Bella Bond to be Interred at Belle Isle Cemetery

By Sue Ellen Woodcock

Bella Bond will always remain a little toddler and forever call Winthrop home. She will be buried with her paternal great-grandmother in Belle Isle Cemetery this Saturday in a private service.

Caggiano Funeral Home in Winthrop has made the arrangements with the family. A private visitation will be held for the family at 9:30 a.m. followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m. then on to Belle Island Cemetery for her burial afterwards.

At the request of Speaker of the House and Winthrop resident Robert DeLeo there will also be a memorial mass for Bella at St. John the Evangelist Church on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 1 p.m.

The biological father, Joseph Amoroso, 32, of Lynn, was in contact with Rachelle Bond’s lawyer and it was Rachelle Bond who wanted the services to be private.

Michael McCarthy, 35, of Quincy and Rachelle Bond, 40, of 115 Maxwell St., Dorchester, are charged with Bella’s murder. They are both due back in court on Dec. 22.

Bella Bond, known for 85 days as Baby Doe or Deer Island Doe, was finally identified after an acquaintance of McCarthy’s tipped off police. Bella was found June 25 by a woman walking her dog on the shore of Deer Island. Bella was in a plastic contractor’s bag, wearing white with black polka dot leggings and wrapped in a fleece blanket. For weeks Winthrop Police, the State Police and the Suffolk County District Attorneys office sent out composite photos of the two and a half year old, set up a hotline, had special billboards made with her image. On social media Bella’s image went around the world on Facebook and Twitter.

No one connected to Bella ever came forward to identify her.

Amoroso played little if any role in Bella’s life. He said he never met her but talked to her on the telephone. He was in Florida when her body was found. It has been reported that Amoroso and Rachelle Bond met at Occupy Boston and Bella was conceived. The employees of the MWRA at Deer Island donated funds and installed a memorial bench for Bella.

Bella’s body has been held by the medical examiner’s office since she was found. The first autopsy did not determine a cause of death. Lawyers for both of the accused called for second autopsies. The cause of death has now been listed as a homicide.

When the two were arrested it was reported that McCarthy had repeatedly punched the child in the stomach. Bella was then kept in a refrigerator before being dumped in Boston Harbor and floating over to Deer Island.

David DiFilippo, who owns Woodlawn Memorials in Everett created the tombstone which includes a picture of little Bella calling her “Our Special Angel.” There is also a little kitten and a sleeping angel. DiFilippo also etched Bella’s name on the grandmother’s stone which was already there.

DiFilippo started working on the stone when Be

A custom headstone in the memory of Bella Bond.

A custom headstone in the memory of Bella Bond.

lla was finally identified.

“There should be a record that someone lived,” he said. “I didn’t want her to have an unmarked grave. She was just discarded like trash.”

DiFilippo said he met with Amoroso and his mother on the design of the stone and he plans to deliver it to the cemetery on Saturday.

“She is our special angel,” DiFilippo said. “There was such an incredible outpouring. She is known by millions across the country.”

Rossy’s Fashions & Bridal Shop in Revere donated a burial dress. East Boston’s New England Casket Co. and Whitman Vault have made donations.

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