The trial against the man accused of killing Bella Bond continued Tuesday with several witnesses detailing the painstaking lengths they went to chasing down leads in this case.
The prosecutor tried to walk jurors through the difficulty they had for three months trying to identify the little girl found dead on Deer Island in June 2015, known then only as Baby Doe.
Crime scene technicians testified they found no blood in Michael McCarthy’s car and no fingerprints linking McCarthy to Bella Bond’s murder.
Abbey Scott, a Massachusetts State Police crime lab forensic scientist, testified about her examination of the evidence, including Bella Bond's remains.
Scott testified she did a sex assault kit on Bond’s remains that was negative for semen but positive for saliva.
She also testified the zebra print blanket Bond was wrapped in tested positive for saliva and semen, and that she tested two stains on the polka dot leggings Bond was found wearing.
"The stain on the knee area was positive for the presence of semen and I took a small portion of the stain on the knee and the stain in the rear crotch area of the pants that was white and extracted those for sperm cells and what were the results of those extractions – those were negative,” Scott said.
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Scott also processed items from Rachelle Bond's apartment at 115 Maxwell St. in Dorchester.
Earlier in the day, a U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue planner described a reverse drift analysis he did to try to show where the little girl’s body was dumped. It was inconclusive.
Michael McCarthy, 37, is accused of fatally punching 2-year-old Bella in the stomach after she wouldn’t go to bed. The little girl’s body was allegedly thrown into the water and later found washed ashore on Deer Island in Winthrop, Massachusetts.
On Tuesday US Coast Guard Boston's lead command center controller Jay Woodhead testified about the search and rescue mission executed to recover Baby Doe's body.
On Monday, lead Detective Daniel Herman with the Massachusetts State Police showed jurors the black and white polka dot leggings the little girl known at the time only as "Baby Doe" was wearing when she washed up on a Boston Harbor island in June of 2015.
Bella’s mother, Rachelle Bond, 41, pleaded guilty in February to being an accessory after the fact for helping McCarthy, her ex-boyfriend, dispose of her daughter’s body after he allegedly beat her to death. Bond testified under a plea deal with prosecutors.
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Bond's testimony Thursday centered around texts she sent to McCarthy months before her daughter's death, a meme she posted to Facebook, and an internet search she conducted three months after her daughter was found dead, seeking legal representation. It was her fifth and final day on the stand.
Bella’s father, Joe Amoroso, testified Friday that Rachelle told him she “wrapped Bella’s body in a blanket,” contradicting Rachelle’s testimony that she blacked out and didn’t help McCarthy.
Rachelle Bond could also face jail time if the jury does not believe her account of her daughter's death, the defense suggested.
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