America's Unknown Child
Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog. Today is day 5 of Blogtober, and I am covering America’s Unknown Child. He was found in a box in the suburbs of Philadelphia and the case is still unsolved to this day. I am talking about The Boy in the Box. If you want to learn the details behind this mysterious unsolved case, then just keep reading.
In February 1957, a boy’s body was found in the woods, wrapped in a plaid blanket. He was found in the woods of Susquehanna Rd. in the Fox Chase area of Philadelphia PA. The boy was found naked, in a plaid blanket, inside a cardboard box, which once contained a bassinet, sold by J.C. Penny. The boy’s hair was cropped, possibly after death. There were also signs of malnourishment. There were surgical scars on the ankle and groin area and an ‘L’ shaped scar under the chin.
The body was discovered by a young man checking his muskrat traps. He was afraid the police would confiscate his traps, so he did not report the body. A few days later, a college student spotted a rabbit running into the underbrush. He stopped his car to investigate the known animal traps in the area, he discovered the body. He was also reluctant to contact the police, so he didn’t report the body until the following day. Police opened an investigation on February 26, 1957. Fingerprints were taken to identify the boy. The Police were optimistic that he would soon be identified, but no results were found. No one came forward with any information and no local hospitals had any proof he existed.
The Philadelphia Inquirer pressed 400,000 portraying the boy's image. The crime scene was combed over and over by 270 police academy recruits, who discovered a child’s blue corduroy cap, a child’s scarf, and a handkerchief. Everything found led nowhere. The police distributed a post-mortem photograph of the boy fully dressed in a seated position. On March 21, 2016, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released a facial reconstruction of the boy and added him to their database.
Many tips and theories have been advanced in the case, but most have been dismissed. There are two theories that have generated considerable interest among the police and media, and they have been extensively investigated.
**Theory ONE**
The first theory concerns a foster home, that is approximately one and a half miles from the site of the body. In 1960, Remington Bristow, a medical examiner’s office employee, doggedly pursued the case until 1993. He contacted a New Jersey psychic who told him t look for a house that matched the foster home. When the psychic was brought to the site of the body, she led Remington directly to the foster home. Remington discovered a similar bassinet to the one sold at J.C. Penny. He also discovered blankets hanging on the clothesline that was similar to the one the boy’s body was wrapped in. Remington believed that the boy belonged to the step-daughter of the man who ran the foster home. Remington also believes that the step-daughter and step-father disposed of the boy’s body so the step-daughter would not be exposed as an unwed mother. In 1998, Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Tom Augustine, who was in charge of the investigation, interviewed the step-daughter and step-father (who were married…..gross!!). The interview confirmed that the family was not involved in the murder. DNA tests showed that the step-daughter was not the boy’s mother.
**Theory TWO**
The second theory was presented in February 2002 by a woman only identified as Martha or ‘M’. Martha had a history of mental illness, as police were troubled by her testimony. Martha “purchased” the boy (whose name was Johnathan at the time) from his boy’s birth parents in the summer of 1954. The boy was subjected to extreme physical and sexual abuse for two and a half years. One evening during dinner, the boy vomited up his meal and was given a severe beating, with his head slammed against the floor until he was semi-conscious. He then was given a bath during which he died. Details matched information that was only known to police, the coroner had found that the boy's body contained remains of baked beans and his fingers were water wrinkled. Martha’s mother cut the boys long hair to conceal the boy's identity. Martha’s mother then forced Martha to help dump the boy's body in the Fox Chase area. Martha said as they were preparing to remove the body from the trunk of the car, a passing motorist pulled alongside to ask if they need help. Martha was ordered to stand in the front of the license plate to hide it from view while the mother convinced the good samaritan that there wasn’t a problem. Police were unable to verify the story. Neighbors who had access to Martha’s house during the stated time period denied that there was a young boy living there.
The boy in the box was originally buried in a potter’s field. In 1998 the body was exhumed for the purpose of extracting DNA. He was reburied at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook Philadelphia, PA. Coffin, headstone, and funeral service were donated by the son of a man who had buried the boy in 1957. The gravestone bared the words, ‘America’s Unknown Child’.