Exhumation Ends 94 Year Wait for Boxcar Boy Identification
Geneticists and detectives in Charlotte, North Carolina, recovered skeletal remains from a 1932 burial site to apply modern DNA techniques to a long unsolved case.
By Fatou Mitchell ·
Ninety four years after a freight train accident left a teenage boy unidentified in Charlotte, investigators exhumed his remains on Monday. The recovery took place at Elmwood Cemetery in the Uptown district. Police detectives worked alongside genetic specialists to retrieve the body of the teenager known as the Boxcar Boy.
The teen died in 1932 when shifting steel beams crushed him inside a moving freight car. Crews located the skull, jawbone, and tooth fragments during the dig. Soil samples were collected for analysis. The project relies on privately funded resources, costing local taxpayers nothing. A crowdfunding campaign raised the $11,000 required for the exhumation work.
Geneticists from Ramapo College in New Jersey led the scientific effort. Tracie Boyle, the Case Management Director at Ramapo, noted that the amount of DNA needed for a profile has decreased over time. She stated that this shift is literally changing cold case investigations. The team has previously solved seven other cold cases with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Detectives will contact living relatives if a genetic match emerges. Matt Hefner, a detective in the Homicide Cold Case Unit, said the effort offers a chance to identify the young man after 94 years. He described the prospect of returning him to a family as a great experience.
Researchers expect to provide a definitive identification by next year. The team continues to sift through material from the cemetery site. No further public hearings are scheduled before the initial results are reviewed.
