Police identify Boston’s “Baby Doe”

Eroded by the tide, the body had no fingerprints when she was discovered.

The body found on June 25 in Boston had been known as “Baby Doe” during an intense campaign to learn her identity.

After getting a tip Thursday night, Boston Police detectives led “a marathon investigation” over the last 24 hours, including searching an apartment on Maxwell Street in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, where investigators took Bond into custody for questioning.

Back in July forensic psychologist Robert Mendoza speculated that the child was likely local and that someone likely brought the baby’s body to Dee island in a vehicle – not by boat. By early July, the image had been liked on the Massachusetts State Police Facebook page by more than 50,000 people and shared more than 615,000 times, reaching an estimated 47 million people. A state police spokesman did not immediately return calls.

The Boston Globe reported Friday that there was a break in the case, citing law enforcement officials that it didn’t name, but did not report anything about the girl being identified.

Despite the widespread publicity, investigators had been frustrated for months trying to figure out who she was and how she died.

The identity of the toddler will not be released until the State Medical Examiner makes a positive identification of the body.

Neighbours said they had not seen a girl who looked like the composite photo released by police since March or April.

Conley identified the child as Bella Bond, and said she is younger than three years old.