BOSTON – Massachusetts police have added earrings to the computer-generated image of a young girl whose remains were found in a trash bag on a Boston Harbor beach, continuing their quest to learn the girl's identity.
The new image was posted Thursday on the state police Facebook page. The previous image, portraying a girl with long brown hair, chubby cheeks and expressive brown eyes, had been seen by about 47 million people as of Wednesday.
Police have been trying to identify the child since June 25, when a woman walking her dog on Deer Island found the remains in a trash bag. The girl was believed to be around 4 years old.
Rosanna Cavallaro, a former state prosecutor who is now a professor at Suffolk University Law School, said the girl was so young that there likely is no identifying information such as fingerprints in any database.
Cavallaro said if the girl was in an isolated situation with a limited number of people in her life, it may be difficult to identify her.
"There might something that they're guilty of, there might be a reason why they are in trouble. So the very people who are most likely to give information are also the least likely to be helpful if the circumstances surrounding the disposal of ... of these remains are suspicious," she said.
The tiny earrings were added after new information from the medical examiner and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Using photos of her remains, the center created the composite image of what the girl may have looked like when she was alive.
The girl was also wearing white leggings with black polka dots. Inside the bag with her remains was a zebra-print blanket.