The ‘Boy in the Box’ was finally identified. DNA may now unravel the mystery of eight others buried next to him

Philadelphia Police are ‘awaiting results’ after taking DNA from eight victims buried in potter’s field who died in suspicious circumstances in a bid to learn their identities, James Liddell writes

Philadelphia Police, FBI and forensic specialists work to exhume bodies at Parkwood Soccer Field/Potters Field for DNA-based testing on September 24 (© 2024 Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer)

After 65 years, “America’s Unknown Child” was finally given his name again: Joseph Augustus Zarelli. But the identities of eight other bodies buried next to him remain unknown, as authorities await DNA results.

Zarelli was just 4 years old when he was found on the side of the road beaten, bruised, and wrapped in a blanket inside a cardboard box in northwest Philadelphia in 1957.

The anonymous little boy was given the sobriquet “The Boy in a Box” and later buried by authorities at potter’s field in the far northeast of the city. Thanks to advancements in DNA technology, Zarelli was finally identified in December 2022.

Hundreds of victims who were murdered or died by suspicious means have been buried at the unassuming location at an intersection near Dunks Ferry over the years.

And now, authorities are hoping to be able to ID more of them. Investigators exhumed samples from eight bodies in potter’s field in September, ranging from children to adults who died as far back as six decades ago. ​​DNA was taken from each of the victims for genealogical tests and sequencing in hopes of learning their identities and, in time, cracking their cold cases.

But in the final days of the year, the victims’ identities are still not clear.

“The exhumed bodies have not been identified at this time,” a spokesperson told The Independent on Wednesday December 18. “DNA samples have been submitted for analysis, and we are still awaiting the results.”

Joseph Augustus Zarelli was murdered in 1957, with his identity not uncovered until 2022 (Philadelphia Police)

The victims include a girl aged between four and six-years-old who was found dead in 1962, an infant boy found in 1983 and three men and three women found between 1972 and 1984.

“When there is an ID, it is satisfying to be able to give that information to the family, to give that closure to the family. Your loved one is now identified,” Ryan Gallagher, assistant director of the Philadelphia Police Department’s forensics unit, told reporters in September.

Police, genetic genealogists, the city Medical Examiner’s Office, and the FBI are amongst those officials who are working together to unravel the mystery of who the eight bodies belong to and how they died, in an operation named the Remains Identification Project.

The dig marked the latest endeavor in the city’s long-running effort to identify some of its unknown dead, who had been buried at the small field since the mid-1950s.

While Zarelli’s case remains open, and his killer was never caught, being able to finally identify him gave authorities cause for optimism with the other eight victims.

A court order was obtained in April 2019 for the boy’s body to be exhumed before he was identified more than three years later.

A gravestone was unveiled for Joseph Augustus Zarelli at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia on January 13, 2023 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“In his very short life, it was apparent that this child experienced horrors that no one, no one should ever be subjected to,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told reporters in December 2022.

Both of Zarelli’s parents are deceased, but he has multiple half-siblings who are still alive, police said.

For the eight unknown victims, police hope they can find family members through DNA and piece the story together like they did for Zarelli.

“All the scientific things that we did in that case, we’re going to be using on the remains we find here,” Inspector Raymond Evers of the Philadelphia Police Department told 6ABC Philadelphia.

Including Zarelli, a total of seven people have been identified who were buried in potter’s field, police said.

After being buried in the potter’s field, with a headstone inscribed with “Heavenly Father, Bless This Unknown Boy, February 25, 1957,” Zarelli was moved to the northwest of the city to a featured spot just inside Ivy Hill Cemetery, under a weeping cherry tree in 1998.

Last year, the cemetery dedicated a new headstone with his name and picture on it on what would have been his 70th birthday.