A 13-year-old confession gave ‘Boy in Box’ a name

This story was originally published in June 2002.

A woman’s agonizing revelation to her doctor after 32 years is at the heart of newly disclosed information that could help Philadelphia homicide investigators solve the infamous 1957 “Boy in the Box” murder, sources told the Daily News yesterday.

Earlier this week, sources disclosed that detectives had been told that the toddler was killed when an abusive caregiver slammed him to the bathroom floor of a Lower Merion home after he threw up in the bathtub.

His battered and bruised body was later found naked and wrapped in a blanket in a cardboard box on the side of a rural road in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia.

Yesterday, sources explained how the information first came to light — and why, 13 years later — it is being given another, serious look as a possible answer to an unknown child’s short life and horrible death.

Sources said that in 1989, a doctor told police that a female patient of his claimed to have lived with the boy — and that a relative was the killer caregiver.

Over the years, the doctor maintained client confidentiality as police continued to investigate. Meanwhile, the guilt-wracked woman — who reportedly was 12 or 13 at the time of the boy’s killing — worked up the courage to speak to authorities, the sources said.

The break came about a month ago. The woman agreed to meet with detectives along with her doctor.

And early this month, Detective Thomas Augustine, the lead homicide investigator on the case, flew to Cincinnati with two other retired investigators, William Kelly and Joseph McGillen.

They interviewed the doctor and the woman over three hours. She told them the boy’s first name was “Jonathan.”

“It wasn’t totally new information, it had been kind of out there for a number of years,” said a source familiar with the case.

“But now the individuals involved were willing to open up a little bit more. They were willing to be a little more forthright. Even now, it’s a very delicate situation.”

Police officials said yesterday they were taking an additional look at the 45-year-old case, which they said has always been an “active” investigation.

“It’s still inconclusive,” said Capt. Thomas Lippo, of the Homicide Division, when asked about reports of the new information.

“But it’s the best information we have right now and we’re looking at it. We’re retracing our steps.

“Is this one going to break the case? Right now, we don’t want to make that leap of faith.”

The biggest issue confronting investigators now is—finding independent corroboration of the woman’s tale of what happened. The caregiver and her husband died years ago, according to sources.

Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. yesterday assigned a detective to assist Philadelphia homicide investigators in trying to corroborate a tale of murder in Lower Merion.

The trail is already 45 years cold. But help in identifying relatives could come from DNA samples taken from the boy’s body when it was exhumed for reburial in 1998.

Despite the woman’s statements, police still do not know the boy’s last name or any of his relatives. They also cannot confirm how he allegedly came to be in the care of someone who was not his natural mother.

These are the things that keep homicide investigators up late at night, even when they retire. It also gets them out of bed in the morning.

“We’re hoping that perhaps somebody will see something or read something or hear it again and it will jog a memory,” said Lippo. “Maybe today— or 15 years from today — we’ll get a relative who could tell us who this little boy was.

“To put a name to a face. This is what it’s all about.”

This story was originally published in June 2002.