Young girl found dead near Boston still unidentified two weeks later

Nearly two weeks after the remains of a young girl were found along the rocky shoreline of Boston Harbor, more than 45 million people have seen or shared a computer-generated image of what she may have looked like in life.

But authorities are no closer to identifying her.

She is known only as “Baby Doe” and believed to be about 4 years old — with big brown eyes and brown hair reaching just below her shoulders, according to investigators. She was about 3½ feet tall and weighed about 30 pounds.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children released the image last week. Massachusetts State Police posted it on Facebook. In that time, more than 45 million people have seen or shared her countenance on social media, according to Renee Nadeau Algarin, deputy press secretary at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

Police released photos of the blanket and the polka-dot leggings she was wearing.

“I think we all know she’s a beautiful child,” Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said.

Conley this week made a public appeal to the girl’s parents.

“We ask the parents or caregivers of this young girl to please step forward and clear your conscience,” he said at a news conference.

Authorities are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine whether the girl was poisoned or ingested drugs before her death, Conley said.

It’s unclear how long she had been dead but there was a modest amount of decomposition when her remains were removed from the trash bag, according to Conley.

“Based on tips received, we have coordinated about 20 well-being checks with police in other jurisdictions after people contacted our investigators concerned about children who they believed may have been missing,” Algarin said.”The children in all of those checks turned up fine.”

The child’s body was discovered June 25 along the shore of Deer Island, a narrow peninsula just east of Boston’s Logan Airport. The island houses several large, egg-like sludge treatment cylinders, which help remove human and industrial pollutants from waste water originating from 43 greater Boston communities, according to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

“We are extremely grateful for the many tips we have received, and we ask the public to keep sharing this little girl’s photo and information so that we may continue to receive and follow up on leads,” the Massachusetts State Police said on its Facebook page.

The post has more than 640,000 shares.

“How can nobody miss her?” Nina Marie Arnold-Orlando said in a post.