Los Angeles

New Theory in Decades-Old Philly Cold Case

On Feb. 25, 1957, police discovered a young boy beaten, stuffed in a card board box and abandoned.

Two authors tell the NBC10 Investigators they believe they’ve solved one of Philadelphia’s oldest and most notorious cold cases.

On Feb. 25, 1957, police discovered a young boy beaten, stuffed in a card board box and abandoned in the woods in the city’s Fox Chase neighborhood.

The boy was dubbed "the boy in the box." Today his grave reads "America’s Unknown Child."

The details of the cold case chilled Philadelphia.

"To put a name on the child’s grave and to solve the case, it’s the ultimate in police work," said Philadelphia Police Sergeant Bob Kuhlmeier.

In 1998, police exhumed the boy’s body and took a DNA sample from a remaining tooth.

The two authors — one from Los Angeles, and another from outside New York — say they believe they’ve traced the boy’s family to Memphis, Tennessee and need his DNA to prove it.

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