BOSTON (WHDH) — A state trooper presented pieces of evidence during Bella Bond’s murder trial Monday, including items found with the young girl’s body.
State Trooper Daniel Herman showed the court the polka dot leggings the 2-year-old girl was wearing when she was found stuffed inside a trash bag that washed ashore on Deer Island in June 2015. Herman also showed the bag itself, along with two blankets that were found inside the bag and weights found nearby in the water. Prosecutors also showed video of the Dorchester apartment where Bella was murdered.
Prosecutors said Michael McCarthy, the boyfriend of Bella’s mother Rachelle Bond, killed the little girl and then dumped her body in Boston Harbor. The defense contends that Bond is the one who killed her daughter.
Bond already testified as part of a plea deal where she will be freed from jail after she pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in her daughter’s murder. While on the stand, Bond said McCarthy killed Bella by punching her in the stomach and told her he had to kill the toddler because she was a demon.
Herman said police located McCarthy in the hospital and Bond was found in Lynn. Herman said Bond appeared disheveled and looked like a mess when she was found. Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro grilled Herman on the stand, asking why McCarthy’s cellphone was seized but not Bond’s. Herman admitted that Bond’s cellphone could have been important to the investigation. Shapiro also got Herman to admit that Bond’s statements to police were conflicting.
Testimony continues in court on Tuesday.
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