SAMPLE E-MAIL MESSAGES & RESPONSES

I'm just a private citizen with no law enforcement background, but this sad story has deeply touched me, and I wish I could personally do something to actively help the investigators solve this crime. Please write back and tell me how I can participate in the investigation.

As a private citizen, participation in the actual criminal investigation isn't possible. However, private citizens can make a significant contribution to the investigation by helping to publicize the Boy in the Box case. We suggest that you inform your friends, relatives, co-workers and business associates about the case. If you have a website, you can help spread the word via the Internet by placing a link to the America's Unknown Child website (http://AmericasUnknownChild.net) on your site. We are, of course, grateful for that kind of support. It is vitally important to make as many people aware of the case as possible. The more people who know about this intriguing, baffling mystery, the better our chances of finding someone who has the key evidence or information needed to solve it.

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Are there any books published on the Boy in the Box?

Virtually everything that has been published about the Boy in the Box case is on our web site (look in the archives). There have been no books entirely dedicated to the subject, but Ron Avery devoted a chapter to it in his book "City of Brotherly Mayhem". If you'd like to purchase a copy of the book, Ron Avery can be reached via the Philadelphia Daily News. Also check out the Saturday Evening Post article from July, 1958, which covers the first year of the investigation in great detail.

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I would like to be on a message board regarding the boy in the box. Do you have a message board?

Our web site does not host a public message board, nor do we have any plans to do so in the future. There is, as far as we know, no public discussion group about the Boy in the Box case, but there is nothing to stop you from forming one. Speaking from bitter experience, a word of caution is offered in that regard: If you do decide to create a public forum about this case on the Internet, please be prepared to deal with a lot of pranksters and disruptive, insincere people.

It's been our experience that public message boards on the Internet are frequently subject to flagrant abuse by irresponsible people whose only intent is to show off, ridicule others, or behave in an insulting, abusive or disruptive manner. We are firmly dedicated to honoring the memory of the unknown boy, and treating him with dignity and respect at all times. Inappropriate comments, morbid jokes and other foolish or offensive remarks can never be tolerated. The tragedy of this boy's death is not a laughing matter. That is why we have chosen not to include a public message board on the America's Unknown Child web site.

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I heard somewhere that when the boy's body was found that his eye lids and lips were stitched shut. Is this correct or just the story growing when retold? If it is true why is there no mention of it on the web site?

The story that you heard about the boy's eyes and lips being sewn shut at the time his body was discovered is false. That is why nothing has been written about it - it didn't happen! Actually, the boy's left eye lid was partially open at the time he was found. The photos of the boy on the original poster accurately depict his condition when discovered.

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I would like to share with you some of the thoughts and questions that have come to my mind.

Is it possible/probable that a child might be born/raised completely outside the U.S. social/welfare/educational system (regardless of the disadvantages this might bring for the parents as well as the child himself)? Possible reasons for this might be neglect, the attempt to keep his existence a secret (I am thinking of an illegitimate child, possibly from an unlawful relationship such as incest), or the parents'/caretakers' ignorance as to the requirements of the system.

The boy's parents have never come forward; is it possible/probable that they might have believed their child already dead at the time of the body's discovery? He might have been abducted some time before. After what time are death certificates issued in case of a person's disappearance?

Also on the subject of a possible abduction: as far as I understand the boy did not have a whole life of abuse behind him. The number of old scars and fractures was not excessive, signs of fairly recent medical treatment were found (although no vaccination marks). This might indicate that either his caretakers' attitude towards him changed drastically in the months prior to his death, or that he was in the company of different people with less regard for his wellbeing. Were abductions of children for "commercial purposes" (child labor, adoptions, sexual perversions) common in the 1950s?

Your message was referred to me for review. My response to the three questions you posed is:

1. It is possible that a person involved in this crime could have lived completely outside the U.S. social/welfare/educational systems, but I am not persuaded toward that conclusion as a viable answer.

2. Generally speaking, if a person has been missing for 7 years and all efforts to learn their whereabouts or fate have come up short, a petition to have them declared legally dead can be filed, usually by the next-of-kin.

3. Abductions of children for "commercial purposes" did occur during the 1950's. Whether they were "common" or occurred more or less frequently than today, I simply do not know.

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I went to the Ivy Hill Cemetery today to try to find the tomb of the "Boy in the Box" (the place that he was buried on November 11, 1998). I couldn't ask anyone where he's buried because today is Sunday, and I couldn't hang around long because a thunderstorm was coming down. I was just wondering if anyone working on the "Boy in the Box" case could tell me the location of the boy's present tomb, or the specific location of the boy's original grave.

The grave of America's Unknown Child in Ivy Hill Cemetery is really quite easy to find, since it lies just inside the main gate on Easton Road. (There is a photograph of the main gate on our web site, as well as other photos of the grave itself.) Just walk (or drive) through the narrow passageway. The chapel will be on one side of you and the cemetery office will be on the other. As you come out of the passageway and into the cemetery proper, you will see the boy's grave directly in front of you. There is a large black headstone engraved with the image of a lamb. It is flanked by a white granite bench. The boy's original headstone is at the foot of the grave.

There really isn't any way to locate the exact spot in the city cemetery where the boy's original resting place was located, unless you had visited the grave when the boy was still buried there and know how to find the spot from memory. The city "cemetery" (for want of a better word) is just a large open field, usually overgrown with weeds, on the west side of Dunk's Ferry Road just inside the northern limit of the city. There are several soccer fields immediately south of it. All of the graves in the cemetery (criminals, paupers, and body parts) are unmarked, so there isn't anything to see there. In other words, if you didn't know in advance that this field was a place of burial, you'd never suspect that to be the case just by looking at it.

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Did you ever get any good solid leads from America's Most Wanted? Why not have an artist sculpt the child's face to make him appear more life-like, and show it side-by-side with the bust of the possible father?

Following the initial "Boy in the Box" broadcast two years ago, many tips and potential leads were received via the AMW site. From time to time, the Vidocq investigators still receive leads from that source. They also track down leads that they receive from a variety of other sources, including the America's Unknown Child web site. Some of the leads have initially appeared to be quite promising, but as of this date, none of them have ultimately proven to be really "solid". A casting ("death mask") of the unknown boy's face was made in 1957. This replicated his features far more accurately than could be achieved by any sculpture. Unfortunately, the death mask was lost during the time it was in the possession of Remington Bristow.

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I am a filmmaker, and I feel this crime story would be an incredible documentary film. Please inform me if the organization that is dealing with this case would be willing to let me and my crew create a documentary film on the Boy in the Box. I have created several independent films, one of which is currently showing throughout the Philadelphia area, and I also shoot commercials in the Delaware County region. Please write back with any thoughts on creating this film. It really is an amazing story. You can visit my web site to get some of my credentials.

We appreciate your interest in the Boy in the Box case and your desire to create a documentary film about it. Please be advised that the Vidocq Society has already signed an exclusive contract with Danny DeVito's "Jersey Films" Company to produce a motion picture about the case. Therefore, it cannot participate in the production of your proposed documentary. Of course, this in no way prevents you from producing the film on your own, or seeking the assistance of another law enforcement agency, such as the Philadelphia police department.

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