TRIGGER WARNING:
This article contains real facts on a violent and hard to read case. Please understand that you are reading this at your own will.
On February 25, 1957, a boy between the ages of 3 and 7 years old was found in a cardboard box in the woods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two people had actually seen the body before it ever got reported, due to the fact that both of them were participating in activities that could get them in trouble with the police. On February 26th, an investigation had been opened an investigation on this poor, little boy that had been found.
His body had been found wrapped up in a blanket and placed inside a box that was originally for a bassinet that was purchased at JC Penny. The medical examiner reported that his entire body was covered in bruises and that he had received multiple blows to the head before his death. His hair had recently been buzzed off, and some clumps of his own hair were found stuck to his body. There were surgical scars found on his ankle, groin, and even an L shaped one underneath his chin. The boy only weighed about 30 pounds and was 40 inches tall, which made it obvious that he was very malnourished.
His lips were extremely chapped and dry, his ribs were showing through his chest, and he had some sort of eye infection. His exact time of death is undetermined, due to the fact that Philadelphia was extremely cold at the time, and was able to preserve his body. His fingerprints were taken and hundreds of thousands of flyers were put up, and also sent out across the country in hopes of finding out who this little boy is. After no one came forward, his body was then dressed, posed, and photographed in hopes of someone recognizing him if he appeared alive. Unfortunately, he was still not identified.
The first theory as to who this boy was, is that he had come from a foster home. The medical examiner had gotten into contact with a psychic, who then told him that there was a man and a woman who turned a mansion into a foster home, and that they were pretty sure this is where the boy came from. The foster home was located a mile and a half away from where the boy's body was found. The family that owned the foster home eventually moved away and had an estate sale. A bassinet that would have been in the box that the boy was found in was found inside the foster home.
The blankets that were hanging on the clothesline, completely matched the blanket that the boy was found wrapped up in. The medical examiner developed the theory that the man of the house's step daughter gave birth to the boy out of wedlock, which was looked down upon in this time. The medical examiner said that instead of accepting the child for who he was, they decided to get rid of him. Unfortunately in 1998, DNA tests were conducted and this theory was ruled out.
Another theory was developed and it said that the boy belonged to a man named Kenneth Dudley and his wife Irene. In 1961, an investigation into his family began. They had 10 children total and they were strongly investigated, due to the fact that their 7 year old daughter had been found dead from malnutrition and neglect. The girl was not buried, but instead was wrapped up in a blanket and left in the woods, exactly like the boy that was found. It had been realized that 7 out of the 10 Dudley children had died from malnutrition and neglect, and none of them had been properly buried.
Unfortunately, none of the children ended up being the boy. The next theory and the most plausible one is a story that came from a woman named "M". In 2002, "M" had came forward and said that her mother had been physically and sexually abusive when she was a child. She stated that her mother had purchased the boy, who they called Jonathan. She said that her mother purchased him in the summer of 1954, which means the boy was no younger than 3 years old.
"M" said that the boy was physically and sexually abused by her mother, and was forced to live in their basement. This explains his malnutrition and why his body appeared to be younger than he actually was. "M" claimed that one night they ate baked beans for dinner and that the boy had gotten very sick, which made her mother extremely angry, and caused her to repeatedly throw the boy against the floor. She said that the boy fell unconscious, and was placed in the bathtub by her mother to be washed off. Sometime during the bath, the boy passed away.
The story from "M" completely stunned everyone due to some unreleased information stating that the boy was found with baked beans in his stomach and his fingertips were shriveled up. "M" also said that her mother cut his hair, because his most distinctive trait was that he had long, flowing hair. "M" then said that she was forced to help get rid of his body, but a man had pulled up and asked then if they needed any help when they were going to dump his body in the woods. "M" stood in front of their license plate so it couldn't be tracked back to them, and the man left after being told that they didn't need any help. A man had come forward and said that he did see them on the side of the road that day.
Police had went and talked to "M's" neighbors at the time and they said that they had never seen a boy in all of the times that they went to their house. Unfortunately, "M" had suffered with mental illness in the past, which made the police more hesitant to believe her story. However, another theory goes hand in hand with her story.
It is said that there is a large possibility that the boy was forced to live his life as a girl. This is believed due to the fact that he had long hair, his eyebrows were tweezed to look more feminine, and he had a scar on his groin indicating sex reassignment surgery. There is a large possibility that "M's" mother purchased the boy as a baby, but wanted a little girl instead. This could also explain why the neighbors never saw a boy in their house, perhaps they saw what appeared to be a little girl.
Unfortunately, The Boy In The Box has still not been identified. His DNA was taken in 1998 and put on file, so hopefully someone can be connected to him in the future. The son of the man who originally buried him in 1957 had donated the plot of land, his casket, and his headstone for him to be reburied in 1998. His headstone says his alternate name, which is "America's Unknown Child".
In March of 2016, investigators believed that they had linked his DNA to a family in Memphis, Tennessee. They were trying to compare his DNA with theirs, however there is no confirmation as to whether or not that was successful.
