Charlotte Police Begin DNA Work on 'Boxcar Boy' Remains

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police started the process of identifying a child buried in 1932 on Monday. The remains, located under a tarp in Elmwood Cemetery, belong to a boy known locally as the 'Boxcar Boy.' For 94 years, his grave marker has read only 'Unknown Boy.'

Dirt crews from across the country and locally in Charlotte are carefully sifting through the soil to assemble the skeletal remains. The goal is to extract genetic material that can help investigators name the child and locate his relatives.

Det. Matt Hefner of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s cold case homicide unit says the boy likely died during the Great Depression. Hefner explains that the child was probably riding on a cargo train when shifting steel beams crushed him. The body was discovered in Charlotte after the train doors were opened.

Caireen Binder, director of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College, is leading the genetic analysis. She states that the condition of the remains offers a strong probability of successful DNA extraction. Binder says the team will create a genetic profile and upload it to several databases to search for family matches.

Binder notes that relatives may still be alive and wondering about the missing sibling. She suggests that a niece or nephew might have grown up hearing stories about a long-lost brother. The identification could provide answers to a family that has waited for nearly a century.

The process is expected to take three to six months. After the DNA profile is created, investigators will work to match it with potential relatives. If a family is identified, they will decide where the boy is buried.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said that if the boy is named and the remains stay in Charlotte, he will receive a new headstone. Hefner says the department hopes to hear the family’s story and close the case with a proper name on the marker.