Daily Beast: How Could The State Not Know ‘Baby Doe’?

From Sarah Zalkind writing at The Daily Beast: 

For months, the mystery behind Baby Doe, the dead child found in a trash bag on the edge of Boston’s Deer Island, dumbfounded law enforcement as they followed tips across the state, country and the world trying to find out the identity of this girl—and what happened to her.

A computer generated image of the child was shared millions of times. Her face was on the front page of local papers, in stacks near the checkout counter of nearly every convenience store in the city. Her soft brown eyes stared out at commuters going in and out of Boston on a billboard pleading with drivers: “Remember me?”

For 85 days, it seemed like nobody did. 

Now we know the name of that child: Bella Bond, the 2-½-year-old from Boston. Her mother’s associate, Michael McCarthy, is facing charges for her murder. Rachelle Bond, Bella’s mom, is facing charges for accessory after the fact.

We now know who she was. And we know, based on dozens of photos from her mother’s Facebook feed, that the computer generated reconstruction of her face was spot on. 

So what took people so long for someone to step forward—especially when Bella was known to child protective services officials within the state?

[…]

Rachelle Bond had a long history with the department. Between 2001 and 2006, the department took away two of her children, agency officials say. One was adopted by Bond’s grandmother, where the child still lives. The other was adopted by a family unrelated to Bond. 

When Bond had her third baby, Bella, the department was called in again. On Aug. 8, two days after Bella was born, according to her mother’s Facebook, DCS opened a case indicating that she needed “support for neglect.” By the middle of December, the department determined that services were provided, and they closed the case. 

Read the full story.