BOSTON (AP) — In her
computer-generated image, she is the picture of innocence: a 4-year-old
girl with long brown hair, chubby cheeks and expressive brown eyes. The
image has reached a staggering 47 million people on Facebook as
investigators try to identity the child whose remains were found on a
Boston Harbor beach nearly two weeks ago.
The mystery of Baby Doe began on June 25, when a
woman walking her dog on the western shore of Deer Island called 911 and
reported finding a trash bag containing the girl's body. The child was
wearing white leggings with black polka dots. Inside the bag with her
remains was a zebra-print blanket.
Police immediately appealed to
the public for help in identifying the girl. Using photos of her
remains, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created a
composite image of what the girl may have looked like when she was
alive.
After that image and photos of the leggings and blanket
were posted on the Massachusetts State Police Facebook page,
investigators were astonished by the attention the posting received. As
of Wednesday morning, the post had been liked by more than 50,000 people
and shared more than 615,000 times.
But authorities still haven't identified the girl.
"It
has by far shattered our previous record for Facebook views," said Jake
Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley,
whose office is overseeing the investigation.
Adding to the
mystery is that investigators still haven't been able to figure out how
she died. There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body, and an
autopsy performed by the state medical examiner's office did not
determine the manner or cause of her death.
Conley said Tuesday
that authorities are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to
determine if the girl was poisoned or ingested drugs.
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This flyer released Thursday, July 2, 2015, by the Suffolk County Massachusetts District Attorney in …
She weighed 30 pounds and was about 3 1/2 feet tall. Her body
was reasonably intact but had a modest amount of decomposition.
Authorities won't say how long they believe she had been dead by the
time her remains were discovered.
They also don't know if the girl
lived in Massachusetts or came from another state. They will not say
whether the trash bag containing her body washed up on shore or was left
on the beach by someone.
Investigators
have received "dozens and dozens" of tips from the public, and those
leads have prompted police to check on the well-being of 20 girls in the
same age range. All of those girls were found safe and sound.
Conley
said the outpouring of support by people who have shared the girl's
image on social media is gratifying and gives him confidence that her
identity eventually will be determined.
During a news conference
Tuesday, Conley spoke directly to the girl's parents or caretakers:
"Please step forward, clear your conscience and help us identify this
young child."
Conley would not elaborate on whether the child's
parents or caretakers are a focus of the investigation and said
authorities don't know if the girl's death was an accident or a crime.
Her
death and the mystery surrounding her identity have touched a chord in
many people. State police say their Facebook posting on the girl has
received more than 10 times the views of their previous highest post.
People from Maine to California, Canada and Puerto Rico have shared the
posting, with many of them expressing sorrow or anger over the girl's
death.
"How can someone just throw a child away?" wrote one woman from Arizona.
"This is just horrible, no one is missing this little angel!" wrote another woman from Clovis, California.
Barbara
Smith, 67, of Missoula, Montana, said she has shared the girl's image
three times and plans to share it again and again until investigators
figure out who she was and how she died.
"I'm about to become a
great-grandmother, so it just touches you," she said in a telephone
interview. "It's sad that there was a little girl out there of her age
that was found by herself and nobody has claimed her."
State police spokesman David Procopio said investigators are grateful to the public for "caring about this little innocent."
"But we continue our request for leads," he said.
"We need people to continue to look at her and think about her and let us know if anything in their memory clicks."