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

[Ms Suzanne]

These are the numbers I have been calling if any one else wants to try

Phillynews.com - Northeast Times - b. Kenny 215-354-3031 left message 2/15 and 2/19

Homicide Division 215-686-3334 my first message was to introduce myself, left two message afterwards, first was told Cummings was handling the case, then I was told Kuhlmeier was handling the case - 215-686-1233 on that number I received no answer and no machine to leave message. There is another number I can try 215-686-1232.

Medical Examiner's Office - was given the name of person in charge, won't be in until 4 pm today, will try again. 215-685-7445.

May I please ask you.Did anyone ever get back in touch with you? Are they going to do isotope testing on him? Hopefully alot of other people are calling about that too.I really hope and pray other people are re investigating this little ones case again too.He deserves his real name on his grave.

 

[alliemay]

May I please ask you.Did anyone ever get back in touch with you? Are they going to do isotope testing on him? Hopefully alot of other people are calling about that too.I really hope and pray other people are re investigating this little ones case again too.He deserves his real name on his grave.

No one has called back, away right now, when I get back home I will have to try calling again.

I don't think they would exhume him again to do that type of testing, what I was trying to find out with no luck, was if they had done the test when they exhumed before. If the test wasn't done I am pretty sure they would not exhume him again just for one test.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

No one has called back, away right now, when I get back home I will have to try calling again.

I don't think they would exhume him again to do that type of testing, what I was trying to find out with no luck, was if they had done the test when they exhumed before. If the test wasn't done I am pretty sure they would not exhume him again just for one test.

I don't think they need to exhume him again to do the isotope testing if they still have the tooth they got the DNA from if I understand all that right.Anyone know any more about that?I think they can still do that test.I hope they would exhume him again even for that one test if they need to.That one test might honestly be his only hope to give him his real name now.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

These appear to be similar blankets to me.They have the same design.But different colors.


Does any one recognize or remember a blanket like this in 1957 by someone you knew or in an orphanage,children's home,foster home or institution.



This is the blanket the boy in the box was found in.

I found this blanket.It is similar pattern and looks the same.Just different colors.
It says the picture of the bottom blanket is a
Vintage 30's Beacon Brown, Black & Gray Antique Camp Trade Blanket

http://theboyinthebox.yuku.com/topi...-in-the-box-was-found-wrapped-in#.UUo5QxxJ5r0

 

[ChuckMaureen]

These appear to be similar blankets to me.They have the same design.But different colors.


Does any one recognize or remember a blanket like this in 1957 by someone you knew or in an orphanage,children's home,foster home or institution.



This is the blanket the boy in the box was found in.

I found this blanket.It is similar pattern and looks the same.Just different colors.
It says the picture of the bottom blanket is a
Vintage 30's Beacon Brown, Black & Gray Antique Camp Trade Blanket

http://theboyinthebox.yuku.com/topi...-in-the-box-was-found-wrapped-in#.UUo5QxxJ5r0

Hi, Ms Suzanne

I am assuming you located that blanket on eBay.

The seller is selling the blanket from Ohio .. the same State where "Mary" live(s)(ed) after having moved from Lower Merion. A coincidence, perhaps.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Hi, Ms Suzanne

I am assuming you located that blanket on eBay.

The seller is selling the blanket from Ohio .. the same State where "Mary" live(s)(ed) after having moved from Lower Merion. A coincidence, perhaps.

Yes I saw it on ebay.I talked to the guy he bought from a dealer in Columbus Ohio.Mary is not from there and was not brought up there.She is from apparently from Cincinnati Ohio now.I do not connect Mary and this blanket.I do not look into her lead.It never panned out.Nothing about it.It was just another lead that did not pan out.I honestly feel it's time to drop that lead and move on.It really is hurting this poor little boy in the box's case more than it is helping it.It really didn't pan out.

This is a similar blanket with the same pattern.It's not the blanket he was found in.It just shows me what type and year the blanket probably was.


