Who was ‘Boxcar Boy’? CMPD reopens 1932 case of boy crushed to death in boxcar

A haunting 1932 death investigation that counts among Charlotte’s longest running mysteries is being reopened by Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

Known as the “Mecklenburg Boxcar Boy” case, it involves a juvenile who died while hitching a ride in a boxcar.

His name remains unknown, and CMPD is hoping to solve that mystery with DNA testing by Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey.

“On September 25, 1932, a teenage boy was found deceased in a Southern Railway boxcar. ... The young man had been killed when steel beams in the train car rolled onto him as he slept,” Ramapo College IGG Center reported in a March 11 news release.

“His photo and information were circulated in the press, but he was never identified and was buried as a John Doe in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte.”

CMPD says the teen’s body will need to be disinterred to collect DNA samples, and the exhumation and reburial will cost $11,500.

Ramapo College IGG Center has organized a fundraising campaign to cover the cost, and it reports just under $4,000 had been collected as of March 17.

The center has offered to cover the lab fees associated with creating a genotype profile to search for relatives.

“For someone to die and not have their name with them and no one knew who they are, what an unfortunate circumstance,” CMPD Det. Matt Hefner told WSOC. “We hope to find family that has been looking for him forever.”

For details on the fundraising campaign, visit to https://host.nxt.blackbaud.com/adaptive-donor-form/...