CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is teaming up with researchers from Western Carolina University and Ramapo College in hopes of solving Charlotte’s oldest cold case.
The researchers came together Monday morning to exhume the “Boxcar Boy.” They hope to retrieve a DNA sample from his remains and run it through genealogy databases to identify him.
Channel 9’s crime reporter Hunter Sáenz reported in March on the efforts to make this day a reality.
[ READ MORE >> New efforts underway to solve Charlotte’s “Boxcar Boy” case from 1932 ]
The case dates back to 1932 when a teenager was killed while sleeping on a train. Newspaper clippings from the Charlotte Observer on Sept. 25, 1932, read, “The lad had been killed when steel beams in the (box)car crushed him as he lay sleeping.” The Observer published a photo of the 14- or 15-year-old boy, hoping someone would recognize him.
He was buried in Charlotte’s historic Elmwood Cemetery without ever being identified.
Researchers plan to bury the boy again after the sample is taken.
Tune in to Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. for more on this developing story.