at least financially sound, based on assumed medical treatments

2) Guardian (adopted/fostered)
cavalier disposal

Regarding the boy's left eye / socket:

An autopsy picture reveals the left eye / socket to be sunken, more so than the right eye / socket. It is reported the boy was malnourished, this might account for the appearance of the sunken eye but given the cause of death is reported as a result from blows to the head, might we assume that includes a strong punch to that eye? Fractured?

Regarding the bruising on the boy's head, chest, arms and legs:

The bruising appears odd, as if more than one person was responsible. It could be older kids, maybe teens .. picking on the 'sickly kid' or, picking on the 'wild kid'?

It appears the boy was severely manhandled. Was the boy resistive or combative during the episode? Was he capable of resisting? I suspect the boy was ineffectual at defending himself and remained 'limp' during the episode, based on there being no 'defensive' markings on his hands .. or, assuming multiple perps, the boy was rendered helpless as they held his arms and legs during the attack? Perhaps being held down by two teens as another cut his hair (with intent to 'punish' or make him appear 'silly'?

Regarding the 'washerwoman' effects on the boy's right hand and the soles of both feet:

Could be that after the blows to the head the boy was rendered unconscious or even instantaneously killed and the responsible person(s) walked away and left the boy's limp body partially laying in a large wash basin or tub, not immediately realizing the boy was in severe distress of dead?

What about the boy's nails being trimmed? Does this eliminate all of the above conjecture? Was it really someone simply attending to the boy and he did not cooperate and that resulted in an accidental, frustration killing?

The contradiction of evidence is unforgiving.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

They say all the bruises on him were inflicted at the same time.No other bruises in different staging of healing.I feel he changed care takers and died the day he got there or the day before.I feel very strongly he was just getting into a orphanage,children's home or foster home.I feel he just saw Dr for his eye and being checked into a institution or foster home.I just can't figure out if the Dr was in the institution or worked outside the institution Possibly maybe being adopted out of one.But probably just getting into one.I do feel very strongly there is a BIG cover up in one of these orphanages,foster homes or institutions or DHS child welfare.Can someone please check all these places or court house records again.I do feel the answers of who this sweet little boy is will be found in records somewhere.Possibly falsified records.

I feel he died getting a hair cut after he was groomed and cleaned in a long bath.

 

[Synaptic Cliff]

The only link I can find between diabetes and fluorescein is fluorescein angiography (used to detect damage to the retina caused by the diabetes). But the procedure was not developed until 1961. And the dye is given IV so it would be unlikely to show up in only one eye. (More thoughts later--I'm on my phone and its hard to type!)

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

This little boy haunts me. I can accept that we never may know who hurt him, But I want so badly to give him his name back. He deserves at least that.

I have driven by where he was left many times. It looks different than it did then.

Thanks to all that have been searching for decades to bring him some justice.

 

[alliemay]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._X_killings

This doctor entered the U.S. in 1955, probably not related to this case but found it to be an interesting reading, I want to find out where he practiced between 1955 and 1957.

 

[bubbabearzle]

The only link I can find between diabetes and fluorescein is fluorescein angiography (used to detect damage to the retina caused by the diabetes). But the procedure was not developed until 1961. And the dye is given IV so it would be unlikely to show up in only one eye. (More thoughts later--I'm on my phone and its hard to type!)

My son had been having problems in which his eyes got very red and itchy, and the doctors used a type of eye drops that glowed fluorescent under a black light type of device called a woods' lamp. It is apparently a fairly common type of eye crop/procedure and isn't related to any other medical issues.

 

[meganx3xo]

Hi! I have followed this case here for awhile, but am just now posting.

I am curious about the box that he was found in. Is the box thought to have come from the home where the boy lived? I did some research, and $7.50 is about $60 today. Would $7.50 have been a log of money back then? Would that have been a higher end bassinet? Based on some quick searching at Target, I see that most bassinets are about $90. If the bassinet was more expensive back then, it leads me to believe that the boy came from a family rather than an instution or foster home?

I hope that makes sense, that was just one of my thoughts while reading.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

If I may please say why I thought he was possibly just put into a orphanage or institution or foster home.

1.They said he had a institution style hair cut.

2.The blanket was cut in half like they do in institutions.orphanages,foster homes.

3.There was a piece missing from the blanket they thought had possibly come from a institution and possibly had a brand name on it.

4.He just had his eye checked by a Dr (I feel just getting into a place like this)


I feel somewhere that would fit a home and a institution or orphanage would be a foster home.

I do feel he was possibly in the Child Welfare DHS system or maybe a Foster home type place or somewhere not regulated by the state?I don't know if it would have been Philadelphia county or the surrounding counties.Montgomery,Bucks,Delaware Counties?

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I feel very strongly there are possible court house records in one of these counties of who this little one is.

Possible relinquishment papers to someone? or Child Welfare DHS records?


Does someone know how to check these.I don't think they would have been falsified in the counties court house.I do feel there is a cover up somewhere with this sweet little boy.