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For 65 Years, He Was Known As "The Boy In The Box." Now, We Finally Know His Real Name
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Jul 16, 2025
For 65 Years, He Was Known As "The Boy In The Box." Now, We Finally Know His Real Name. For over six decades, the identity of a young boy found murdered inside a cardboard box in Philadelphia haunted a nation. Known only as "The Boy in the Box" or "America's Unknown Child," his case remained one of the oldest and most heartbreaking cold cases in American history. Generations of detectives and countless citizen sleuths tried in vain to uncover his name and the truth behind his tragic death. In this video, we delve into the chilling details of this enduring mystery, from the initial shocking discovery in 1957 to the tireless efforts of investigators over the years. We explore the dead ends, the frustrating lack of leads, and the unwavering determination to give this forgotten child back his identity. Finally, after 65 long years, a groundbreaking development in forensic genealogy has cracked the case wide open. Join us as we reveal the long-lost name of "The Boy in the Box" and explore the new questions that arise from this incredible breakthrough. What happened to Joseph Augustus Zarelli? And what secrets remain buried in the past? This is the story of a tragedy, a mystery, and the relentless pursuit of justice for a boy who was never meant to be forgotten. 👉 If you were moved by this story, please like, subscribe, and share to help keep Joseph's memory alive. Hit the notification bell for more incredible true crime stories! 🔔 Hit the bell next to Subscribe so you never miss a video! ❤️ Like, Comment and Subscribe if you are new to the channel! Join Our Family For More Exclusive Content and Perks : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOaD4JxNYk29LHbHTOx3SQA/join 🔗 More Amazing Stories from Our Channel: ✅ Man Walks 20 Miles To Work Until One Day Cop Follows Him And Sees Why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHlFcQ0OF8g
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0:00
In February of 1,957
0:03
in a quiet wooded area in the Foxchase
0:06
neighborhood of Philadelphia, a young
0:08
college student was checking the Muskrat
0:10
traps he had set. As he walked through
0:11
the underbrush, he spotted something out
0:13
of place. It was a large cardboard box.
0:16
The kind of new appliance might come in
0:18
discarded in the woods. Cautious but
0:20
curious, he approached it. When he
0:22
looked inside, he was met with a sight
0:24
so grim and so heartbreaking that it
0:27
would go on to haunt the city of
0:28
Philadelphia for the next 65 years.
0:30
Inside the box lay the body of a small
0:33
unclothed boy between 4 and 6 years old.
0:36
He was bruised and malnourished, but he
0:38
had been recently bathed and his hair
0:40
had been crudely cut. There was no
0:42
identification, no clues to who he was
0:44
or how he got there. This was the
0:46
beginning of one of America's most
0:47
profound cold cases, the decadesl long,
0:50
desperate search for the identity of the
0:52
boy who would come to be known only as
0:55
the boy in the box or America's unknown
0:58
child. But before we start our story,
1:00
smash that like button, make sure you're
1:02
subscribed, and hit the notifications
1:04
bell so you won't miss any of our new
1:06
incredible stories. To understand why
1:08
this case became such an enduring and
1:10
impenetrable mystery, we must first step
1:12
into the world of police work and
1:13
forensic science as it existed in the
1:16
1,950s.
1:18
This was an era before DNA testing,
1:20
before national computerized databases,
1:22
before the sophisticated tools that
1:24
modern detectives take for granted. When
1:26
a body was found, identification relied
1:29
on a handful of traditional methods,
1:31
fingerprints, dental records, and visual
1:33
identification by family or friends. If
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a victim had no prior criminal record,
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no dental history on file, and no one
1:40
came forward to claim them, they could
1:42
easily become a ghost, a John or Jane
1:45
Doe, whose life story was a complete
1:47
blank. The investigators of the
1:49
Philadelphia Police Department, who were
1:50
assigned this case in 1,957,
1:54
were some of the best in the country,
1:55
but they were about to come up against a
1:57
wall of silence that would stand for
1:59
more than half a century. The initial
2:00
investigation was one of the largest in
2:02
the city's history. The crime scene was
2:04
meticulously processed. The box itself
2:07
provided the first clue. It was a
2:09
packing box for a bassinet, a type of
2:12
baby cradle that had been purchased from
2:14
a local JC Penney department store. But
2:16
thousands of these bassinets had been
2:18
sold, and tracing this specific box
2:21
proved to be impossible. The medical
2:22
examiner determined that the boy was
2:24
severely malnourished, and his body was
2:26
covered in small scars and bruises,
2:28
suggesting a life of abuse and neglect.
