In Massachusetts, a candlelight vigil was held Saturday as investigators try to identify a girl whose body was found wrapped in a trash bag on Deer Island one month ago. The search for Ayla has become the biggest criminal investigation in the history of the state of Maine.
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Investigators have received hundreds of tips, and ruled out several missing children.
The girl’s remains were found June 25 by a dog walker.
“It hurts because they had to go right by my house to come here”, said Janice Cappello, a Winthrop resident. No one has come forward to identify her. “I wanted to raise awareness so hopefully somebody would recognize her”, said Deborah Larson, a vigil organizer.
The girl, investigators said, showed no obvious signs of trauma, and was wearing leggings and was wrapped in a blanket.
A computer-generated image of the girl, estimated to be 4 years old, with brown hair and brown eyes, flooded social media and billboards, but investigators still don’t know her name. They said the girl was about 3 1/2 feet tall and weighed just over 30 pounds, which was normal for her height, and had pierced ears.
“He believes if he does the writing, they will find who the parents are”, she said. Massachusetts State Police have submitted her DNA to a specialized lab in Texas that does advanced testing. She was found wearing white leggings with black polka dots and a zebra print fleece blanket was in the trash bag with her.
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Police set up an anonymous text tip number at 67283, keyword GIRL, and set up a dedicated phone line for tips at 617-396-5655.
