CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Charlotte mystery dating back to 1932 could soon be solved. On Monday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police detectives and genetic experts exhumed the remains of the teenager known nationwide as the “Boxcar Boy” at historic Elmwood Cemetery.
Crews found the cranium of the boy’s head along with jawbone and tooth fragments. The teen was killed when shifting steel beams crushed him inside a freight train. Geneticists from Ramapo College in New Jersey are in the Queen City after a crowdfunding campaign raised the $11,000 needed for the exhumation.
Crews are sifting through the soil at the Uptown cemetery with hopes to identify him. Ramapo College Case Management Director Tracie Boyle says, “The amount of DNA that you need to use to get a DNA profile has gotten less and less and less, and it’s literally just changing cold case investigations.” The team has solved seven other cold cases with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Cold case detectives will handle contacting any living relatives once a match is found. CMPD Homicide Cold Case Unit Det. Matt Hefner says, “This is still a great experience to know that after 94 years, we might have a chance to identify this young man and get him back to some family.”
The entire project is privately funded at no cost to local taxpayers. Researchers are optimistic they will have a definitive identification for the teenager by next year.
