Waves of speculation followed the release of Joseph A. Zarelli’s name

It’s been nearly a week since Philadelphia police thrust the name “Joseph Augustus Zarelli” into the world, ending a decades-old mystery while sparking a new one.

Investigators wouldn’t name the 4-year-old boy’s parents or his half-siblings during the news conference on North Broad Street, but thousands of internet sleuths quickly filled the void. Some spilled speculation — names, photos, and theories involving both the dead and the living — into blogs, unsolved-cases forums, Reddit, and Facebook groups devoted to the case.

Some people altered memorial websites, adding Joseph’s name. A recently retired Philadelphia police captain wrote a since-amended blog post, with photos, proposing the identity of the boy’s mother while theorizing how she could have disposed of his body.

One genealogist called it “true crime nutballery.”

» READ MORE: What helped ID Joseph Augustus Zarelli? His mother’s family dabbles in genetic genealogy.

While some genealogists question whether the news conference was a “performance” that prompted internet sleuths to go “hunting” for possible relatives with this uncommon surname, those close to the case believe police made the right call.

“It’s an open active homicide investigation and there’s no possible way to solve an investigation without identifying who the victim is,” said Misty Gillis, a forensic genealogist and cold-case liaison with Identifinders International who worked intensely on the case.

The city’s new medical examiner, Constance DiAngelo, agreed, saying it was important to make his name known, despite the fact that it brought unwanted attention to others who shared his family name.

”We’re not truly sure exactly what happened to him,” DiAngelo said Wednesday. “If you lived in West Philly in 1957, maybe seeing his photo, hearing his name, will trigger something.”

Online speculation is a part of modern police work that isn’t going away, said Bill Fleisher, a cofounder of the Vidocq Society, the city-based group that reexamines cold cases.

“We know who he is and now we want to know why he died,” Fleisher said. “Maybe in all the chatter, in all this static, we’ll get a gem.”

Still, in a Facebook post, the Vidocq Society urged internet sleuths that “speculation is dangerous and can cause harm to people who may be completely innocent of any wrongdoing.”

“The assigned detectives are both capable and diligent and we need to let them do their jobs,” the post read.

One widely shared conspiracy theory came from none other than a former PPD officer. Drew Techner, a recently retired Philadelphia police captain who had no involvement with the case during his 26-year-career, published a lengthy blog post on his personal website speculating about the identities of Joseph’s parents. Techner even suggested — without evidence — that specific deceased people who share the Zarelli surname may have had involvement in Joseph’s murder. Techner commended the department for releasing the name, but also said his former employer only fueled speculation by not identifying Joseph’s birth parents at the same time.

”It’s only caused more interest,” said Techner, 58, who added he has been visiting the unidentified boy’s grave site since childhood. “If the boy has his name, isn’t he also entitled to have his family too?”

Techner said he would make updates to his post after The Inquirer pointed out errors in his conclusions. But the post had already been shared widely among Facebook groups and other ardent followers of the “Boy in the Box” case, furthering speculation about the family. The department declined to comment on Techner’s posts.

Joseph’s body was discovered in a bassinet box in a weedy, Fox Chase lot in February 1957. Investigators said the child died from blunt-force trauma and for six decades, he was known simply as the “Boy in the Box.”

His name was first uncovered by genealogists in October 2021. Police said little about what happened in the ensuing year other than they released Joseph’s full name “when it became prudent for PPD and our partners to do so.” Colleen Fitzpatrick, founder and president of Identifinders International, the California-based genealogy company enlisted by the police, told The Inquirer that “legal wheels had to turn” before the name could be shared.

Gillis, who ultimately identified Joseph, said she was not involved in the decision to release his name, but felt police made the right decision. Though the boy suffered a fatal beating 65 years ago, Gillis said putting his name out to the public might “jog someone’s memory” — maybe someone who babysat for him or grew up with him in West Philadelphia. Detectives, she said, hope that fresh leads will help piece together who killed Joseph, even if whoever is responsible is no longer alive.

”Charges can’t be brought against the person, but it can be solved,” she said. “I think having the public record out there of it being solved is just as important.”

Wild speculation was bound to happen, Gillis said, given the decades-long national attention on the case. ”People everywhere loved this little boy and thought of him, so of course they are going to want to speculate and they are going to try to help,” she said. “I do think a lot of it is damaging to the family, unfortunately, and I do sympathize with them that they’ve been thrown into this situation.”

That said, the feeding frenzy on social media is a societal issue, she said, not a law enforcement problem. People have come to expect instant answers, Gillis said. ”There’s no reason that the family needs to be identified,” given that there’s no “public safety risk.”

During the news conference last week, Homicide Capt. Jason Smith said police had “suspicions as to who may be responsible” for Joseph’s death, but he declined to elaborate. In releasing the boy’s name, Smith said police were looking for an “avalanche” of tips. On Wednesday, police said they’ve had an “increase.”

That avalanche struck immediately online, however. Within hours of the news, someone went on “Find a Grave,” a website where people can search for people’s burial sites and create virtual tributes, and added in Joseph’s name to family memorials with the Zarelli name.

That prompted a website administrator to post a disclaimer, reminding people that there is no proof linking the boy to a particular Zarelli.

An administrator for one of the Joseph Zarelli Facebook groups said thousands of new members have joined. She warned members not to “doxx” people, the practice of publicly outing someone’s name and possible location. She had to “pause” posts on the group for 24 hours. She declined to give her full name, saying that after her father’s murder, she herself had been “doxxed.”

“It’s sad we should have to remind folks that they are adults and doxxing or editing ancestral documents to fit their narrative isn’t the way,” she said.

Gillis said “armchair sleuths” on the internet have taken it upon themselves to try to identify the parents because they believe — wrongly — that they are entitled to the information.“That’s the society we live in now,” she said.

Dan Bush, an attorney at the Lamb McErlane law firm’s West Chester office, confirmed he had been contacted by some people who share the Zarelli name.

“At this point,” he said, “we have no comment.”

Staff writer Jason Laughlin contributed to this article.