Identified! PA - Philadelphia - 'Boy in the Box' - 4UMPA - Feb'57 #3 - Joseph Augustus Zarelli

[RaspberryMama]

MOO: It's a disclaimer/liability on LE's behalf. AKA, LE doesn't want to be "responsible" for any antics toward the family, so if someone else names them, LE was "not responsible". MOO, MOO, MOO, MOO.

Yep. MOOtoo.

 

[LaLa723]

What's the deal with not giving the parents' name then? If this is his original name then we also know the biological parents.

But I don’t think we do know who the birth parents are. We can speculate on who the bio father is based off of a similar name, but we don’t really have any clues about bio mom.

 

[phantomstrider]

If M's story is true....

I found an obituary for her father from the late 60s. It states that he died unexpectedly while visiting California.

M' mothers obituary has curious item in it. It suggests that in lieu of flowers to donate to (get this) "Council on child Abuse Prevention".

If I were a gambler, I'd put my money on M's story.

I don’t think it’s true I honestly think it was just a coincidence at this point people are saying Jospeh sounds similar to Jonathan but they really don’t. I think the detail about the baked beans could have been leaked and she may have heard about it somewhere.

 

[steff13]

I don’t think it’s true I honestly think it was just a coincidence at this point people are saying Jospeh sounds similar to Jonathan but they really don’t. I think the detail about the baked beans could have been leaked and she may have heard about it somewhere.

What is the detail with the baked beans? The medical examiner found that Joseph was clean and dry and that there was no indication that he'd eaten within a couple of hours of his death so where do the baked beans come in?

 

[Nell91]

I always thought baked beans were found in his stomach, undigested or partially digested so could still be picked out as being his last meal, something that M told LE and what apparently wasn't stated in media. I could be wrong

 

[Daphne1972]

But I don’t think we do know who the birth parents are. We can speculate on who the bio father is based off of a similar name, but we don’t really have any clues about bio mom.

But then the Zarelli's are the ones who pretended to be his parents. They went to city hall to declare the birth.

Why was this kid never reported missing??

 

[Friday Fan]

What is the detail with the baked beans? The medical examiner found that Joseph was clean and dry and that there was no indication that he'd eaten within a couple of hours of his death so where do the baked beans come in?

Yeah, he had vomited and brown fluid was in his esophagus. Since vile is brown and baked beans are brown, maybe someone determined that this was inside info...

 

[spacedcurls]

What is the detail with the baked beans? The medical examiner found that Joseph was clean and dry and that there was no indication that he'd eaten within a couple of hours of his death so where do the baked beans come in?

There was a brown residue found in his esophagus during the autopsy.

 

[Daphne1972]

Yeah, he had vomited and brown fluid was in his esophagus. Since vile is brown and baked beans are brown, maybe someone determined that this was inside info...

This whole case is vile!

 

[Friday Fan]

There was a brown residue found in his esophagus during the autopsy.

The irony is that lots of stomach contents are brown.

 

[steff13]

I always thought baked beans were found in his stomach, undigested or partially digested so could still be picked out as being his last meal, something that M told LE and what apparently wasn't stated in media. I could be wrong

The "America's Unknown Child" website has details of the medical exam. It's says this:

Examination of the boy's gastrointestinal tract indicated that he had not eaten for two or three hours before his death.

Case Summary

There's a lot of detailed info there, including medical examiner's photos that are quite shocking.

 

[Daphne1972]

The irony is that lots of stuff stomach contents are brown.

Forensics in 1957 were primitive.

 

[LeBlack]

The Zarelli family was almost certainly Roman Catholic, no? I would think if Zarelli is the surname of either mother or father, Joseph would have been baptized shortly after birth. I wonder if the neighborhood church has any records from around that time. Surely it's been looked into by now?

Would the church have the attendance records for the baptism?

 

[RaspberryMama]

What is the detail with the baked beans? The medical examiner found that Joseph was clean and dry and that there was no indication that he'd eaten within a couple of hours of his death so where do the baked beans come in?

I wish I could get hands on the autopsy report. Does anyone know if it's out there somewhere?

M said the boy was beaten after throwing up some baked beans. Some things I've read say the coroner did find remnants of baked beans in his stomach, but this info was held back from the public. Other sources say his stomach was empty. Moo

 

[steff13]

There was a brown residue found in his esophagus during the autopsy.

They thought they was vomit, but I don't think it was certain.

 

[spacedcurls]

The "America's Unknown Child" website has details of the medical exam. It's says this:

Examination of the boy's gastrointestinal tract indicated that he had not eaten for two or three hours before his death.

Case Summary

There's a lot of detailed info there, including medical examiner's photos that are quite shocking.

It also says this on that same page:

"A mysterious dark brown residue coating the interior of the boy's esophagus could not be identified, but the presence of a brown substance in the esophagus could be consistent with vomiting shortly before death"

 

[steff13]

But then the Zarelli's are the ones who pretended to be his parents. They went to city hall to declare the birth.

Why was this kid never reported missing??

Why would they have gone to city hall to declare the birth? Was that a thing?

 

[steff13]

It also says this on that same page:

"A mysterious dark brown residue coating the interior of the boy's esophagus could not be identified, but the presence of a brown substance in the esophagus could be consistent with vomiting shortly before death"

But vomit /= baked beans. Lots of stuff that just naturally comes out of your stomach when you vomit is brown.

 

[Friday Fan]

Forensics in 1957 were primitive.

MOO: I don't believe they actually performed tests on gastric contents. They saw what they saw and made a note of it. It doesn't say anything about beans, much less "baked" beans. MOO

 

[Daphne1972]

Why would they have gone to city hall to declare the birth? Was that a thing?

How could LE otherwise have confirmed the name? Or is this just what some insider told them?