Boy in the Box

July 28, 2008
Philadelphia's “Boy in the Box” is one of the country's most famous unsolved crimes, but New York Times
reporter Stout delivers a disappointing account of the long-running investigation. In February 1957, the body of a boy between ages four and six was discovered in a cardboard box in a wooded area in Philadelphia's Fox Chase section. Even with an apparent abundance of clues—the plaid blanket wrapped around the body, the cap found nearby—the case went cold fast, though it would become a lifelong obsession for several investigators. Remington Bristow, from the Medical Examiner's office, spent the rest of his life tracking down leads. Detectives Bill Kelly and Sam Weinstein joined the city's elite Vidocq Society—forensic professionals and others who try to solve such crimes—in the hopes of finally giving the boy a name. In 1998, the boy's body was exhumed for DNA testing. A woman has recently claimed that her parents killed the boy but authorities have been unable to prove—or disprove—her story. Stout's uneven chronology, further hampered by myriad digressions, will confuse even the most attentive reader, and frequent lapses into melodrama cheapen a compelling tale.