Robert Keller - Murder Most Vile Volume 39: 18 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases

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Taking your dog for an early morning walk on the beach should never be a traumatic event. But for one Boston dog-walker that is exactly how the morning of June 25, 2015, turned out. The woman was strolling along the shoreline at Deer Island, the silhouette of the city skyline forming a backdrop across the bay. Then her dog started pulling hard on the lead, dragging her in the direction of an object, lying at the waters edge, lapped by the incoming tide. Closer observation revealed it to be a green garbage bag. Curious as to what had attracted the dogs attention, the woman decided to peek inside. She instantly reeled back in horror. The bag contained the corpse of a child, probably no more than three years old.

Ask any homicide investigator about the kind of case that affects them most and they will invariably tell you about a case like this one. The body was badly decomposed, so badly that it was impossible to visually determine its gender or the cause of death. The child was dressed only in white leggings, decorated with a black polka-dot pattern. A zebra-print blanket was also stuffed inside the bag. Other than that, there were few clues to be found at the scene. The police werent even able to tell if the body had been dumped on the beach or if it had been deposited there by the tide. It would be up to forensic experts and the medical examiner to unlock those mysteries.

But not before the story had broken in the media, sparking outrage that rippled out from Massachusetts and quickly consumed the nation. There is nothing that provokes an outpouring of emotion quite like the murder of a child. This one was particularly galling. A child had been killed and tossed away like garbage. What kind of a monster does something like that? The authorities were desperate to answer that question. And not just because there was immense public pressure to do so.

Several lines of inquiry were run out simultaneously. A dive team was brought in to trawl the waters for additional clues; cadaver dogs were employed; the US Coast Guard was consulted regarding tidal drift patterns. Meanwhile, detectives were chasing down leads regarding the childs clothing. The leggings were determined to be from a childrenswear range carried by Target. Pollen lifted from the garment confirmed that the child had lived locally in Boston. There was also a media campaign, with Anderson Cooper and John Walsh providing cover. Anyone who might have seen or heard anything, who even suspected anything, was urged to come forward. As is often the case in such a high-profile inquiry, this brought a deluge of calls but few substantive tips.

And then, on July 3, came the autopsy. The child was determined to be female, Caucasian, between the ages of three and five. There were no obvious signs of trauma to the body, no fractures or contusions. Likewise, no toxins were found in her system. Decomposition made it difficult for the coroner to determine cause of death, but he was adamant about one thing. The victim had not died of natural causes. This was undoubtedly a homicide.

The one question that the autopsy couldnt answer was the identity of the victim. Who was the little girl the media had dubbed Baby Doe? To unravel that mystery, the police turned to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). A search was conducted of its extensive database, returning 200 potential missing person matches. These were whittled down and whittled down again until all possibilities had been eliminated. Still, the identity of the child remained an enigma. Next, a forensic artist was brought in to create a photo-realistic composite, using information provided by the police and by the coroners office. Baby Doe had a face at last and that face would soon appear in newspapers from coast to coast, on billboards across Boston, on every social media platform. The Twitter post alone produced over 500 shares.