If someone can please help me find this.I thought(not sure)I read about a lead.I don't know if it was an early lead or not of a boy who came up missing or the father took off with him? or something like that or just a lead from Columbus Ohio.Did any one read something like this.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Yes I saw it on ebay.I talked to the guy he bought from a dealer in Columbus Ohio.Mary is not from there and was not brought up there.She is from apparently from Cincinnati Ohio now.I do not connect Mary and this blanket.I do not look into her lead.It never panned out.Nothing about it.It was just another lead that did not pan out.I honestly feel it's time to drop that lead and move on.It really is hurting this poor little boy in the box's case more than it is helping it.It really didn't pan out.

This is a similar blanket with the same pattern.It's not the blanket he was found in.It just shows me what type and year the blanket probably was.


If someone can please help me find this.I thought(not sure)I read about a lead.I don't know if it was an early lead or not of a boy who came up missing or the father took off with him? or something like that or just a lead from Columbus Ohio.Did any one read something like this.

I'm not so quick to entirely dismiss the "Mary" angle .. at least not until the following is verified one way or the other:

Had the "Good Samaritan" identified to LE the vehicle next to which he saw the woman and child?

If so, did LE eventually research what vehicle(s) were owned / driven by "Mary's" schoolteacher parent(s)?

If a vehicle match could be determined, that might be enough to convince me.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I personally have dismissed her lead.I won't look into it any more.LE looked into her lead and nothing could be found out as the truth.There was no trace of this little boy found in her basement.LE checked it.Neighbors and friends that had access to their house and was in every part of the house never saw a boy like the boy in the box there.No one ever saw a boy that looked like him with her and her parents.To me I feel all she remembered was her own basement.That proves nothing to me.This lead really didn't pan out.

The Good Samaritan said he saw a BOY and a woman.Not a girl.This information was in the newspapers very early in the investigation where she could have saw this in the newspaper.

The more I read and learn on this little boy in the box's case.The more I'm thinking that the boy and woman seen may not have been related to the boy in the box at all.I just don't know.Apparently the place the Good Samaritan saw them was in the same place women's clothing and maybe a child's smaller clothes than what the boy in the box size was were found.I'm confused about what was found there.The woman and boy might have just been using the area as a dump site and not related to the boy at all.If they are related I want to know more about these woman a child's clothing found there.I have not ruled the woman and boy seen near the car out though.


http://americasunknownchild.net/FrontPage.htm

More of the article at the link
Front Page Detective Magazine - November 1957

WHO IS THE BOY IN THE BOX?

By Bruce McIntyre


Two hundred feet from the body, along Verree Road, police searchers found a cache of clothing for a woman and child - but the smaller clothing was not the dead boy's size.

A story told by an informant who later contacted police seemed to cast some light on this clothing, but created a new mystery.

Two days before the body was found, said the man to Lieutenant William Lovejoy of the northeast detective division, he had been driving along Verree Road when he saw a middle-aged woman and a boy, 12 to 14, unloading something from the trunk of a car.

"I thought the car might have a flat tire, so I stopped and asked if I could help. They didn't say a word, and seemed to be standing so as to block my view of the license plate."

The scene which he described was almost exactly where the clothing had been found. The informant described the car and the woman and boy, but they were never found.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I've never really had a name for this little one.I have always called this little boy the Fox chase little boy to give him some respect somehow.Not The boy in the box.The only thing I have ever had about this little boy in the box was only one dream that said his name was indeed Jonathan.(Not related to Mary's story) The one name I adamantly said was not his name.

Earlier I kind of called him Richey or Ritchey because I thought he could be related to me somehow.That did not pan out.He looks very very much like my son Bobby.So I do not have a name for him.I always didn't name him myself because I felt it wasn't his real name and he needed his real name on his little grave with respect.My little girl came to me twice now to say she felt his name was Daniel.I don't know where she got that.But I think that is a sweet name.I will call him Daniel.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

A faded blanket made of cheap cotton flannel. The blanket was clean, appearing to have been washed recently. It had a plaid design with diamonds and blocks in green, rust, brown, and white.



