Officials seek motive, cause of death in 'Baby Doe' case

After a mother and her boyfriend were charged in the murder of the woman's 2-year-old daughter, investigators are not ready to speculate on a motive or even a cause of death.

The toddler was identified as Bella Bond on Friday, almost three months after her remains were found in a trash bag that washed up on a Boston Harbor beach.

At a news conference Friday, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said he authorized a murder charge for Michael McCarthy, 35, and the girl's mother, Rachelle Bond, 40, for accessory to murder after the fact.

But Conley would not comment on how the young girl, who had no obvious signs of trauma to her body, died. He also declined to comment on a possible motive, asking "Why does anyone kill a 2-year-old child? What could she have done?"

A composite picture of the chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl, known before Friday as only Baby Doe, had tugged at heartstrings across the country after authorities asked for the public's help. Her image was seen by millions of Facebook users.

"At just shy of 3 years old, Bella Bond was a true innocent," Conley said at a news conference announcing the charges. "This child, whose very name means beauty, was murdered."

The girl was named Baby Doe by investigators who launched a massive social media campaign to find out who she was and how she died.

Using photos of her remains, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created a composite image of what the girl might have looked like when she was alive. Within two weeks, the image of the girl had reached an estimated 47 million people on Facebook.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said Bond and McCarthy are blaming each other for the girl's death.

"It appears as though it was a situation of the boyfriend who was involved and apparently, I think, mother and boyfriend sort of blaming each other in terms of who harmed the child."

Conley said McCarthy was being treated at a Boston hospital for a medical condition unrelated to the case.

Both Bond and McCarthy are due to be arraigned on the charges Monday. Neither could be reached for comment.

Officials from the state's child protection agency said they had contact with Bella twice, for four months in 2012 and three months in 2013. In both cases, officials described the involvement as "support for neglect," and the cases were later closed.

Between 2001 and 2006, the Department of Children and Families terminated parental rights for two of her mother's older children. One of the children was later adopted by her maternal grandmother; the other was adopted by someone outside the family, DCF officials said.

The girl's body was found June 25 by a woman walking a dog.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.