Jurors heard a heated exchange Friday between Rachelle Bond and Joe Amoroso, as he confronted her for a second time in mid-September 2015 about the whereabouts of their daughter Bella Bond.
It was recorded by the man accused of killing Bella - Bond's then-boyfriend Michael McCarthy - about 24 hours before Bond broke down and told Amoroso the daughter he had never met was dead.
"She told me that Michael McCarthy did it right away," Amoroso testified Friday, his second day on the stand in McCarthy's murder trial. "I believed what she was telling me. I didn't feel like she was making it up."
McCarthy, 37, is accused of fatally punching Bella Bond in the stomach in 2015 after she wouldn’t go to bed. The little girl’s body was thrown into the water and later found washed ashore on Deer Island stuffed in a plastic bag.
But under cross-examination, Amoroso conradicted Rachelle Bond's earlier testimony that she blacked out and didn't help McCarthy with Bella's body before he allegedly dumped it in the water in South Boston.
"She did tell me she wrapped Bella's body in a blanket, yes," Amoroso said.
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Bond, 41, pleaded guilty in February to being an accessory after the fact for helping her boyfriend dispose of her daughter’s body after he allegedly beat her to death. Bond testified under a plea deal with prosecutors.
Earlier in the day Friday, Chief Medical Examiner Henry Nields testified that Bella likely died of asphyxiation or sudden cardiac arrest from blunt trauma. He found bruising on her body, but no internal injuries.
Rachelle 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 thrree months after her daughter was found dead, seeking legal representation. It was her fifth and final day on the stand.
Trial Underway for Man Accused of Killing Bella Bond
Bond claims that she did not tell anyone about her daughter’s death because she was afraid of McCarthy. She also claims her memory during that time is hazy because of drug use following her daughter’s death.
"Michael killed Bella, he knew what he did to her," Bond said on the stand.
The trial started May 30 and is expected to last several weeks.
