I read somewhere they thought the child belonged to a nearby family but couldn't prove anything. Unsolved Mysteries did a great story about it and it's so sad he's never been identified.
I read somewhere they thought the child belonged to a nearby family but couldn't prove anything. Unsolved Mysteries did a great story about it and it's so sad he's never been identified.
My friend pointed this story out to me awhile back. So sad.
That is almost the exact theory I have Lisamarie! I think they would have their answer real quick if they could get some DNA from the devlopmentally disabled daughters remains. I keep wondering why they haven't tried that as it seems likely that it would be a simple court decision since it appears that there probably is not any other surviving relatives and they only have the mitochondrial DNA from the boy anyways.
oh my god...how sad...he was just a little boy...
This case is soooo sad. I doubt they will ever solve it though. Even if they do the person that did it may be dead by now. I can't imagine why somebody would do that to a child. You would think a person would be wracked with guilt because, the case has never died. I hope they find out who it was, and this boy gets the justice he deserves.
Who was the mysterious "Boy in the Box"? How did he die? Was his death a tragic accident, or a cruel and deliberate act of child homicide? Who killed him, and why? How did the nude, badly bruised body of this little boy come to be placed inside a cardboard box and dumped in a remote, rubbish-strewn lot on the northern outskirts of Philadelphia? Why didn't anyone report the boy missing? Who were the boy's parents or guardians, and why hadn't they come forward to identify him and claim his body? Will this little boy's true identity ever be known, or will he forever remain "America's Unknown Child"?
http://americasunknownchild.net/
dead pic warning
Last edited by resqx; 05-18-2009 at 11:56 AM.
Good find. Poor kid though, looks like quite a beating!
what part of philly where the box was found
i have seen this before. is it the same one that they decided to dress up in clothes and made to look "alive" to be photographed in a way people might recognize him? i coulda swore...
ah, yes. just saw the picture. its him.
I know I've seen this story on here before, this is where I found it when I read about it. It's so sad, reminds me of the little girl who died in the Barnum & Bailey circus fire and no one ever claimed the little thing
Yep, we've got this one.
Stuff like this can be hard to find around here though, so it's understandable if you search first and it doesn't come up. A tip on finding threads like this where there aren't names to go by: Choose the advanced search option. Pop the year (or some other identifying info that will stand out) into the search box, choose to only search the specific section where the thread should be located and then request results as threads, not posts. In this case, I found it by doing that and using the year 1957 (stated in the link as when he was found.)
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I just learned of this case last month and it forever disturbs me. I only saw a couple of the photos, and I was so disturbed. I want to see more, but I know it will have nightmares(anyone have this dillema? I think its the black and white and a kid in the photos). Couldn't they have found the doctor that performed the iv's?
I don't know if a thread has been started on this, but this is both so heartbreaking and yet so intriguing. Maybe someone somewhere will one day solve this case. But just the same, here's a link:
http://americasunknownchild.net/
I can stomach alot of things, but anything like this makes me very very sick and angry...........
I believe there is; I can try to find it.
It's a horrible story. I sat one day and read most of the theories on the case, and I tend to go with the one about the orphanage nearby. I think the "man" of the house slept with his mentally challenged stepdaughter, producing this child that was never traceable, and one that no one wanted. One of the three of them killed him, probably in a momentary rage, and he was discarded like a piece of trash.
My leanings would be that the jealous wife was the one that did it.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
It is so strange though. He had scars from a previous surgery, someone at one time cared or took care of this boy. What bothers me is that no one has positively identified him no relatives, playmates, or neighbors no one has come forward to say they know who he is, just to give him a name.
Unfortunately there won't be any relatives who come forward... In cases where the death of a child is by a relative then something like this would be avoided. The fact that no one has come forward points to his death as being caused by his parents (if a relative had caused it more than likely the parents would have eventually come forward). Even if there were siblings, they were probably too young or brainwashed into believing that something else had happened to him.
This just breaks my heart! I had never heard about this case before tonight. Isnt there some DNA on him that may still be viable? It cant be too late to find out who he is!
I posted in this thread last night, with the link to the original thread & a few comments. POOF I was banned from teh internets ALL NIGHT!! Waaahhh I don't know what happened!!
I was so mad!
It thought it was the Layne Staley bio
The 57th anniversary of the discovery of the Boy In The Box is coming up this Friday. I hope one day someone comes forward and he is able to be identified. Its just so heartbreaking that he was killed and looks like he was beaten (my assumption) and then discarded like trash on the side of the road.
Such a long time.
The parent(s) of this child would really be getting up there in age by now (if alive).
Wonder what happened to the movie they were going to make.
Last edited by endsleigh03; 02-23-2011 at 03:58 PM.
This is the type of case I don't want to die, not knowing what happen ya know. Its like i gotta find out whats up by the time i parish. It is so mind boggling that some things can just disappear like nothing happen, exist..etc
I hope it never does die and they find out who he is. I just can't see how this adorable child existed for at least 4 years , seemingly with semi serious medical issues and NO ONE will come forward with any information?? Hell, an anonymous submissiom of concrete information would work, pictures, birth certificate with foot prints, ANYTHING. I guess if it was my brother and I knew what had happened I would not let him sit all these years with no dignity and no name. I am sure this is THE FAMILY SECRET of the century for this family but really 57 years have gone by , its time to let the little guy be at peace.
I went over to look because I've always been interested in this one too.
The 2008 reference turns out to actually be a reference to a film production company with that name and only one (completely unrelated) project under it's belt.
