A mother and her boyfriend are "blaming each other" for the death of "Baby Doe," a 3-year-old Boston girl whose remains were found on a Boston Harbor beach this summer and whose identity was only determined Friday, a state official said.
Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo said the mother of Bella Bond -- known to the world as Baby Doe -- is in police custody Friday along with her boyfriend.
"They feel they have the perpetrators of this crime," DeLeo said during a news conference Friday.
"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," he said. "I got the impression it was deliberate."
DeLeo could not immediately confirm the name of the child's mother. He said the boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael McCarthy, was being treated at a Boston hospital for drug issues. He also said authorities are "in the process of taking a witness or two before the grand jury."
The girl's body was discovered June 25 in a trash bag on Deer Island in Massachusetts by a woman walking her dog. Authorities said they believe the child -- found wrapped in a blanket -- was placed there. Authorities at the time said the girl was around 3 or 4 years old and that a cause of death could not be determined. An analysis of pollen on the girl's clothing indicated that she was likely from the Boston area.
Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters at the same press conference Friday that the state's child welfare agency had opened a case with the girl's family in 2013 for a "few months."
The discovery of the girl's body sparked a massive social media campaign. Within two weeks, a compose image of the chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl had reached an estimated 47 million people on Facebook.
Police searched a Boston apartment Thursday night after receiving a tip.
Authorities immediately appealed to the public for help in identifying the girl. 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 of the discovery of her body, the image of the chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl had tugged on heartstrings around the world. 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.
Authorities set up an anonymous text line and were flooded with tips. The tips led authorities to check on the well-being of dozens of little girls but did not lead them to Baby Doe's family.
Despite the widespread publicity, investigators had been frustrated for months trying to figure out who she was and how she died. There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body. An autopsy performed by the state medical examiner's office did not immediately determine the manner or cause of her death.
Police chased down tips from around the world, but experts determined pollen on the girl's blanket and leggings and in her hair came from trees found in New England.
Residents of the apartment building that police searched told reporters that investigators asked about a woman who used to live there.
Neighbors said they had not seen a girl who looked like the composite photo released by police since March or April. They said they were told she had been taken into custody of child welfare.
