Bella’s mother and a man voluntarily went with police Friday morning. He said the boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, 35, was being treated at a Boston hospital for drug issues.
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Prosecutor Daniel Conley says he has authorized a murder charge for the mother’s boyfriend.
Massachusetts State Police Col. Richard McKeon said, “83 days after we found this little girl we’re at last able to speak for Baby Bella”. Bella’s mother, Rachelle, is charged as an accessory after the fact.
Baby Doe was estimated to be four years old.
Bella’s body was found on Deer Island, by a woman walking her dog.
News of the arrests come after state officials announced the state’s embattled child-welfare agency had been involved with the family of Bella but did not check back on her when this case broke. At least 53 million people saw that photo in the weeks after her discovery and yet for months, there was “remarkable silence” surrounding the child.
Authorities posted to social media a photograph-like image generated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created from autopsy photographs.
Rachelle Bond, 40, was arrested Friday in connection with the case, an officialtold NBC affiliate WHDH.
They got their big break after police received a tip and a search warrant was executed Thursday at Bond’s apartment.
Rhonda Mann, a spokesperson for the Department of Children and Families (DCF), said in a statement, “Since June, the Department has been working closely with law enforcement on exploring dozens of leads in hopes to identify the little girl found on Deer Island”.
An investigation by police led to DCF telling that Bella Bond was not in their care.
Although exact details as to how Bella (which literally translates to beautiful) came to die, authorities have told they believe they have a good idea how the child died, saying that the ‘girl’s death was intentional.’
“They are a number, we don’t want them to be a number”, she said.
Investigators are close to a conclusive identification of the child known as Baby Doe, according to a law enforcement official. State Police are leading the investigation.
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Police learned the girl’s identity after searching a Boston home on Thursday night, WHDH reported. He says the child’s mother was found in Lynn and is in custody. Inside the bag was the body of a girl who was 3 and 1/2 feet tall, along with a zebra print blanket. She had brown eyes and brown hair and was wearing a pair of white leggings with black-and-white polka dots.
