Joseph Augustus Zarelli

ボーイ・イン・ザ・ボックス　/　ぼーい・いん・ざ・ぼっくす

American public figure

January 13, 1953 – February 25, 1957　・　Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Pennsylvania

My Take

Joseph Augustus Zarelli — I had never heard of him by name, and that's exactly the tragedy. For 65 years he was known only as "America's Unknown Child," a four-year-old boy found in a cardboard box on a Philadelphia roadside in February 1957, beaten and malnourished, with nobody coming forward to claim him. Generations of investigators, forensic artists, and ordinary citizens kept his case alive out of sheer decency, refusing to let him disappear into a statistic. It wasn't until 2022, when DNA genealogy technology finally caught up, that he got his name back: Joseph Augustus Zarelli, born January 13, 1953. The case still isn't fully solved, but at least we can call him by his name now — and that feels like something genuinely human and right.

Overview

Joseph Augustus Zarelli (January 13, 1953 – February 1957), previously known as the "Boy in the Box", the "Boy in a Box" or "America's Unknown Child", was an American four-year-old male whose nude, malnourished and beaten body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957.

1. Profile

Name (English): Joseph Augustus Zarelli
Name (Japanese): ボーイ・イン・ザ・ボックス
Reading: ぼーい・いん・ざ・ぼっくす
Born: January 13, 1953 – February 25, 1957
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Capricorn / Snake
Origin: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: 1 cm
Agency: Private
Occupation: Public figure

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Private

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9C%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9