Identity of Slain 'Boy in the Box' to Be Revealed 65 Years After Death

The Philadelphia Police Department and a host of other experts are expected to reveal the identity of the "Boy in the Box" on Thursday, December 8, according to reports.

The "Boy in the Box" refers to an unknown child who was killed and had his beaten and bruised body placed in a cardboard box in a rural area in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, some 65 years ago.

The boy was found on February 25, 1957, and the case remains Philadelphia's oldest unsolved mystery.

Action News reporter Sarah Bloomquist said on Twitter that Philadelphia authorities are going ahead with a press conference to announce the boy's identity.

"Big day tomorrow for those of you who have followed the case of the Boy in the Box," she tweeted late on Wednesday.

"We will learn the IF but not who did it. Source says the details are horrifying. Will make us sad and so very mad."

When previously contacted by Newsweek, a Philadelphia police department spokesperson said they don't have any information ahead of the press conference, which will provide a "significant update."

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, other law enforcement officials, a genetic genealogist and the co-founder of a group of professional investigators, called the Vidocq Society, will be speaking on the identity of the child, according to a Cumnock Chronicle report.

Police have been attempting to identify him since the boy's discovery, but new DNA evidence has made them confident they know who the child was. They have even been able to locate his birth certificate.

The boy does have a headstone at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia, that reads "America's Unknown Child," but that may be changed once his true identity has been revealed.

There is also a plaque dedicated to the mystery child at Susquehanna Road, where the boy was found.

The area has been significantly built upon since 1957 and is no longer the rural area it once was.

The plaque reads: "February 26, 1957, Police Officers Elmer Palmer and Samuel Weinstein responded to the-then rural Susquehanna Road to investigate a report of a body found in a box.

"There they discovered the naked, battered body of a small boy believed to be 4-6 years old.

"This unknown child became known as the "Boy in the Box" He has never been identified. His case remains open. He is now called 'America's Unknown Child.'"