Rachelle Bond Sentenced In 'Baby Doe' Murder

BOSTON, MA – Rachelle Bond, the mother of 2-year-old Bella Bond and one of the key figures of the high-profile murder case surrounding the toddler's death in 2015, was sentenced Wednesday to time served and two years probation for being an accessory after the fact of murder. She will be released to an inpatient facility for substance abuse on Friday and had her probation fees and community service waived.

Bond served less than two years in jail. She has been behind bars since her arrest in 2015.

Bond pleaded guilty earlier this year to accessory after the fact of murder and larceny charges in exchange for her testimony against ex-boyfriend Michael McCarthy in Bella's murder.

McCarthy was found guilty of second-degree murder in June. Much of the state's case revolved around Bond's testimony, and the defense argued that she, not McCarthy, was the killer. Her credibility was attacked as the prosecution's star witness, with her past as a heroin addict and an alleged obsession with the occult was scrutinized.

Bella Bond's body washed up on Deer Island in June of 2015, covered in bruises and wrapped in bags. The girl was known only as "Baby Doe" as a high-profile search for her identity and killer commenced.

Bella was identified in September 2015, when one of McCarthy's friends contacted police telling them Rachelle Bond said McCarthy had killed the toddler.

The defense, however, claimed it was Rachelle Bond who killed the girl and then told McCarthy the child had been taken away by the state Department of Children and Families.

The month-long trial opened with devilish details about the couple's interest in the occult that at times, the defense said, bordered on lunacy. Defense attorney Jonathan Shapiro said Rachelle Bond was obsessed with evil spirits to the point of delusion. He at one point read a journal entry by her that said international leaders gather to "torture and rape and kill these innocent children every year just so they can drink their blood and eat their flesh so that these reptilian demons can have a moment’s sanity," according to The Boston Globe.

Whether or not demons were a culpable party, testimony from both sides made it clear heroin was. Both Rachelle Bond and McCarthy were addicts, no strangers to the "Methadone Mile" portion of Mass. Ave.

Bella Bond was born to Rachelle Bond and Joe Amoroso, also an alleged drug addict, whom Rachelle Bond met at Occupy Boston. Amoroso left Rachelle Bond, who reportedly turned to selling drugs to support her child, Assistant District Attorney David Deakin said. She moved from a shelter to a Dorchester apartment in 2013 and met McCarthy in February 2015, drawn to his interest in the occult and a mutual heroin addiction, Deakin said.

Emotions ran high at the end of the case. Following closing arguments, Shapiro aggressively accused Judge Janet Sanders of "buckling" under the prosecution's pressure, yelling, "You're screwing up my whole case!" Sanders had told the jury the prosecution did not need to prove McCarthy had acted alone in Bond's murder.

Rachelle Bond pleaded guilty in February to accessory after the fact to murder and larceny over $250 by false pretenses. She testified during the trial in exchange for being released from prison and two years of probation.

Mike Carraggi (Patch National Staff) contributed to this report.