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

[IDK]

Amazon.com

From the description:

“Her recent research in feminist studies examines historic views of girl's education in convent settings and international views of the sociologic quest for adoration that results in an adoration-abuse cycle”

I’m not sure what the adoration-abuse cycle is? Anyone here familiar with that term?

 

[osadelnorte]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Reading through the discussion here about JAZ's injuries and the way his body was cleaned immediately made me think of the case of Sylvia Likens, where she was regularly tortured, but at the end was cleaned up properly and given new clothing, despite the fact that her body would have evidence of what had happened to her. I wonder if it's the same case here, where the people involved realized that the poor child was not going to be alive much longer and may have tried to clean him up anyway out of sheer panic and wanting to make the situation look (in their minds) less awful in the event they were ever caught.

You make a good point with Sylvia Likens. I'm very familiar with her case and I agree, they did vainly try to cover up the terrible abuse with a bath and clean clothes. Gertrude Baniszewski was a very organized abuser and she was very powerful in her control over the kids to make them complicit in Sylvia's abuse. She also assured Likens' parents that she was giving Sylvia and her sister good care, making them go to school and church, etc. Maybe in Joseph's case there was similar behavior toward the outside world, making others believe he was cared for properly, which extended to the treatment of his body after death.

 

[Springrain]

I’m not sure what the adoration-abuse cycle is? Anyone here familiar with that term?

From my understanding it's the love bombing-abuse cycle. Love bombing is to shower somebody with extreme attention, affection etc. to then abuse them afterwards. JMO.

Don't Fall for This Manipulative Dating Tactic "“Love bombing is characterized by excessive attention, admiration, and affection with the goal to make the recipient feel dependent and obligated to that person,” explains licensed therapist Sasha Jackson, LCSW."

 

[IDK]

From my understanding it's the love bombing-abuse cycle. Love bombing is to shower somebody with extreme attention, affection etc. to then abuse them afterwards. JMO.

Don't Fall for This Manipulative Dating Tactic "“Love bombing is characterized by excessive attention, admiration, and affection with the goal to make the recipient feel dependent and obligated to that person,” explains licensed therapist Sasha Jackson, LCSW."

OK thank you— I have heard of love bombing before and didn’t realize it might be the same thing as the abuse adoration cycle. Thank you!

 

[loveplace]

IMO the bath, hair cut & trimmed nails is more for the destruction of evidence than out of care/concern for JAZ. If it was really care/concern, I don’t see that he would have been left naked.

Although DNA wasn’t yet on the radar, blood-type and hair/fiber analysis was (I believe). Perhaps JAZ scratched his killer, drawing blood, so he was cleaned up to eliminate this evidence.

We know police made great efforts to trace the box & blanket JAZ was found in, as well as the hat that was found nearby, so it is likely police would have also tried to trace any clothing he would have been re-dressed in - which could be why he was left naked. Also, clothes may have also contained the killer’s hair or hairs of any pets in the home which could possibly been traced back to the killer.

This makes me wonder if someone involved in the death may have ties to LE or at least been interested in LE/crime-solving.

I think you are spot on. I don't see the last minute rooming as anything other than his abuser being self protective. Being left naked is the antithesis of care.

 

[Vi0l3tt3]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. Reading through the discussion here about JAZ's injuries and the way his body was cleaned immediately made me think of the case of Sylvia Likens, where she was regularly tortured, but at the end was cleaned up properly and given new clothing, despite the fact that her body would have evidence of what had happened to her. I wonder if it's the same case here, where the people involved realized that the poor child was not going to be alive much longer and may have tried to clean him up anyway out of sheer panic and wanting to make the situation look (in their minds) less awful in the event they were ever caught.

This makes sense.

 

[Daphne1972]

Education for Girls in the House of the Good Shepherd, U.S. 1940-1980

Convent education has sought to impart a set of moral values that would lead to a productive life, both spiritually and socially. The foundress of the Good Shepherd Sisters started a convent-based social service institution for vulnerable women and girls in Europe that evolved into a...

engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu

You can download here the book about the Good Shepherd school. It was a dissertation.

 

[Daphne1972]

I think you are spot on. I don't see the last minute rooming as anything other than his abuser being self protective. Being left naked is the antithesis of care.

Which would also quite possibly mean that they got the box and cover somewhere like at the trash.

