Her name was Bella.
The young girl found dead, wrapped in a trash bag on a Boston Harbor beach and dubbed “Baby Doe” has been identified — and both her mother and her mother’s boyfriend have been arrested in connection with the toddler’s murder.
The slain tot was identified as 2-year-old Bella Bond Friday, just hours after police raided a home in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood Thursday night.
“This child, whose very name means beauty, was murdered,” Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said. “We have a very good idea about what happened to her, based on the evidence.”
Prosecutors are awaiting the results of DNA testing to confirm the child’s identity, though they said they “are extremely confident in this identification.”
Michael McCarthy, 35, has been charged with the child’s murder while Bella’s mother, Rachelle Bond, 40, was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
“We allege that McCarthy caused Bella’s death, that he did so intentionally, that he and Bond took specific steps to keep Bella’s death a secret and to avoid prosecution,” Conley said.
The source also said the sick pair kept the girl’s body in a fridge for a month before dumping it by the harbor.
“I know with all my heart that Rachelle Bond would not do anything to hurt anybody,” Joseph Amoroso told the Daily News outside his Dorchester home.
Prosecutors declined to provide further details on the cause of death, only saying that the girl died “by an act of violence in the very place that she should have felt safest, in her home.”
Little Bella was found June 25 inside a trash bag on Deer Island in Winthrop, across the water from Boston’s Logan Airport, by a woman walking a dog.
A week later, authorities released a computer-generated image of the child, using photographs of her remains. Police were flooded with tips after the image went viral online.
The photo bears a striking resemblance to photos of Bella posted to Bond’s Facebook page. One video posted by Bond shows the toddler celebrating her second birthday.
Authorities said homicide detectives received a “critical tip” within the last 24 hours, which led them to the couple.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen Bella for some time, but they didn’t put two and two together until investigators arrived at the baby’s home this week.
Because Bond has had past trouble with the Department of Children and Families, they figured that little Bella had been taken into the state’s custody.
“She (the mother) tried to be responsible, but she was on drugs,” neighbor Yessiomora Torres told WMTW-TV. “She talked slurred, she’d come out and smoke a cigarette, her daughter would be crying.”
McCarthy, who is not biologically related to Bella, is in custody at a Boston-area hospital, where he’s been staying for reasons unrelated to the case, Conley said.
The child’s body will be turned over to her biological father.
Beverly Ford reported from Dorchester, Massachusetts.
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