In early newspaper articles it says they had color pictures of this blanket he was found with.Do they still have these color photographs to show and will they.I believe it is this blanket that will Identify him one day.Someone,somewhere will recognize it. Does anyone recognize this blanket? Either a person or in a orphanage,children's home,foster home or some type of institution or hospital in the Philadelphia or Pennsylvania area around 1957.

Are there any old pictures people can find that shows blankets like this in orphanages,childrens's homes,foster homes or intitutions.




http://americasunknownchild.net/Archives1Text.html#Body

Photos of Blanket

Color pictures also were taken of the halves of the blanket. Detectives will take the pictures to institutions here and in the suburbs to see if it can be identified.

 

[Truman]

These appear to be similar blankets to me.They have the same design.But different colors.


Does any one recognize or remember a blanket like this in 1957 by someone you knew or in an orphanage,children's home,foster home or institution.



This is the blanket the boy in the box was found in.

I found this blanket.It is similar pattern and looks the same.Just different colors.
It says the picture of the bottom blanket is a
Vintage 30's Beacon Brown, Black & Gray Antique Camp Trade Blanket

http://theboyinthebox.yuku.com/topi...-in-the-box-was-found-wrapped-in#.UUo5QxxJ5r0

When you contacted the seller, did you by any chance ask about tags or markings that might be on the blanket? Although its doubtful that it's the same exact blanket, they are so similar. Perhaps there is something on the eBay blanket (maybe a tag that had been removed from our boy's blanket) that might indicate a manufacturer or distributor?

On a side note, how on earth did you find that eBay blanket!? Absolutely incredible! Nice work!

 

[Truman]

Sorry, I hadn't noticed it was called a "Beacon" blanket in the listing. I found this:

Based in New Bedford, Mass., and, later, in Swannanoa, N.C., the Beacon Company sold so many blankets (21 million a year in the late 1930s) that "Beacon" became a generic for cotton camp blanket--though some Beacon fabric blended cotton with wool, and rival brands made similar goods. Few surviving blankets bear a trademark: Much of Beacon's output went to retailers, such as J.C. Penney, who applied private labels, and most blankets marketed as Beacons had paper labels that vanished in the wash.

http://www.countryliving.com/_mobile/antiques/what-to-collect/beacon-blankets-0105#slide-1

Interesting coincidence that the article mentions JC Penney, which was the source of the bassinet box our boy was found in.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

When you contacted the seller, did you by any chance ask about tags or markings that might be on the blanket? Although its doubtful that it's the same exact blanket, they are so similar. Perhaps there is something on the eBay blanket (maybe a tag that had been removed from our boy's blanket) that might indicate a manufacturer or distributor?

On a side note, how on earth did you find that eBay blanket!? Absolutely incredible! Nice work!

Thank you.I emailed him a second time asking him if he knew where it originally came from and who owned it before or anything else about it.He never answered me back.So I just left it alone.I have been searching for many years now for this blanket or something like it.This is the only one I have found.I have seen a few pictures of St Johns orphanage and a few institutions.All the blankets on the beds appear to be the same and do not look like this one.

I'm starting to think who ever bought this blanket didn't buy alot of them at the same time that looked the exact same.But you never know they might have.I don't know.But they may have bought similar blankets like this one from the same place.Can anyone find pictures of orphanages,foster homes,children's homes,institutions or hospitals to see if a blanket that looks like this was in their institution.The only place I have ever heard a place like this had similar blankets like this was Remington Bristow the medical examiner saying the foster home with the Nicoletti's had similar blankets hanging on their close line.Articles said the hair cuts were not similar of the boys staying with them at the time.I never thought of them as strong suspects.But I would like to know more on them if someone knows.

