Required fields are marked *. Eventually, the man took the not so subtle hint and drove away. Police again looked into the possibility of the boys been one and the same. However, police had one more thing to test to prove it once and for all. It was determined Steven Damman was not The Boy In The Box. This was due to dye that was discovered in the victim’s eye which was used to treat eye problems. Bristow even went as far as contacting Arthur Nicoletti and asking him to take a lie detector. Bristow claimed the home still had blankets on the clothesline and that they bore a striking similarity to the one found in the victim’s makeshift coffin. The police were told a tale about how he was chasing a rabbit through the woods when he made the discovery. In 1960 a medical examiner’s office employee named Remington Bristow started his own investigation into The Boy In The Box Mystery. The day after Frederick Benonis confessed to a priest. The boy was called Jonathan by “M’s” mother, though she had no idea if that was his birth name or not. Buried in the potters field at Dunks Ferry and Mechanicsville Roads the Boy In The Box recieved the only headstone in the graveyard of the unknown. Bristow was now convinced that the Nicoletti’s were involved in the dumping of the boy’s body. In 1998 the investigation into the Boy In The Box case was reopened. A young white boy had been dumped in the woods. One measured 33 x 76 inches and the other 31 x 51 inches. The child was naked but wrapped in a small blanket. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a25b811fc466fe330df2da1147a1bcef" );document.getElementById("gc7fc60d25").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Get all our posts straight to your inbox. Police found nothing untoward and no reason to suspect the Nicoletti’s of any involvement in the murder of the Boy In The Box at the time. As for who was responsible the fact is we will very likely never find out. He tracked down the doctor’s wife hoping to find something among the medical records he had kept. The Detective went to interview Arthur Nicoletti and Anna Marie. The client had originally told her psychiatrist her story some thirteen years earlier in 1989 but was unwilling to come forward until now. Catherine’s daughter from a previous marriage, Anna Marie, also lived at the home. During the original police investigation in 1957 officers looked into the foster home. Her mother was a librarian and her father a science teacher. The Philadelphia police department handed out thousands of leaflets with an image of the child. With this in mind, Detective Augustine and his fellow investigators decided to launch an intense follow-up to “M’s” story. In a fit of violent rage, she slammed the innocent child on the floor, killing him. For the police, it was almost impossible to track the store the blanket had been purchased. Sadly, none were forthcoming. Officers dressed the victim and took a photograph of his beaten face. Hannah stated there was a resemblance to the man who purchased the cap and the boy. Everything “M” had told investigators seemed highly plausible. Dr Spelman’s report put the cause of death as head trauma, possibly caused by a blunt object. The Inscription read: “Heavenly Father, Bless This Unknown Boy.”. The murder of a young child is always a terribly sad, heartbreaking and tragic occurrence, yet for some reason, I find this story even more upsetting than most. The plot was donated by the cemetery. DNA later also proved that Anna was not the deceased boy’s mother. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Police sent copies of America’s Unknown Child’s footprint to be analysed and compared. Officers working the case collected money to make the purchase. Distressingly the young boy was also beaten and sexually abused by “M’s” mother. The blanket was sent for analysis by the police. Police where desperately wanting to get an identification for the young child found murdered in the woods. The house Bristow found belonged to Arthur and Catherine Nicoletti. Investigators were told by “M” that the boy could not speak and that he was mentally handicapped. Investigators were of the opinion there was a possibility the boys were the same person and so looked into it further. The department even sent over 10,000 leaflets to other departments in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the hope of a lead. Benonis was making his way through the woods to the Good Shepherd Home. Police found nothing with which they could link the boy and the Nicoletti’s however. Regrettably, no name or address was recorded and so police again had nothing they could really use to ID the victim. Chillingly the box had been used as a makeshift coffin as inside laid the corpse of a small child. The client, who would become known as “M”, claimed that the boys birth parents had sold him to her mother in 1954. It is upsetting to think someone got away with such a heinous act but in this case that tragically what looks to have happened. Whilst Benonis was on route to his peeping spot in the woods the young man instead came across a cardboard box. Over 60 years have passed since The Boy In The Box was discovered in the Fox Chase district of Philadelphia. Dr Joseph Spelman performed an autopsy on the child. Detectives working the case discovered that the box in which the poor boy was found was sold at a JC Penney store. What makes it more interesting is that the statement remained confidential, so how would “M” know about it? “M” was brought up in Lower Merion, a well-off area of Philadelphia. They cost $7.50 and where sold from the 3rd December, 1956 until the last of the dozen had been sold on 16th February , 1957. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Spelman put the boy at somewhere between 4 and 6 years of age. Bristow also discovered a bassinet that he believed to be identical to the ones sold by JC Penney. Barbara Rae-Venter revealed an attempt is been made to identify the Boy In The Box using the DNA techniques she used to unveil the Golden State Killer/Original Night Stalker.