PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — More than six decades after a little boy was found dead inside a cardboard box in Northeast Philadelphia, we will finally know his name. Investigators will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Thursday for the announcement.
The infamous story of ‘the boy in the box’ is one of the city’s oldest unsolved mysteries, and it has gained worldwide notoriety through the years.
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The case started with one police officer, in 1957. Elmer Palmer was on patrol in what was then the 7th District, when he called to Susquehanna Road near Veree Road, where someone had found a dead boy, naked, bruised and battered, wrapped in a thin green blanket, inside a cardboard box.
“He was the first patrol officer,” said Jim Palmer. “It was a traumatic experience for him, for all of them.”
Elmer died more than a decade ago, and his son Jim carries the legacy of that infamous patrol stop.
“I mean, it stayed with him his whole life.”
The boy had scratches and bruises all over his body — as well as distinct scars on his heel, chin and groin. Detectives door-knocked for weeks, asking about who this little boy belonged to, but with no luck.
The police commissioner at the time made the controversial decision to hand out posters with pictures of the dead child in hopes of identifying him.
“Some of the other pictures that had published … just breaks your heart,” Jim said.
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Weeks and months turned into years and decades — with hundreds of investigators not only trying to identify the child, but also adopting him as their own.
“Even now, the one thing I can say is the gratitude the family has for all these officers, for all these years, who have stayed with it and gotten us to this point,” Jim said. “That’s, that’s remarkable.”
Through the span of 65 years, there have been dozens and dozens of investigators who worked the case, trying to identify the boy and where he came from. Now, they’ll have an answer.
“This is very cathartic, not just for me, but for people in the neighborhood who were here then, for kids growing up, and especially for the officers who have been involved all these years,” Jim said. “I hope it’s cathartic and people find peace from it. I really do.”