While our last case took us over seas, our seventh entry brings us back to Pennsylvania, specifically to Philadelphia. In the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook lies a small gravestone reading: “America’s Unknown Child”, homage to a young victim, never to be named, claimed, or forgotten.

The Boy in the Box. 1957. “The Boy In The Box — Inside The Creepy Unsolved Mystery,” by Katie Serena. Allthatsinteresting, 31 Aug. 2019.

1957: A young hunter sets out to check his traps near a park just north of Philadelphia. As he moves through the brush, he finds a tiny cardboard box, lying discarded on the ground. Inside, the naked body of a small boy, wrapped in a plaid blanket within a discarded baby’s bassinet cardboard box. Fearing that the police would confiscate his illegal traps if he alerted them to the box, the young hunter ignores it, and resumes hunting. Days later a college student comes across the hunting ground and decides to unlock several of the traps, in hopes of keeping the nearby animals safe. He finds the box, and alerts the police.

When the investigation first began, police were hopeful. Described as having blue eyes, fair complexion and medium to light brown crudely cut hair, his nails were neatly trimmed. He had deep bruises covering much of his body and face and experts believe that due to the cold weather, the child may have been lying in that box between 2-3 days to 2 to 3 weeks. Such a young boy (determined to be between the ages of 4-6) had to have a family searching for him, and police were prepared for fingerprint data to reveal his identity.

They were wrong.

In fact, his body showed several signs of abuse and mistreatment. With the help of X-rays, several doctors determined the child had probably been under the age of 5, but he weighed just 30 pounds and stood at only 40.5 inches tall. According to a medical examiner, the Boy in the Box had the body of a child who was just over two-years-old. His hands and feet were wrinkled, indicating he was submerged in water for an extended time just before or after he died.

When they were compared to a national database and local hospital records, no results were ever found. Though the entire city of Philadelphia and the country spread his battered face on over 400,000 flyers, on gas station billboards, on telephone poles, and bus stops, 1,000’s of leads led to no further information about the boy’s identity.

Digital Facial Reconstruction of the Boy in the Box . “Disturbing Facts And Theories About ‘The Boy In The Box’ ,” by Cat McAuliffe. Unspeakable Times, Ranker. Accessed 21 Oct. 2019.

Several theories have popped up over the years.

Investigators have explored the idea that the boy was a foster child who had died accidentally, or perhaps that he was a human trafficking victim. Experts agree that if the case had occurred 10-20 years ago, national news coverage and improvements in DNA evidence would have resulted in a closed case. Either way, it’s incredibly tragic that such a young boy had his life stripped away from him, and that no one had to answer for the crime.

As always, the BuzzFeed Unsolved video delving more in-depth with theories and details is provided here for your viewing. Best of luck with your further reading and theorizing, until next time.