Grand jury indicts mother of Bella Bond with accessory to murder, larceny
Rachelle Bond allegedly continued to accept public welfare assistance even though she was aware of her 2-year-old daughter’s death, according to a Suffolk County grand jury indictment returned on Friday.
The charges stem from the death of Bella Bond, whose body was found in a bag on Deer Island this June. Officials then launched an extensive, multi-state search for the identity of “Baby Doe,’’ which led them to Rachelle Bond and her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy.
The grand jury indictment charged McCarthy with first-degree murder in the death of Bella Bond. Bond is indicted on accessory after the fact to that murder.
Bond was also indicted on larceny over $250 by false purposes for accepting benefits from the Department of Transitional Assistance in late May or early June of this year, according to the D.A.’s office.
McCarthy and Bond had been charged with murder and accessory after the fact, respectively, in Dorchester Municipal Court in September. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Friday’s grand jury indictments supersede those charges. McCarthy and Bond will now face charges in Suffolk Superior Court, Suffolk County District Attorney spokesperson Jake Wark said. They are set to be arraigned on January 6.
According to municipal court prosecutors, McCarthy, 35, fatally injured the toddler in her home. Afterward, he allegedly told Bond that “she was a demon anyway and it was her time to die,’’ according to prosecutors.
Bella Bond’s body was kept in a refrigerator and then put in a bag and dumped into the waters off of South Boston’s Seaport District, prosecutors said.
Gallery: Photos of the Bella Bond case.
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