The Boy In The Box

The Boy in the Box

In February 1957, a college student fumbled upon the remains of a young boy in the forests of Philadelphia and reported his gruesome finding to the police. The boy was discovered badly beaten and laid to rest inside an old bassinet box. His identity was unknown.

Many people came forward with knowledge associating to the case, but the police were not eligible to verify anyone’s testimony. One woman, Martha, insisted that her abusive mother bought the boy. Under their roof, he was subjected to physical and sexual misuse. What made the police take attention in Martha’s story was her proficiency of details that had not been released to the public. She contended that soon before the boy was beaten to death, he ate baked beans, which corroborated the autopsy. She also contended that he was bathed before his death, which matched the coroner’s finding of water-pruned fingers. Though Martha’s statement appeared to match the evidence, her significant history of mental illness made her a hazardous witness. 

Another guide came from a psychic who accurately described a foster home near where the boy had been discovered, without ever having seen it. Remington Bristow, a worker at the examiner’s office, followed the psychic’s directions to the foster house. Inside, he found a bassinet matching the explanation of the bassinet box the boy was discovered in. He also discovered blankets identical to the one that was bandaged around the boy’s body. Because there was no substantial implicating evidence against the foster parents, Bristow’s findings were rejected as well. 

62 years later, the case of the Boy in the Box has gone cold. Facial reconstruction technology has given mock images of what the boy might have looked like alive, but no one has ever come ahead to claim him. DNA and dental testing have also been attempted, with no achievement thus far. The identity of the Boy in the Box remains unknown to this day.