Mom Arrested After "Baby Doe" Identified as Dead Child Found in Harbor
A child identified as Bella who is at the center of the Baby Doe investigation.
A man has been charged with killing the young girl long known as Baby Doe, authorities said Friday, and the childs mother has been arrested on allegations that she was an accessory after the fact.
Law enforcement officials laid out the charges in an afternoon news conference, in a criminal case they hope will bring a measure of closure to a tragic mystery that captivated the region for months.
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Her name was Bella, District Attorney Daniel Conley said of the girl who had come to be known as Baby Doe.
Officials identified the girl as 2 -year-old Bella Bond, placing a name to the face that had peered out from billboards, computer monitors, and television screens in a composite image that investigators had widely distributed in a desperate attempt to find out what happened to the girl.
The Dorchester child was found June 25 on Deer Island.
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Photos: Bella, girl at center of Baby Doe probePieces of the story began to fall into place Friday, as police and prosecutors announced that they had charged Michael McCarthy, 35, with murder and Rachelle Bond, 40 with being an accessory after the fact. McCarthy on Friday was hospitalized with a medical condition unrelated to the case.
For nearly three months, we have endeavored to speak for a true innocent who could not speak for herself, State Police Colonel Richard McKeon said.
With the revelation of Bellas identity Friday, some elements of her troubled family environment also became clear.
Bella in her short life had twice been involved with the states Department of Children and Families. DCF officials also said Bellas mother had two other children taken away from her in the years before the child was born.
Conley described Bella Bond as a true innocent. His office believes that she died by an act of violence in the very place where she should have felt safest: in her home.
Conley provided few details about how investigators broke the perplexing case, pledging that further information would come out at an expected arraignment for the suspects Monday in Dorchester Municipal Court.
As the details emerged Friday, Governor Charlie Baker referred to Friday as a very sad day for all of us.
The lost nature of what had happened to this child is something that really bothered me, the governor said.
A law enforcement official said earlier in the day that there was a search warrant executed in the case at a residence on Maxwell Street in Dorchester Thursday night.
Speaking Friday afternoon, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said his department provided information that helped State Police zero in on the location.
I think our guys ... were constantly helping out, and I think some of the information we developed over the last couple days in cooperation with State Police led us to Maxwell Street, Evans said.
Im glad we finally know who that young child is, Evans said.
Residents of a Maxwell Street apartment building said police were there Thursday asking about Bond. Neighbors had seen the little girl before, but she had been absent since summer. The girl looked just like the composite image released by investigators, they said.
Bella Bond (right) was identified as Baby Doe, pictured in an artists rendering at left.
Siomy Torres, who lives next door, said her daughter played with the little girl.
Half the time she was crying, Torres said, adding that she had assumed the girl was no longer around because she was in state custody.
DCF said the agency had been involved with Bella Bond twice in recent years.
Now that we know her name, the story is no less tragic, said Rhonda Mann, director of Communications for the Executive Office of Health & Human Services. DCF has not had an open case with this family for over two years, but did have brief involvement with Baby Bella as an infant.
Twice in Bellas life, DCF investigated potential neglect, and twice DCF found evidence to support its concerns.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff
District Attorney Daniel Conley spoke about the case Friday in Boston.
The first case, in August 2012, triggered regular intervention by a DCF social worker and services to the family that continued through December 2012. A second case in June 2013 brought social workers back to Bella until September 2013.
It was unclear what exactly had triggered the investigations or why DCF discontinued supervision of the family. Mann declined to provide any further details, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
She also confirmed that Bellas mother had had two other children taken away from her between 2001 and 2006. One of those children remains with a maternal grandmother, DCF said, and another was adopted by an unrelated family.
This weeks developments followed nearly three months of intensive investigation in the case. Officials have said their search spanned at least 36 states and several countries.
Investigators ran down hundreds of leads, ruling out more than 200 girls as they scoured locales including Mexico, Trinidad, Peru, Puerto Rico, and India.
The case also featured sophisticated forensic techniques including advanced genetic testing and an analysis of pollen found on the girls clothes and hair.
Authorities also used an extensive public information campaign in an attempt to draw tips from the public, using billboards, regular updates, and emotional appeals to honor the girls life by helping solve her case.
Boston Police Department
Rachelle Bond, 40, and Michael McCarthy, 35.
Stephanie Ebbert and Joshua Miller of the Globe Staff contributed to this article. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @evanmallen.Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the year Governor Baker said DCF was involved with the girl. It was 2013.
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