 

[MapsGeek]

The more I look at the maps and aerial photos, the more I think it was likely that the narrow gangways (I can't bring myself to call them alleys) and back yards behind two rows of houses would have been where 1950s residents put their trash in these neighborhoods - maybe two to four trash bins or piles at the ends or corners of each block's "courtyard" - until trash pickup day when it would get taken out to the street. To me, this increases the likelihood that they brought the box with them, as there could have been a dozen other households all piling up junk and boxes and garbage in one spot - the box could have belonged to a family on the other side of the block and they just grabbed it from the pile.

 

[ConcernedVA]

OK thank you— I have heard of love bombing before and didn’t realize it might be the same thing as the abuse adoration cycle. Thank you!

Feminist social theory also focuses somewhat on the idea that a woman or girl is an object. This idea is put forth so heavily and in so many ways (per the theory), that over time, even the female person herself begins to view herself as an object and participate in the objectification.

One could see how this could go along with abuse scenarios.

 

[KAYTOM]

I was looking into 1950 customs surrounding illegitimate children, and I found the following:

"Did you know that during the 1950s, unmarried, pregnant women mostly “went away,” often to Florence Crittenton Homes where they were required to place their children for adoption, returning to their hometowns only after their babies were born and placed with adoptive parents? Their pregnancies were often kept secret from their families and friends. Adoption documents typically summed up the reason for placement like this: “The birth mother is unmarried and cannot provide a home for the child.” Born and Adopted in the 1950s: What We're Learning from Project Search & Reunion - Amara

Customs might have been different in the city though, which tends to be a little more progressive with things of this nature, but it would explain one half of JAZ's family having no clue he was even born.

I checked out the Florence Crittenton homes and there was one in the Germantown Section of the city which is closer to Fox Chase than 61st and Market. I'm not sure if the Florence Crittenon Home was still in operation in the 1950's or if the fact that no adoption records were found, mean there's zero chance of a connection. I'd imagine the city has a lot of records that get lost or misfiled.

Anyway, this is all speculation, and my main reason for posting this was the underlined text. The adoption route, either legally or black market are both avenues I think might be applicable.

There was a doctor practicing in Georgia that ran a black market adoption ring. He'd convince pregnant women that were considering abortions to sell the children. In some cases, he lied and told the mom the child died after labor.

 

[txsleuth70]

The almost perfect size of the box is just too deus ex machina for him to have not been brought to the site in it!

I feel the box most likely belonged to a 6 month-or-less-old baby that was living in the same home as JAZ, or a nearby relative thereof.

--Maybe the mother's (or caregiver's) husband didn't care for his new wife's existing children?
--Maybe they had hurriedly married because a little one was on the way.
--Maybe the husband didn't settle into his step-daddy role so well?
--Maybe he was stressed with the weight of an 'insta-family' and started to take his anger out on JAZ, and not the older child who could have spoken out?
--Maybe it only happened when mommy went to market and big-sibling was down the street?
--Maybe it went a little too far the last time?
-- So maybe he rushedly bathed him, cut his hair, clipped his nails all to remove evidence. Drove him to Fox Chase to an area he was familiar with and discarded him.

Then threatened the mother into silence.

Sounds like so many other REALITIES that we've come across before here.

Maybe it's really as simple as that.

 

[HarmonyE.]

Maybe it's really as simple as that.

It probably is as simple as that. Some theories are so complex and speculative to be plausible and some are so off the wall they read like bad novels.

The main question as I see it is why Joseph was not missed by people in his life who weren't his killers or someone covering up for his killer. But he was only 4 so no school yet. Maybe his family was somewhat transient, moving from apartment to apartment so no neighbors knew him well if at all. He died in late winter, so he may not have been out much in the months leading to his death. And maybe when he disappeared there was a made up story about him moving in with his grandma or his great aunt in New Jersey.

I've also been thinking about the Dennis Jurgens story recently. His autopsy photos remind me of Joseph's. Dennis was 3 1/2 and was starved and beaten to death by his adoptive mother in the mid 1960s (while his adoptive father, while otherwise generally kind to him, turned a blind eye). Literally everyone in little Dennis's life - family and neighbors - knew Dennis was being abused and after his death surely knew his mother had killed him. But no one said a thing or lifted a finger to help him in life and it wasn't until his biological mother started looking for him after he would have turned 18 that any real investigation was done. Ultimately his adoptive mother was prosecuted 20 years after his death and she did a few years in prison.

