BOSTON — A law enforcement official says authorities have identified the young girl whose body was found in a trash bag on a Boston Harbor beach this summer.
The mystery of “Baby Doe” sparked a massive social media campaign to try to find out what happened to her. The name of the child has yet to be released.
Authorities have also executed a search warrant at a home outside Boston in connection to the case and have taken one person into custody, according to NBC affiliate WHDH, who says the search warrant helped identify the girl.
A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the investigation remains “very active.”
The girl was named “Baby Doe” by investigators and was estimated to be 4 years old.
Her body was found on Deer Island in Winthrop on June 25 by a woman walking a dog. Stay with WFLA.com for updates.
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 might have looked like when she was alive.
Within two weeks of the discovery of her body, the image of the chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl had tugged on heartstrings around the world.
By early July, the image had been liked on the Massachusetts State Police Facebook page by more than 50,000 people and shared more than 615,000 times, reaching an estimated 47 million people.
Authorities set up an anonymous text line and were flooded with tips. The tips led authorities to check on the well-being of dozens of little girls but did not lead them to Baby Doe’s family.
Despite the widespread publicity, investigators have been frustrated for months trying to figure out who she was and how she died.
There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body. An autopsy performed by the state medical examiner’s office did not immediately determine the manner or cause of her death.
Police chased down tips from around the world, but experts determined pollen on the girl’s blanket and leggings and in her hair came from trees found in New England.
