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Philadelphia's "Boy in the Box Mystery" shows why police in every jurisdiction across this country should examine their cold-case-deaths files to determine whether evidence still exists that, with the help of the emerging field of genetic genealogy, could prove productive in helping to unlock the most important long-elusive facts, evidence and secrets of those cases.
The naked, badly bruised body of the boy in question, which had been wrapped in a blanket and placed inside a large JCPenney bassinet box, was found on Feb. 25, 1957, in a wooded area of the City of Brotherly Love.
According to police, the boy was malnourished and the child had been beaten to death.
Authorities at that time believed that, considering all the publicity that had surrounded the case, including hundreds, if not thousands, of posters displayed and otherwise publicized showing the face of the deceased boy, surely someone would come forward to reveal his true identity.
Instead, weeks turned into months, months turned into years and years turned into decades, with authorities concluding eventually, although clinging to hope otherwise, that the case never would be solved -- that The Boy in the Box would forever be "America's Unknown Child."
The latter "identity" was attached to the boy after his remains were exhumed in November 1998 from the potter's field in which they initially were interred. The purpose of the exhumation was to extract tissue samples for DNA analysis.
The remains subsequently were re-buried at a different location as "America's Unknown Child," but having the DNA evidence in hand did not bring the case to the quick closure for which authorities had hoped.
Instead, the 20th century ended and the 21st century began. Still nothing -- until last December, when advances in DNA and online genealogy records yielded the child's name: Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
A new gravestone bearing the boy's name was unveiled Jan. 13 at Philadelphia's Ivy Hill Cemetery -- on what would have been Joseph's 70th birthday.
Having unlocked the mystery of the boy's identity, police have shifted their attention toward uncovering details about how he died, even though there is little, if any, hope of making an arrest or arrests. Both of the boy's parents are deceased; he has living siblings, however.
The boy's age at the time of his death has been estimated at 4.
Police in Philadelphia, having achieved such a breakthrough in a case so old, provide incentive for other police agencies across America to dust off long-forgotten cold-case evidence binders and examine whether new hope now might exist for solving any of those cases.
Thus, advancements in DNA and genealogy science are a source of hope for many people still seeking closure for cases that have perplexed authorities for years or decades. For many adoptees, those scientific advancements have brought hope of finally meeting their biological parents, although some biological parents choose not to have any contact with a child they gave up for adoption.
For those who want no contact, then, this new science has dealt them anxiety over the prospect of not being able to avoid an unwanted meeting. For those who have committed a serious crime, the issue is the possibility of finally being brought to justice.
That "Boy in the Box," the subject of an Associated Press article, deserves not to be forgotten, though, regardless of one's own personal opinion or vantage point.