In the 1950's and well into the 60's, the concept of battered child syndrome didn't yet exist. The general idea was that parents had the right to discipline their children as they saw fit. People believed in minding their own business, and in the case of Jurgens this included letting someone get away with the with the vicious murder of a preschooler. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was an element of MYOB in Joseph's case either.

 

[MapsGeek]

The almost perfect size of the box is just too deus ex machina for him to have not been brought to the site in it!

I feel the box most likely belonged to a 6 month-or-less-old baby that was living in the same home as JAZ, or a nearby relative thereof.

--Maybe the mother's (or caregiver's) husband didn't care for his new wife's existing children?
--Maybe they had hurriedly married because a little one was on the way.
--Maybe the husband didn't settle into his step-daddy role so well?
--Maybe he was stressed with the weight of an 'insta-family' and started to take his anger out on JAZ, and not the older child who could have spoken out?
--Maybe it only happened when mommy went to market and big-sibling was down the street?
--Maybe it went a little too far the last time?
-- So maybe he rushedly bathed him, cut his hair, clipped his nails all to remove evidence. Drove him to Fox Chase to an area he was familiar with and discarded him.

Then threatened the mother into silence.

Sounds like so many other REALITIES that we've come across before here.

Maybe it's really as simple as that.

I very much agree. It seems like small children who are murdered are usually killed by a new boyfriend/stepfather, and that would likely explain why he seemed to have good care early in his life and then a sharp decline, especially if his mother was being abused as well. She must have known about the abuse, though, because of him being so drastically underweight.

 

[Friday Fan]

It probably is as simple as that. Some theories are so complex and speculative to be plausible and some are so off the wall they read like bad novels.

The main question as I see it is why Joseph was not missed by people in his life who weren't his killers or someone covering up for his killer. But he was only 4 so no school yet. Maybe his family was somewhat transient, moving from apartment to apartment so no neighbors knew him well if at all. He died in late winter, so he may not have been out much in the months leading to his death. And maybe when he disappeared there was a made up story about him moving in with his grandma or his great aunt in New Jersey.

I've also been thinking about the Dennis Jurgens story recently. His autopsy photos remind me of Joseph's. Dennis was 3 1/2 and was starved and beaten to death by his adoptive mother in the mid 1960s (while his adoptive father, while otherwise generally kind to him, turned a blind eye). Literally everyone in little Dennis's life - family and neighbors - knew Dennis was being abused and after his death surely knew his mother had killed him. But no one said a thing or lifted a finger to help him in life and it wasn't until his biological mother started looking for him after he would have turned 18 that any real investigation was done. Ultimately his adoptive mother was prosecuted 20 years after his death and she did a few years in prison.

In the 1950's and well into the 60's, the concept of battered child syndrome didn't yet exist. The general idea was that parents had the right to discipline their children as they saw fit. People believed in minding their own business, and in the case of Jurgens this included letting someone get away with the with the vicious murder of a preschooler. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there was an element of MYOB in Joseph's case either.

Yes, I get that impression too. I read a book about Dennis Jurgens.

 

[RoseTree]

I feel like and hope that there are people still alive who have just been quiet about this.

 

[PJFL]

New interview with Colleen Fitzpatrick. Very interesting and informative.

 

[fred&edna]

New interview with Colleen Fitzpatrick. Very interesting and informative.

While Fitzpatrick couldn't be totally forthcoming with additional info, it seems he remained with at least one parent and was not adopted out. Also, he was the youngest of all his half-siblings, and he did have a half-sister who was adopted.

 

[eightyana]

While Fitzpatrick couldn't be totally forthcoming with additional info, it seems he remained with at least one parent and was not adopted out. Also, he was the youngest of all his half-siblings, and he did have a half-sister who was adopted.

I caught that he has a living uncle as well? Also, interesting that she said that she believes that he was never put up for adoption, that makes what happened a little clearer.

 

[iamshadow21]

New interview with Colleen Fitzpatrick. Very interesting and informative.

That was really interesting for what was said about Joseph, but I think the thing I'm most excited for is that they're working hard on IDing Madison Jane Doe! I really want that little girl to get her name back.