The Awful Details of Bella Bond’s Life and Death

Rachelle Bond and Michael McCarthy. / Via Boston Police

Bella Bond suffered mightily at the hands of her drug addicted mother and live-in boyfriend before she was killed in a bizarre fit of occult rage, according to prosecutors speaking in a Dorchester courtroom Monday.

Prosecutors alleged that Rachelle Bond, 40, and Michael McCarthy, 35, were ultimately responsible for the death of Bella, 2, known until recently as Baby Doe, when McCarthy killed her sometime in May after she struggled to go to sleep.

A friend who lived with the family recalled an evening when Bella was restless, like all children in their early years, but instead of dealing with them like normal parents, McCarthy locked her in a closet for long stretches. Bella “screamed to be let out” the friend said, but McCarthy kept her in there because she was “was possessed by demons” and “deserved the treatment.”

The friend reported McCarthy’s interest in the occult had grown as of late and that he claimed to see ghosts and demons. Books and materials on demons and demonology were found in the home by investigators.

Prosecutors said that sometime in May, McCarthy took Bella into a bedroom when she would not go to bed. Bond, noticing a silence beginning to emanate from the room, eventually went to check on the pair and found McCarthy standing over Bella with a hand on her abdomen, “striking or applying or pressure.” When she saw Bella’s swollen and gray face, she knew she was dead.

McCarthy allegedly told Bond at the time that Bella “was a demon anyway. It was her time to die.”

Bella’s exact cause of death has not yet been determined.

Prosecutors allege Bond watched McCarthy stuff Bella’s lifeless body in a trash bag before placing her remains in a refrigerator for an undetermined number of days.

They later removed Bella’s body from the refrigerator, placed it in a weighted duffle bag and dumped it in Boston Harbor.

The couple allegedly went on a heroin binge for several days after Bella’s death.

The friend eventually saw one of the billboards featuring the rendering of Bella and reached out to them about her whereabouts. A series of text messages about Bella escalated before the friend finally reached out to the authorities. Bond and McCarthy initially told their friend that the Department of Children and Families took the child away, just like Bond’s first two children.

McCarthy, charged with murder, is being held without bail, while Bond, charged with accessory after the fact, is being held on $1 million cash bail. They are both charged with improper disposal of a body.

McCarthy’s attorneys denied prosecutors accounts of the events and insisted that Bond was trying to blame Bella’s death on him. McCarthy said he was not aware of Bond’s death until Friday when they were arrested. Bond’s attorney said McCarthy told him Bella was in the custody of DCF.

They are due back in court on October 20.