2:30
Yet paradoxically, he was also clean.
2:33
Someone had bathed and cared for him
2:35
shortly before his death. His blonde
2:37
hair had been recently and crudely cut.
2:39
Who would abuse a child, yet also wash
2:42
him? The contradictions were baffling.
2:43
The police launched an unprecedented
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publicity campaign to identify the boy.
2:47
They took the heartbreaking step of
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releasing a post-mortem photograph of
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the boy dressed and sitting in a chair,
2:54
hoping that someone somewhere would
2:56
recognize his face. The image was
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haunting. His posters were plastered all
3:00
over Philadelphia and the surrounding
3:01
states. In a truly massive effort, the
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city enclosed a flyer with the boy's
3:06
picture and description inside every
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single gas bill that was sent out to
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Philadelphia residents. His face entered
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nearly every home in the city. The story
3:15
was front page news. Detectives followed
3:17
up on hundreds and then thousands of
3:20
tips and leads. They checked the records
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of every orphanage, foster home, and
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hospital in the region, but nothing. It
3:27
was as if the boy had never existed. No
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parent, no relative, no neighbor, no
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school teacher ever came forward to say,
3:33
"I know that child." The silence was
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absolute and chilling. As the years
3:38
turned into decades, the case grew
3:40
colder, but it was never forgotten. It
3:42
became a piece of Philadelphia folklore,
3:44
a defining civic mystery that was passed
3:46
down from one generation of detectives
3:48
to the next. The original investigators
3:50
retired, handing their thick, dogeared
3:52
case files to younger detectives who
3:54
became equally obsessed with giving the
3:57
boy back his name. The case attracted
3:58
the attention of citizen detectives and
4:00
forensic experts from all over the
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world. A group of retired police
4:04
officers and investigators called the
4:06
Vidok Society, who specialize in solving
4:08
cold cases, took on the boy in the box
4:11
as one of their signature cases,
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dedicating thousands of hours to
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re-examining the evidence. Over the
4:16
decades, a number of theories emerged,
4:18
some more plausible than others. One
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major theory centered on a nearby foster
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home. A woman came forward claiming that
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her abusive mother, who ran the foster
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home, had purchased the boy in the
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1,950s
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and had subjected him to horrific abuse,
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eventually killing him accidentally and
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dumping his body in the box. The story
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was detailed and compelling, but
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investigators could never find enough
4:41
corroborating evidence to prove it.
4:42
Another theory involved a woman known
4:44
only as M, who claimed she had witnessed
4:47
her mother purchase the boy and keep him
4:48
in the basement and that she was present
4:50
when he died. This lead also consumed
4:52
years of investigation, but ultimately
4:54
led to a dead end. Every promising lead
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seemed to dissolve into rumor and
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speculation. In 1,998,
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with the advent of early DNA technology,
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the boy's body was exumed from his grave
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in a potter's field where his tombstones
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simply read, "Heavenly Father, bless
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this unknown boy." Investigators were
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able to extract a DNA sample, but when
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they ran it through the national DNA
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databases, there were no matches. The
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technology was still in its infancy, and
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the trail went cold once more. The boy
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was rearied and it seemed as though his
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identity was destined to remain a
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mystery forever. A heartbreaking symbol
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of a life that was lived and lost in
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complete anonymity. But in the 21th
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century, another scientific revolution
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was about to give the case one last
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desperate chance. This new hope came
5:42
from the field of forensic genealogy.
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It's a revolutionary technique that
5:45
combines DNA analysis with traditional
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genealogical research. Instead of
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looking for an exact match in a criminal
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database, investigators upload the
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victim's DNA profile to public genealogy
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websites like GED Match or Ancestry DNA
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sites where millions of people have
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voluntarily submitted their own DNA to
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find relatives and build their family
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trees. The goal is not to find the
6:08
person themselves, but to find a
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relative, a second cousin, a third
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cousin, a distant ancestor who shares a
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segment of their DNA. Once a distant
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relative is found, genealogologists can
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then begin the painstaking work of
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building out that person's family tree,
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moving forward through time, generation
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by generation, until they can pinpoint
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the specific branch of the family where
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the unknown person must belong. It is
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incredibly complex work, but it has been
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used to solve dozens of cold cases,
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including identifying the infamous
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Golden State Killer. In 2019, with a
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court order, the boy in the box was
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exumed for a second and final time.
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Scientists at a specialized lab took the
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old DNA samples and used cuttingedge
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techniques to build a complete genetic
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profile suitable for genealogical
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comparison. The profile was uploaded.
