Ed Davis Calls 'Baby Doe' Investigation A 'Special Case'

BOSTON (CBS) -- WBZ-TV security analyst and former Boston Police Commissioner says the "Baby Doe" investigation is a "special case" given how much time and effort has gone into trying to solve it.

"I think we have a very sympathetic victim here," Davis said. "When that portrait came out, it went far and wide and it really personalized this for people not only in the public, but I'm sure in the minds of the investigators as well. Everybody worked really hard on this case."

The child commonly referred to around New England as "Baby Doe" has been identified after a three-month search, sources told WBZ-TV's Lauren Leamanczyk on Friday. Authorities have not released the girl's name or determined a cause of death yet, but sources told Leamanczyk she is from Boston.

According to a Daily Beast report, the girl's name is Bella.

Lemanczyk's sources identified the child's mother as Rachelle Bond of Mattapan. Bond's Facebook page shows she is the mother of a little girl named Bella, who celebrated her second birthday in August 2014. The child appears to be similar to the Baby Doe image generated by investigators.

Davis says as time goes on, people who have met the child are going to start to ask questions and it was just a matter of time before a crucial tip came forward.

"It's incredible and remarkable that the State Police did so much work here," he said. "They did forensics, isotope testing on the teeth and checked for pollen, and were able to tell where the child had been before her death.

"They are working really hard right now on determining the cause of death because that's the next step in this investigation."

Charges could range from improper disposal of a body up to manslaughter and homicide, Davis says, depending on "intense interrogation that's going on right now in this investigation."

The girl's body was found in a trash bag June 25 by a woman while she was walking her dog along the beach on Deer Island in Winthrop.

The girl is believed to have been around 4 years old. She had brown eyes and brown hair, weighed about 30 pounds, and stood about 3½ feet tall.

Since discovering the girl's body, investigators have looked into hundreds of leads that came in from all over the country, Davis says.

"They did all of the technical work that needs to be done, and the District Attorney's Office has been involved with this since day one," he said, "Trying to put together a case and making sure that everything is handled properly."

When the tip came in to Boston police on Thursday, they were able to run it down quickly and put together paperwork for a search warrant, Davis says.

He said that the investigation is "very active" at this time.