The Boy in the Box mystery is getting closer to being solved

The Boy in the Box mystery is getting closer to being solved.

The 65-year-old case is Philadelphia’s oldest unsolved case. Now the police know who the boy who was found dead in a box was.

Through DNA technology and police work, the police were able to identify the boy as Joseph Augustus Zarrelli. The police also determined that the boy was born in 1953, which means he was four years old when he was killed.

The forensic scientist also reconstructed the boy’s face.

How was the “boy in the box” found?

The Boy in the Box was found dead in a cardboard box in Philadelphia, USA in 1957. He was naked, wrapped in a blanket and had wounds all over his body – but no one knew who he was.

The boy was then buried in a local cemetery and the words “Father God to this unknown boy” are inscribed on his tombstone.

Police have since followed hundreds of leads and twice exhumed the boy’s body from the ground for DNA testing, but have failed to come close to a solution. Theories were running that he was kidnapped in a grocery store and that he was a Hungarian refugee.

The mystery “haunts this community,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told a news conference when the boy’s identity was revealed.

Now the search for clues continues. The boy’s killer is still unknown.