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

[Susikatze]

The maternal uncle was still alive at the time of identification. I still wonder what he knew and what he could tell police.

You bet he knew zero. Times were very hush hush then and having an older sister who was already a “fallen girl” after 3 out of wedlock pregnancies from 3 different men over few years who was just trying to repair her reputation by marrying the man who fathered her last child (not JAZ, his younger half sibling) while married to someone else - you bet she did not share much about her past. Also I believe this brother was much younger than her. He possibly only knew his sister was married and had several kids and never knew she had children before that marriage who „disappeared“. Her first out of wedlock baby also was never accounted for, supposedly it was adopted out but noone really knew details.

jmoo

 

[Bounceycat]

You bet he knew zero. Times were very hush hush then and having an older sister who was already a “fallen girl” after 3 out of wedlock pregnancies from 3 different men over few years who was just trying to repair her reputation by marrying the man who fathered her last child (not JAZ, his younger half sibling) while married to someone else - you bet she did not share much about her past. Also I believe this brother was much younger than her. He possibly only knew his sister was married and had several kids and never knew she had children before that marriage who „disappeared“. Her first out of wedlock baby also was never accounted for, supposedly it was adopted out but noone really knew details.

jmoo

I seem to recall this brother worked with her husband and/or rode to work with him around the time JAZ died. I do think he was very aware of his existence. JMO.

 

[Susikatze]

I seem to recall this brother worked with her husband and/or rode to work with him around the time JAZ died. I do think he was very aware of his existence. JMO.

I dont remember reading that. The husband (JAZ stepfather) was a cinema manager.

 

[worldwatcher]

Maybe it's posted before, but this video gives a quick update, about what is known / shared about JAZ biological parents.....


 February 24, 2023

Loved Ones Reveal More About the Family of ‘Boy in the Box' Joseph Augustus Zarelli​

After 65 years, the “Boy in the Box” was finally identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli in December. However, questions still remain about the boy’s parents. NBC10 investigative reporter Claudia Vargas speaks with loved ones to learn more about Joseph’s family.


Loved Ones Reveal More About the Family of ‘Boy in the Box' Joseph Augustus Zarelli

 

[Bounceycat]

I dont remember reading that. The husband (JAZ stepfather) was a cinema manager.

The brother JA lived with Betsy and drove a cab share with Betsy's husband, iirc. Unless JAZ was living with someone else from the time JA moved in, he would have known him.. The cross streets the police gave in the presser lead straight to Betsy and her husband, correct? So that leads me to believe they think JAZ *was* living with them at the time he died.

 

[Lebowski]

when i was more plugged into this case a year or so ago, it seemed clear to me it was as solved as it was gonna get. we'll never know exactly what happened, but the rough outlines are pretty guessable.

the police have all but said JAZ was living with his mother and her bf/fiance (not JAZ's bio-dad) at the time he was killed. (they said he was living in an apartment near a certain intersection -- and it's public information from old phone books or whatever that BA lived right by that intersection.)

now, what are the statistics on who the perps turn out to be when children are murdered? especially if it turns out the caregivers never reported the child missing? draw your own conclusions.

now, who, specifically, did what? statistics would point more to the non-bio father, i think. both because he's non-bio and because he's a man. however i buy the interpretation of injuries and circumstantial evidence from the scene that says JAZ was being given a home hair cut when the adult got frustrated that he wouldn't sit still and lashed out in anger, causing the fatal injuries. who's giving a home hair cut in the 1950s? i think that's mom. also, he was bathed and had his nails trimmed around the same time, and i think that's also mom.

 

[airportwoman]

They didn't live in low income housing. It's low income now, but not back then. The apartments were built as luxury apartments in the early 20th Century because they they were next to the train. As cars became widely used, the apartments gradually declined. They had about average rent in 1950.

There are no census records available. The only thing would possibly be rent records, but in most cases those have long been destroyed. There would be his sister's birth certificate, which I think would be the most revealing. Law enforcement has this.

I know I'm responding to an old post, but maybe a city directory would be helpful.

 

[Friday Fan]

I know I'm responding to an old post, but maybe a city directory would be helpful.

Someone found an old phone directory. There is a reference in an old post. However, the directory doesn't list children's names. I believe the phone was in her name.

I think the post may have been deleted. The person worked hard going through those old phone books. I believe the phone number was from one year only, at the known address, in the mother's name. They are not listed in another directory at any other time. It was assumed they had unlisted numbers going forward.