'Boy In the Box' Case Investigated By Bucks County Police Chief

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA —For Lower Makefield Township Police Chief Kenneth Coluzzi, the identity revealed this week of the young boy found beaten and wrapped in a blanket in a box in Philadelphia hit close to home.

Coluzzi not only grew up in Northeast Philadelphia hearing about the unresolved homicide known as the "Boy in the Box," but he also investigated the case while working in the Philadelphia Homicide Unit in the 1980s and 1990s.

"This was so long ago. It's great to give this little boy the decency of a name," Coluzzi told Patch Friday afternoon.

At a news conference Thursday, Philadelphia authorities and private investigators named the "Boy in the Box," also referred to as "America's Unknown Child."

Officials said the boy found deceased in 1957 was 4-year-old Joseph Augustus Zarelli, of 61st and Market streets in West Philadelphia. Zarelli — born Jan. 13, 1953 — was found at 10:47 a.m. on Feb. 26, 1957 ,in a box on Susquehanna Road in the city's Fox Chase neighborhood.

Coluzzi said he was 2 years old when the case broke. As he grew up he always heard about the case.

"It was folklore," he said. "Nobody knew where he was buried."

Coluzzi —who became Lower Makefield's police chief 22 years ago —worked for the Philadelphia Police Homicide unit in the 1980s and 1990s.

When he arrived, having had a prior interest in the case while growing up, Coluzzi poured through boxes of case files and information.

He was there in 1998 when the body was exhumed to try and collect DNA evidence.

"DNA was in its infancy stages," he said. "But this new science was very helpful. We took an awful name and was able to give the boy a decent burial and bring more attention to the case as 'Americas Unknown Child.'"

Throughout the years, with the new attention, would come leads, Coluzzi said. But they dried up and then he was appointed chief in Lower Makefield after 24 years in Philadelphia.

Coluzzi said he was happy that the boy was identified. And he also knows how hard all the detectives worked over the years just like he did to try and resolve the case.

'It was just so wonderful to hear for this to come to fruition," he said.