Bella Nevaeh Amoroso Bond (August 6, 2012 - c. May or June 2015), previously known as "Baby Doe" was a toddler found deceased on the shore of Deer Island, Massachusetts in June 2015.
A woman walking her dog made the discovery after a duffel bag containing her remains was brought to the location by the current. After the release of a digital reconstruction, her case went viral online, drawing international attention.
Bond was identified nearly three months after her discovery. Her mother’s boyfriend was charged and convicted of her murder.
Case[]
NCMEC reconstruction.
The child's body was discovered by a woman walking her dog. Recent studies have indicated the child was placed at the location, rather than to have washed ashore. Her cause of death could not been determined, although foul play is suspected. Toxicology tests did not uncover any poisons, drugs, nor alcohol in her system and no visible trauma has been noted on her body.
Since her reconstruction has been released, over fifty-million viewed, read, and shared the girl's story, quickly making her one of the most popular unidentified cases at the time.
Identification[]
After the case was subjected to heavy media coverage, social media posts, and featured on multiple billboards, police were unable to obtain suitable leads. An acquaintance of Rachelle Bond eventually tipped authorities with information that the child was Bond’s, and her live-in boyfriend (who was not Bella’s father) was responsible for her death.
Upon entering Bond’s apartment, the matching top to the polka-dot bottoms found with the remains strongly indicated the lead’s credibility. No one was home at the time, so efforts were made to locate Rachelle Bond and her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy. Bond was found at the residence of Bella’s biological father, and she willingly went to the sheriff’s office to confirm the information leading police to her. She agreed to speak with investigators.
She described how McCarthy had killed Bella after she refused to go to bed one night, having witnessed him standing over her body as she investigated the sudden silence from her daughter’s bedroom. Some sources state she witnessed McCarthy punch Bella in the stomach, where others claim the moment of death was not witnessed. Autopsy results revealed no visible trauma, and asphyxiation was listed as a potential cause of death prior to the reports of the alleged physical assault. A second autopsy would later be conducted, with the intention of finding any signs of injury that may have been overlooked.
McCarthy placed the body into garbage bags and concealed it in the apartment’s refrigerator, later dropping it off a bridge after weighing down a duffel bag, which later ripped and allowed the interior to drift onto Deer Island. McCarthy was charged with murder, Rachelle Bond was charged as an accessory to the crime for helping to hide her daughter's death. Rachelle Bond had reportedly admitted to a friend that she was involved with concealing the child’s death, although her compliance is believed to have been out of fear and under the influence of illicit substance(s), to some degree.
During the trial phase of the case, both accused parties blamed the other for Bond’s death. Rachelle Bond testified against McCarthy, standing by her statements that her then-boyfriend went into the toddler’s bedroom and saw him standing over her body upon investigating the sudden silence following his entrance.
In 2017, her mother agreed to a plea deal and was released with credit of time served, with two years of probation. In late June of the same year, McCarthy was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life with the eligibility of parole set for twenty years. Rachelle Bond, who had a long history of substance misuse, would later return to court after failing a drug test and failing to attend a meeting with her assigned probation officer.
In November 2015, following a funeral, Bond was interred in a Winthrop, Massachusetts cemetery near members of the paternal side of her family. Her headstone bore the name “Bella N. Bond Amoroso,” despite being identified publicly by her mother’s surname.
Gallery[]
Media[]
- The case was detailed in the season 13 premiere of City Confidential in 2023.
Sources[]
- Telegram & Gazette
- Bella Bond on Wikipedia
- CNN
- NBC
- ABC
- Bella Bond at Find a Grave