Girl theory: Why not just trim the child's hair? Why butcher it so that it was obvious that his hair had been cut?
Another question: Why not bury the child?
IMO: Who ever left this child, was either not strong enough to bury the child or was in a desperate hurry to get rid of the body. I also think they were confident that they would not be linked to the child or they would have taken more care to hide the body. Maybe the murder, the haircut, the disposal was all done in a panic, but I am not convinced about the "raised as a girl" theory.
I may be grasping at straws, but were there any religious sects around that kept boys hair longer than the "norm" for the day and age? Also do any of the articles suggest how long of hair they found on the boy? Are we talking 6 inches? 3 inches? 1?
I know this question will be controversial, I don't mean any disrespect: The Amish are in Pennsylvania and my understanding is that they keep boys hair longer than what would have been "standard" for the time. Would an Amish community allow medical treatment on a child? I know Amish communities are peaceful. I also know they separate themselves from society in a lot of ways. In the 50's would the Amish community have gotten the news reports about this child? Is it possible that one of their own could have left the community after "accidentally" killing their child? And go undetected because of the isolation of their community?
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_in_the_Box_%28Philadelphia%29"M"'s story
The second major theory is one brought forward in February, 2002 by a woman identified only as "M." She claimed that her abusive mother purchased the unknown boy, named "Jonathan," from his birth parents in the summer of 1954. Subsequently, the youngster was subjected to extreme physical and sexual abuse for two and a half years, then killed in a fit of rage by slamming him to the floor after he vomited in the bathtub.
What is an ECT? Epilepsy?
I am wondering about the scars that were supposedly from medical treatments, especially the ones around the ankles.