94-Year Wait Ends as Crews Dig Up Charlotte's 'Boxcar Boy'
New DNA extraction efforts aim to identify the boy found crushed on a freight train in 1932, potentially reuniting him with a waiting family.
By Fatou Mitchell ·
For nearly a century, a headstone in Elmwood Cemetery has carried only three words: Unknown Boy. On Monday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police broke ground on the final attempt to identify the child buried there, a case that has remained open since 1932.
The excavation takes place beneath a tarp and tent structure just outside Uptown Charlotte. Crews from across the country and local teams are carefully sifting through decades of dirt to recover the remains. The goal is to extract genetic material that has eluded previous investigators.
The story began during the Great Depression, when the boy was likely riding a cargo train, according to Det. Matt Hefner of the CMPD cold case homicide unit. Hefner said the load shifted, moving steel beams that crushed the child. Workers found the body when the train arrived in Charlotte.
For 94 years, the case sat dormant. Now, genetic experts are involved in the process. Caireen Binder, Director of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College, said the team has a strong chance of success. She noted that solid remains are present, which should allow for a viable DNA extraction.
Binder explained that the timeline involves three to six months to process the DNA and build a profile. That profile will then be uploaded to several databases to search for living relatives. She suggested that siblings, nieces, or nephews may still be alive, waiting for answers about a family member they lost long ago.
Det. Hefner described the effort as a chance to close the sentence on a family story. He hopes the family will be able to place a new headstone with the boy's name. Police stated that if relatives are found, they will decide where the boy is buried. If he stays in Charlotte, he will receive a new marker.
The work on Monday marks the first step in a longer process. The combination of careful excavation and modern genetic genealogy offers the clearest path yet to solving one of the city's oldest mysteries.
