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An unnamed boy may soon be identified if genetic genealogists can raise enough money to have his remains exhumed.
Known only as the Boxcar Boy, the child was found dead in a Southern Railway boxcar in September 1932 in central North Carolina. Estimated to be between 14 and 16 years old, the boy was crushed by steel beams as he slept.
News outlets shared information and a photo of the boy in attempts to identify him, but never did. The boy was buried in a Charlotte cemetery nearly two weeks after he was found, still unnamed, according to newspaper archives.
The Ramapo College of New Jersey’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, which works to identify unnamed people and solve cold cases, asked community members in March for donations to exhume the boy’s body and hopefully, give him his name back.
The fundraiser, a joint effort between the center and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, is just over $1,000 away from its $11,500 goal.
On Aug. 13, the center heard from someone who promised to donate the remaining funds for the exhumation and reburial, Cairenn Binder, director of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, told USA TODAY.
If the exhumation is successful, the center will pay for DNA testing and then provide pro bono investigative genetic genealogy services to identify the boy, Binder said.
Here’s what little is known about the Boxcar Boy and how community members have banded together to identify him.
How did the boy die?
The boy was found dead in a Southern Railway company boxcar. There was a steel beam against his head and his skull was crushed, according to a death certificate reviewed by USA TODAY. His chest was also crushed, according to newspaper archives.
Coroner Frank Hovis believed the boy died accidentally while sleeping. The boxcar had steel beams in it and there may have been a sudden jolt, which caused the beams to roll onto the boy, according to a Charlotte News report that ran in 1932. The coroner said the boy likely died instantly.
There were few clues as to who the boy could be. He wore a coat with a label from a Norfolk, Va. clothing store and the date 1920, according to the report.
He had blonde hair, gray eyes and a scar above his left knee. He stood between 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 7 inches inches tall and weighed between 120 and 125 pounds, per archives.
Nearly 100 years spent trying to identify boy
After the boy died, thousands of people visited a local funeral home where his remains were held to try and identify him. The coroner asked the Charlotte Observer to publish a photo of the deceased child in hopes that someone could identify him.
The photo led multiple people to call in from Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and multiple parts of North Carolina and other states and say they thought they knew him. Still, there was nothing concrete, the Charlotte Observer reported.
According to an October 1932 report in the Charlotte Observer, some people thought he may have been walking or hitchhiking through the city.
Charlotte Boy Scouts helped lay boy to rest
The Charlotte chapter of the King’s Daughters raised money for the boy’s burial in Charlotte, which took place on Oct. 7, 1932.
Charlotte Boy Scouts served as pallbearers at the boy’s funeral, the Charlotte News reported.
He was wearing a navy blue suit. A local mother donated the suit, which belonged to her son who joined the U.S. Navy. The mother thought the suit would make a fitting donation to the boy’s mother, who likely wouldn’t know what happened to her child.
His headstone read “Unknown boy: Buried by the King’s Daughters.” The organization also included the date he was found, Sept. 25, 1932, along with a scripture: “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
E. E. Peele, president of the King’s Daughters at the time, said in the Charlotte Observer that the boy deserved that much.
“We know nothing about this boy, but we feel that he should have the privilege of a Christian burial and that he should find friends in this city to take care of him after death, even though he knew no one here before he died,” Peele said.
The fundraiser that will help exhume his body, identify him and rebury him can be found at www.tinyurl.com/BoxcarBoyDonations.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.