I feel it is this blanket he was found in that will Identify him(and DNA)one day.It's the only evidence I feel came directly from the killer,killers.I don't know about the hat or the bassinet box or the sighting of a man and boy.But I feel the blanket came directly from where he was killed.Maybe there is still a picture out there of this blanket or similar ones on the beds in some institution some where.It's starting to look more like this little was from a foster home or childrens home to me.


I looked up Beacon and Esmond Mills Indian Blankets on google and then put it on images.I have done this many many times.I finally saw this blanket.You really have to look to see the pattern.I really wish I could see a color picture of the blanket the boy in the box was found in.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

The boy in the box-someone just named this little boy in the box on youtube and said who killed him.I wonder where he got this.

Does anyone know more on this story and about William "Billy" McGee.Have you ever heard of this?Please let me know.I'm interested in this.What state was his mother from and is he still missing?


Quote
I'll answer your questions. 1) His name is William "Billy" McGee 2) The cause of death is Blunt Force Trauma to the Head 3) A man named Peter Ashford killed him. It was a random killing act, and he was borderline mentally retarded 4) The man scurried to find anything he can put the body into, and the quickest thing he could find was a box 5) No one reported him missing because his mother was an alcoholic and lived 2 states away, and had 4 children, his father left when he was a newborn.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Has anyone heard of William "Billy" McGee or anything about that story?

 

[worldwatcher]

I have read about this boy but if you look at other comments it does say something else:
Quote
This is (was) Johnathan. His "evil mother" paid money for him as an infant. Kept him in the basement of her home until his death. He had an older sister. There was a father there too. No one in that home spoke up for this child. He never left the basement. Neighbors had no clue that there was a second child in that home. The mother was a school librarian. Sister after many, many years....finally broke down and told what had happened. There is a book on this story. Rest in peace little one.

 

[alliemay]

I have read about this boy but if you look at other comments it does say something else:
Quote
This is (was) Johnathan. His "evil mother" paid money for him as an infant. Kept him in the basement of her home until his death. He had an older sister. There was a father there too. No one in that home spoke up for this child. He never left the basement. Neighbors had no clue that there was a second child in that home. The mother was a school librarian. Sister after many, many years....finally broke down and told what had happened. There is a book on this story. Rest in peace little one.

Do you know the name of the book? I'm sure it would an interesting read.

Here is the problem I am having with "M"'s story. Law enforcement would be able to follow this story because they would have access to "M"'s real name and "M"'s parents names. If this boy was sold to "M"s parents as an infant it surly is possible that neighbors would not have known of this child if they kept him in the basement. BUT this boy had several medical treatments that would have required them to physically take him to a hospital and be admitted. All one would need to do is "follow" the family name to see where this family had lived, worked, etc. They would be able to check near by hospitals, doctors, etc. I would think that law enforcement followed this route and reached dead ends and that is why "M"'s story could never really be something confirmed. All of this just my opinion of course.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I have read about this boy but if you look at other comments it does say something else:
Quote
This is (was) Johnathan. His "evil mother" paid money for him as an infant. Kept him in the basement of her home until his death. He had an older sister. There was a father there too. No one in that home spoke up for this child. He never left the basement. Neighbors had no clue that there was a second child in that home. The mother was a school librarian. Sister after many, many years....finally broke down and told what had happened. There is a book on this story. Rest in peace little one.

There are two books written on this little boy in the box.

The boy in the box-The Unsolved Case of Americas's Unknown Child by David Stout
and
The Boy in the box:America's Unknown Child by Jim Hoffmann



I want to state it is a fact this M's story never panned out.They could never prove it.I know I do not believe her.There was never any trace of this little boy ever found with them.None at all.This was only another lead that did not pan out.

 

[worldwatcher]

Thank you Ms Suzanne I never read the books or knew the title's I do think the true identity of the little boy will never be known (for sure)

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Thank you Ms Suzanne I never read the books or knew the title's I do think the true identity of the little boy will never be known (for sure)

I don't believe that.I plan on finding out his real name and giving it to him.I just hope and pray someone else will very seriously re investigate his case again and cares enough about this little one to look into his case again.