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The hunt for America's unknown child had
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entered its final high-tech chapter. The
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team of forensic genealogologists now
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held the key. For the first time, they
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had a clean, complete DNA profile of the
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boy. They uploaded this genetic
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fingerprint to vast public genealogy
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databases. Then they began the long and
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patient wait. This new type of
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investigation is like searching for a
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single person in a forest of millions of
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family trees. The hope was not to find
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an exact match for the boy himself, but
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to find a distant leaf on a distant
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branch, second, third, or even fourth
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cousin who had submitted their own DNA
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and shared a common ancestor with the
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unknown child. After months of searching
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and cross- referencing, they got a hit.
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It wasn't a close relative, but it was a
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start. They had found a match on the
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boy's maternal side. This is where the
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painstaking traditional detective work
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began. Now guided by the power of
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genetics, the genealogologists took the
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name of this distant cousin and began to
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build their family tree, working
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backwards through time using birth
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certificates, marriage licenses, census
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data, and obituaries. They were mapping
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out a family's entire history. As they
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built this maternal family tree, they
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began to look for women who were of
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childbearing age in the Philadelphia
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area in the mid 1,950s.
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They narrowed down the possibilities
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until they had a likely candidate for
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the boy's mother. They then repeated the
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entire laborious process on the boy's
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paternal side, eventually identifying
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his likely father. They now had the
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names of the two people who were almost
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certainly the parents of the boy in the
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box. With these names, they were able to
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obtain a crucial document, the boy's
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original birth certificate. After 65
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years of silence, the boy finally had a
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name. On a cold December day in 2022,
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the Philadelphia Police Department held
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a press conference that was broadcast
8:44
around the world. The city and indeed
8:46
the nation had waited for this moment
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for over six decades. The police
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commissioner stepped up to the podium.
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She spoke of the generations of
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detectives who had worked tirelessly on
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the case, of the public who had never
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forgotten the boy, and of the
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revolutionary science that had finally
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broken the wall of silence. And then she
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said the words that so many had longed
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to hear. She announced that America's
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unknown child, the boy in the box, had
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been identified. His name was Joseph
9:12
Augustus Zerelli. He was born on January
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13th, 1,953.
9:18
The revelation of his name was a
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profoundly emotional moment. A boy who
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had only ever been a symbol of tragedy,
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a nameless face on a poster, was now
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finally a person. He was Joseph. The
9:30
investigation had given him back his
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humanity. With his identity confirmed,
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the focus of the case shifted
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immediately from who is he to the second
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darker question, what happened to him?
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The police were now able to reveal more
9:42
details about his family. They confirmed
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that Joseph had been born into a
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prominent local family. Both of his
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parents were now deceased, but he had
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living siblings. In another
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heartbreaking twist, the police confirm
9:53
that these living siblings had no idea
9:55
their brother had ever existed. This
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suggests a story of a secret child born
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outside of a marriage or hidden from the
10:01
rest of the family for reasons we may
10:03
never fully know. The police have stated
10:05
that they know what happened to Joseph,
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but that the details of the
10:09
investigation remain confidential. It is
10:11
still an active homicide investigation.
10:13
The abuse and malnourishment he suffered
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point to a dark and tragic home life.
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But who's responsible? and why was his
10:20
existence kept a secret? The full truth
10:22
of his short sad life may be a secret
10:24
that died with his parents. But the work
10:27
of the investigators provided something
10:28
that is perhaps just as important as a
10:31
conviction in a courtroom. It provided
10:33
justice for Joseph himself. In January
10:35
of 2023, a new headstone was placed on
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his grave. For 65 years, his grave had
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been a memorial to an anonymous victim.
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The tombstone now bears his real name.
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It reads, "Joseph Augustus Zerelli, and
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beneath his name, a simple, powerful
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appetit that had been on the previous
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stone, but now carries a new weight.
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America's unknown child has been crossed
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out and replaced with the words,"
11:01
America's known child. The search was
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over. The story of the boy in the box is
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a powerful and enduring saga. It is a
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story of a tragedy that captured the
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heart of a city and refused to be
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forgotten. It is a testament to the
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incredible dedication of generations of
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law enforcement officers and
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investigators who treated the unknown
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boy as one of their own and never gave
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up the search for his name. And finally,
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it is a stunning example of the power of
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modern science to reach back in time and
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solve the coldest of cases, to give a
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voice to the voiceless, and to restore
11:32
an identity that was stolen. The boy is
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no longer just a figure in a box, a
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symbol of a mystery. He is Joseph. And
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now finally after more than half a
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century of silence the world can
11:43
remember him by his name.
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