Crime Stories

The Boy in the Box - America's Unknown Child

On February 25, 1957 the body of a young boy between the ages of 3 and 7 was found inside of a large cardboard box in a wooded area in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The box was left on top of a pile of trash off Susquehanna Road. His body was found by a college student checking for a potential rabbit trip after he saw one run under a bush. The boy was malnourished and showed signs of being abused; he had bruises covering his entire body, his lips were cracked and bloody, and he was nude when he was found. Whoever dumped his body hastily cut his hair, leaving clumps clinging to his body. He is often referred to as "America's Unknown Child."

The child was found wrapped in a unique, potentially handmade plaid blanket tucked inside of a J.C. Penny bassinet box that once held the boy's bed. The bassinet had been purchased from a J.C. Penny store 15 miles from where his body was discovered. Only twelve of those specific bassinets were purchased between December 25, 1956 and February 16, 1957; eight of the twelve purchasers came forward but the remaining four were never identified due to the store's 'cash-only' policy at the time of the purchase. The store owner claimed that the man who bought the bassinet was between the ages of 25-30 and bought the box while alone.

A few solid theories surfaced around the young boys death including a foster home in close proximity to where he was found homing a young girl who gave birth to a son out of wedlock; when she was interviewed decades later she admitted that her son did die in 1957. However, blood tests were done and proved that he was not her son. A Philadelphia medical examiner, Remington Bristow originally theorized that the daughter of the man that owned the foster home had the boy in secret and when the boy died they disposed of the body in order to protect their family secret.

A woman by the name of "M" claimed that her mother bought the boy from his birth parents in the summer of 1954. She claimed the boy endured horrible physical and sexual abuse by the hands of her mother and even claimed on the night he died, he was beaten to the point of unconsciousness because he vomited up his dinner of baked beans. He was then given a bath in which he died. She stated that her mother then cut off all of his hair in an effort to throw off police in discovering his identity, bathed him to get rid of any forensic evidence, then hid his body inside of his bassinet box before they dumped his body in a wooded area.

Despite her seeming to know information on the boy, her testimony was not taken seriously due to her mental illness.

In 1961, Irene and Kenneth Dudley were investigated by Philadelphia authorities after seven of their ten children died from severe malnourishment, neglect, and exposure after which they proceeded to dump them in wooded areas in order to avoid being prosecuted. Despite being neglectful to their own children, they were eventually ruled out as suspects.

Despite no one ever claiming his body, he was reburied in the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia after he was exhumed for DNA extraction in 1998. His tombstone, coffin, and funeral service were donated by the son of the man who originally buried him in 1957.

Credit: Cold Case