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

[J. J. in Phila]

I’ve approximated the location (red pin) based on the drawn map that I’ve seen floating around. The House of Good Shepherd was the school for “Wayward Girls” that I’ve seen mentioned before, and is now known as CORA Good Shepherd Mediation. Of course, back then the area was much more wooded and rural.

In 1953, I would suspect that not too many people in Philadelphia owned a car.

If I wanted to hide a body, one I could, and lived in the area, I'd hide it in Cobbs Creek Park. I would have to transfer in a trolley and possibly a bus or train to get to CORA Good Shepherd Mediation. I can't picture anyone with a dead child trying to do that.

 

[bears10]

Can anyone link to a source for Joseph having birth defects? Or is it just a wild guess that's being stated as fact?

 

[wary]

Again, without any kind of speculation - why is there so much emphasis being placed on the death certificates of children who could (potentially) be his siblings? They likely wouldn't contain any information of use in identifying him.

Why not instead look for census records that match other records? If he was born in a hospital, was residing in a house that reported for the census, was informally adopted by another family (which is what was in "M" or "Martha's" testimony), or formerly adopted, the chance of his being located in a census record is fairly high.

Unfortunately, censuses are run every ten years. So, he was born after one census, 1953, and died before the next one, 1957.

MOO

 

[ohyourethatguy]

In 1953, I would suspect that not too many people in Philadelphia owned a car.

If I wanted to hide a body, one I could, and lived in the area, I'd hide it in Cobbs Creek Park. I would have to transfer in a trolley and possibly a bus or train to get to CORA Good Shepherd Mediation. I can't picture anyone with a dead child trying to do that.

By 1953 car ownership was far, far more likely than not, with 1.15 cars per US household.

Transportation Deployment Casebook/History of the Automobile: Ownership per Household in U.S. - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

en.wikibooks.org

 

[steff13]

This bothers me immensely and maybe I'm looking at the photo incorrectly but I don't think so. Wikepedia has a picture of 'crime scene where the body was found' and it appears to show his little body in the box please tell me I'm wrong ...

Before we knew his name, so before today, he was referred to as the boy in the box.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

William Fleisher, the co-founder of a group of professional sleuths called the Vidocq Society that took up the boy in the box case a quarter-century ago, said hundreds of investigators had poured their "hearts and souls" into learning the boy's identity and the circumstances of his death since 1957.
"Many of these men and women aren't with us anymore, but I feel their souls are standing here at this moment with us," Mr Fleisher said.
"Now our lad is no longer that boy is in the box. He has a name."

……..

Detectives pursued and discarded hundreds of leads….

An Ohio woman claimed her mother bought the boy from his birth parents in 1954, kept him in the basement of their suburban Philadelphia home, and killed him in a fit of rage.
Authorities found her credible but could not corroborate her story — another dead end.

'Boy in the box' victim identified nearly 66 years after body found in US woodlands

Nearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box, Philadelphia police say they have finally identified the victim in the city's most notorious cold case.

www.abc.net.au

 

[steff13]

SBBM

Is this the time period during which JAZ’s mother gave birth to her children or is this the date range that investigators chose for their search?

I believe they said there were three children born during that time.

 

[WildhorseC]

There was something in the presser I didn't understand, not being a medical person - the ME said there was evidence that he had some sort of intravenous treatment, was the correct, and what was the significance of that? Would that have had to have happened shortly prior to his death?

If I recall, there was some sort of evidence of a surgery, wasn't there? I wonder if those records still exist.

I caught that as well. They does specify what so

This bothers me immensely and maybe I'm looking at the photo incorrectly but I don't think so. Wikepedia has a picture of 'crime scene where the body was found' and it appears to show his little body in the box please tell me I'm wrong ...

I noticed that as well. You can see at least his leg

 

[wary]

Can anyone link to a source for Joseph having birth defects? Or is it just a wild guess that's being stated as fact?

Wild guess, I believe

 

[J. J. in Phila]

By 1953 car ownership was far, far more likely than not, with 1.15 cars per US household.

Transportation Deployment Casebook/History of the Automobile: Ownership per Household in U.S. - Wikibooks, open books for an open world

en.wikibooks.org

Not in the City, however. People still relied on mass transit.

 

[MeadowMuffin]

This bothers me immensely and maybe I'm looking at the photo incorrectly but I don't think so. Wikepedia has a picture of 'crime scene where the body was found' and it appears to show his little body in the box please tell me I'm wrong ...

