Ep 14. Boy in the Box

In Cold Case season 1 episode 14, titled "Boy in the Box," the team investigates the heartbreaking case of an unidentified young boy found dead in a box in 1958. The episode opens with a man named Harold stepping off a commuter train in 2003, and noticing a news article about the case that he remembers vividly from his youth. He contacts the Cold Case team, and they take on the challenge of solving the mystery of the boy's identity and who may have put him in the box.

As they begin their research, the team is shocked by the lack of technology and resources available in the late 1950s. They rely heavily on interviews with people who lived in the area at the time, and the few forensic clues that were preserved from the boy's remains.

The most striking evidence they have is the box itself - a cheap cardboard container that held a bassinet when it was first purchased. The team is able to track down the store where it was sold, and speak to the original owner who remembers the woman who bought it. The woman, identified only as "Marie," is known to have had a young child, but she disappeared shortly after the boy's body was found.

As they follow up on leads, the team discovers that Marie was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband, and had left town to get away from him. They are able to track down her daughter, who was a toddler at the time of the boy's death, and now an older woman with her own family. She is shocked and emotional at the news of what happened to the boy, and shares her memories of her mother and the hardships they faced.

With the help of DNA testing and historical records, the team is able to confirm the identity of the boy as a child named "Jonathan" who was born in 1955 and had been missing for several years prior to his death. The case comes full circle when Harold is able to meet with the team and share his own connection to the boy - he had been Jonathan's neighbor and friend during the brief time he lived in the area.

The episode deftly weaves together the stories of the various people involved in the case, providing a glimpse into the lives and struggles of working-class families in the mid-20th century. It is a poignant reminder of the importance of never giving up on solving cold cases, even when they seem hopeless or forgotten.