[8][13] The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children facially reconstructed the child's face to provide the public with an estimation of the victim's appearance during life.

[14] After the reconstruction was released and news coverage began nationwide, a large amount of public attention emerged; an estimated 56 million people viewed reports on the case.

[2][20][21][22] Rachelle Bond was charged with being an "accessory after the fact" in regards to her daughter's murder; she later pleaded guilty as the result of a plea deal.

The body of Bella Bond was found inside a plastic garbage bag on the shoreline of Deer Island near Boston, Massachusetts.

[9][19][27][28] Initially, police were unsure if additional bodies would be at the scene, so they attempted unsuccessfully to use cadaver dogs to locate any other possible remains.

[36][37] The United States Coast Guard entered the investigation and analyzed the currents of the water in the area to estimate where the bag containing the remains could have originated.

[41] As of mid-July and August, authorities believed the victim had been placed at the scene, rather than washing onto Deer Island from another location, because the body was not in an advanced enough stage of decomposition.

[11] The girl was later discovered to have had pierced ears, so the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an updated image of the child wearing earrings.

[15] The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children digitally reconstructed the face of the child after preceding attempts to identify the body failed.

[46][56][57] The reconstruction was created in four hours using Adobe Photoshop with the influence of mortuary and "stock" photographs to give an estimation of the child's appearance while alive.

[43][46][58] The reconstruction, created by forensic artist Christi Andrews, was released on July 2, 2015[36][59][60]⁠—‍due to its realistic composition, many viewers mistook it for an actual photograph.

[62] The child was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System on July 4, 2015, including details of the discovery of the subject and physical estimations.

Many missing persons were excluded as possible identities; authorities checked Shoshana Black, Paula Ramerez-Figuroa, Ofir Ben–Haim, Cassidy Gibbs, and Ayla Reynolds.

[15] Police were focused on investigating in the local community, yet they believed the girl possibly was not from the area and continued to search through various cases of missing children.

[14] The fact that no tips from relatives with information about the child had been reported supported the idea that family members were involved with the disposal of the body, and possibly with her death.

[82] Local businesses in the area began placing posters of the child in their buildings, hoping to create awareness for the case and to generate potential leads.

[43] The digital reconstruction had been viewed an estimated 50 million times by the public, which officials have stated was significantly efficient in assisting with the case.

Walsh stated, "absolutely someone knows" the identity of the Jane Doe and that in similar cases, often, the "live-in boyfriend" or the mother of the child had abused or neglected one of several children in a family, citing that the victim could have been "accidentally killed or starved to death."

Investigators were unable to find any trace of the girl at the store through information gathered by security cameras, and the subject at the playground has yet to be located.

A man stated he believed he had seen the toddler in November 2014 at a laundromat with a "heavyset" and "dirty blond" woman pushing the child in a stroller.

[93] Many submitted information about potential matches, later revealed to be missing children in over half of the United States, as well as in European and South and Central American countries.

[29][94] A total of 84 billboards, including digital signs donated by Clear Channel, were also placed across the state of Massachusetts, encouraging individuals to report tips to the anonymous hotlines created for the child.

[102] Amoroso elaborated in another interview that he believed Rachelle had been "sedated" with an injection of heroin by her boyfriend quickly after Bella's death, as a "track mark" visible on her neck could not be the result of her own action.

[103] Amoroso announced plans to bury Bella in Winthrop, Massachusetts, among family members, stating he had decided to allow the "funeral and wake services to be public.

"[104] Bella Bond was buried on November 28, 2015, at the Winthrop Cemetery during a private funeral, after her parents later came to a consensus not to have the service open to the public.

[4][5] Police released the information that the child was a murder victim and charged Michael McCarthy, the mother's boyfriend, with Bond's death.

[113] Authorities have acknowledged that since the exact cause of Bella's death remains unknown, asserting to a jury that it was homicide could be "difficult to prove.

"[114] Rachelle Bond alleged that McCarthy had punched the toddler in the stomach multiple times after claiming Bella was a "demon", and that he was the sole perpetrator of the murder.

He explained that this was due to McCarthy's "dark side", including the fact that he heavily researched topics such as demons and satanic rituals.

On June 26, 2017, the jury returned a guilty verdict of second-degree murder, and two days later, he was sentenced to life imprisonment; he will be eligible for parole in 2037.