No, he was removed from the box. There was a green Navajo style blanket in the box with him, that's what we are seeing. Edited to add that the man who found him saw his face. His head and shoulders were showing at the top of the box.

 

[CCJD]

In 1953, I would suspect that not too many people in Philadelphia owned a car.

If I wanted to hide a body, one I could, and lived in the area, I'd hide it in Cobbs Creek Park. I would have to transfer in a trolley and possibly a bus or train to get to CORA Good Shepherd Mediation. I can't picture anyone with a dead child trying to do that.

And yet, years later in 1994 that is pretty much what happened to 4-year old Jerrell Willis.
The Boy in the Bag from americasunknownchild.net:

That, police suspect, Robinson and an as-yet-unnamed man "of interest" in the case used NJ Transit as an accessory in the crime.

Supposedly, they boarded a bus toting the tot's corpse, rode over the Ben Franklin Bridge, ditched the duffel, and returned home to get on with their lives in Camden.

Philadelphia's Other Unknown Child

 

[Alleykins]

Remember that his biological parents are uninvolved as JAZ was adopted.

Regarding the location, i don't see much of a significance. Just a coincidence i guess.

Just curious, I didn't catch in the press conference he was adopted, only they searched birth, death, and adoption records. Did I miss it?

 

[WildhorseC]

I'm gonna go with secret lover because Bio Dad's family is claiming he didn't father Joseph even though the DNA matches. In 1953 they wouldn't even know until birth if a child had abnormalities Could of placed him with another family and kept it a secret. Two more kids he fathered born with defects as well but then he was married so less scandal I guess.

I'm confused though because some are saying dad was always with the same women from 1953 on.

How do we know they are denying it?

 

[CandyKiss]

In 1953, I would suspect that not too many people in Philadelphia owned a car.

If I wanted to hide a body, one I could, and lived in the area, I'd hide it in Cobbs Creek Park. I would have to transfer in a trolley and possibly a bus or train to get to CORA Good Shepherd Mediation. I can't picture anyone with a dead child trying to do that.

No, most city residents either could not afford or did not need a car. Cities in the 1950's expanded into the newly formed 'suburbs' which increased sales thereafter. I wonder if they've checked records to determine if 'M's" family owned a car or if those records still exist?

 

[Mama-dukes]

No, he was removed from the box. There was a green Navajo style blanket in the box with him, that's what we are seeing.

That looks like a body

The Boy in the Box: Who is America's Unknown Child?

The Boy in the Box: Who is America's Unknown Child?

www.dreadcentral.com

 

[Alleykins]

Oh, I'm offering. I read through the other thread and I figure it might be helpful to have a transcript for those that might not have been able to listen or can't remember what was said. I'll get to it now.

Thank you.
Welcome, and cool name, btw

 

[PrimeSuspect]

This bothers me immensely and maybe I'm looking at the photo incorrectly but I don't think so. Wikepedia has a picture of 'crime scene where the body was found' and it appears to show his little body in the box please tell me I'm wrong ...

The Grimes sisters disposal site with the investigators nearby was also published in the newspapers in 1956, I assume it’s the same in this case too. It is shocking and I imagine even more so at the time.

Edit. Yes, it’s definitely his body in box, top of head first. Very, very sad and distressing image.

 

[ferretnurse]

How do we know they are denying it?

It was in the press conference. A reporter stated that the father's family was denying it, and asked how they confirmed he is the father.

 

[iamshadow21]

And yet, years later in 1994 that is pretty much what happened to 4-year old Jerrell Willis.
The Boy in the Bag from americasunknownchild.net:

That, police suspect, Robinson and an as-yet-unnamed man "of interest" in the case used NJ Transit as an accessory in the crime.

Supposedly, they boarded a bus toting the tot's corpse, rode over the Ben Franklin Bridge, ditched the duffel, and returned home to get on with their lives in Camden.

Philadelphia's Other Unknown Child

Going back further, Hannah Mary Tabbs used public transport to move a dismembered body, too. Also a Philadelphia crime.

Hannah Mary Tabbs - Wikipedia

People use what's available to them. Before the heyday of the car, it was common for people to transport all kinds of things on trains, busses, trams, in taxis. Even taking a bloody parcel on public transport wouldn't make you stand out, if you went to the butcher yourself rather than having it delivered, because you'd be surrounded by other people doing the same.