There is something listed with that title as a 2005 work of the horror genre but it doesn't have any synopsis to it yet. And while what the boy went through no doubt would fit 'horror', I'd think a film would be done as a drama more than anything, if you know what I mean.
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Wow, don't know how I missed this one but it's the first I've heard of it.
First thing that struck me was how... how miserable this child looked. I know, nobody dies looking cheerful, but he just seemed so pathetically unhappy somehow. And seeing how he went through surgeries and apparent abuse and malnutrition, he probably was. His facial expression is hard to look at, as is the photo where they dressed him and placed him in a sitting position... that's kind of creepy. I get why they did it, but I sure as hell am glad I'm not the one who had to do it... unfathomable.
I think the woman "Mary"'s account made more sense than the orphanage one. I mean, a crib in an orphanage just doesn't raise any alarms to me. And didn't they say all the children were accounted for? Not saying it couldn't have happened, it just seems they're reaching. When this Mary, when she talked about memorizing the way so that she could later come back for him, then that route being confirmed, that's a pretty good lead (I mean, it's better than the orphanage thing, to me.) Her story just made sense (as much sense as a story like this CAN make, that is.) Even explains the water-logged condition of the body... it's all there. Whether Mary was all there, well that I don't know.
I think the fact that they cut his hair before dumping him is significant, but I can't figure out why.
Also, I'm surprised they posted pictures of a dead child, particularly in that era. Must've horrified the children who saw it. Hell, it horrified me just now, and I actually Google dead pictures. This one, though? Coulda went all day without seeing this one.
Thanks for putting this one out here; it's positively haunting.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul! (Invictus)
(And Timothy McVeigh's last words...)
I never heard of this one either. It's so sad to me that the only one
that seem to love this little guy was the cop who tried to find out
who he was. How tragic.
Its very tragic and has always bothered me from the time I discovered the story about 10 years ago. So every February 25th I say a little prayer that someone will come forward with his name and that he will finally be able to rest.
Rest in peace, little one.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
His death picture scares the hell out of me. Yet, still. I really wish they would solve the case. So tragic.
You robbed an international house of pancakes. How waffle-Harry T. Stone
Twitter: @rchamberlain87 Follow me if you want. Just play nice.
Only the good die young....
I know it's been a while since anything has been said on this thread but I read something today that some people may be interested in.
Here in the UK there is a spiritual magazine called Fate & Fortune. Every month a psychic looks into unsolved crimes to see if she can solve them and has had mixed success. Now while many people rubbish this type of thing, there are others who truly believe in it and this month she concentrates on the boy who was found and I thought I would post what she 'discovered' for you to make your own minds up.
This is allegedly what happened:
According to her guides it was not his family who killed him. They actually loved him so much that in 1956 they fled from Hungary to the US to give him and their five other children a better chance. The father was unable to find work however and a couple took in the boy for them. They promised to care for him but in fact the couple were cruel and beat him so severely one night because he was upset taking a bath and because he was already so weak from hunger it was enough to kill the boy and they dumped his body in a lane.
The corduroy hat found at the scene was dropped by a passerby and had nothing to do with the case.
At the end it does say he is reunited with his parents and is now happy that they are altogether again so there is a bit of a happy ending even if you have to squint to find it.
Like i said, to each your own but I figured some people would be interested.
Last edited by Shellie; 10-11-2014 at 02:39 PM. Reason: Spelling
It's certainly possible the boy was the child of transients, even immigrant workers from central Europe, and perhaps they made an unfortunate choice in caretakers, like Sylvia Likens's carny parents. It's a common enough scenario. But it still does not account for the evidence of medical care, the haircut, the manicure and pedicure, and the oddly "loving" posing of the bruised body wrapped in a blanket.
My personal bet is the odd couple-- the mentally-disabled daughter involved with her stepfather. One supposes they would have given him at least adequate care, even in secrecy (maybe going out of the area to doctors who would not have asked questions), until he was old enough to get in their way, assert his little personality, and attract unwanted attention.
If he had developmental issues himself (possible if his mother was herself born impaired and the boy had needed surgeries at such an early age) that, sadly, could have been a motive., though the seemingly hasty disposal in the open, if isolated, area indicates an impulsive, unintentional murder. Why didn't they just bury him out there, and take all the evidence with them?
Could be, someone WANTED him to be found and properly buried, but did not want to take the risk of discovery and scandal. Whoever it was may even have known about the young man who allegedly went "rabbit-chasing"-- it was suggested that he was actually going to peep at, or meet, a "wayward girl" from the Catholic home. That might not have been the ONLY time he went hiking around that area, and the place was often used as a dumping ground. At any rate, there was a fair chance the boy's body would be found before the winter was over.
Whoever was responsible did NOT count on the obsessive, decades-long interest in the case.
I guess there were no nibbles to do a mitochondrial DNA test there, or nobody could or would pay for the whole process?
Forever a child, even though he'd be in his sixties now if he had lived.
Last edited by Linnie; 10-13-2014 at 06:32 PM.
There were two surgical scars on the boy (ankle and groin). Maybe they should have checked local medical records.
New info, could police be getting closer to a name and finding relatives of the unknown boy?
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/inves...FlowFB_PHBrand
I know, Cindy, what got me watching the new info video is the "brother" didn't want to be shown or make a statement as he wanted nothing to do with the case, if that was my brother I would be all like heck yeah let's see if it really is my brother, here take my DNA. I have a feeling that the man they showed, is the unknown boy's father.
This is so sad, imagine what that little boy suffered.