The strange case of Baby Doe.

It’s a missing child case with a difference.

It’s a nightmare discovery you’d never expect to find on your morning walk: The body of a little girl, wrapped in zebra-print blanket inside plastic bag.

The horror find, made by a woman walking her dog on the beach on 25 June in Boston Harbour, Massachusetts, sparked an investigation that has captured the imagination of people around the world.

Bizarrely, authorities have no clue who the little girl is, where she came from — or even whether her death is accidental, after a post-mortem examination found no signs of trauma and failed to establish a cause of death.

While police have revealed that she was dressed in polka-dot leggings when found, weighed almost 14kg and was just over one metre tall, they refuse to say how long she may have been dead and whether she washed up on the beach or was left there, News Ltd reports.

Authorities have now christened the little girl ‘Baby Doe’ and released a computer-generated composite image of what she would have looked like while still alive. The eerily beautiful picture, first posted to the Massachusetts State Police Facebook page, has already been shared more than 45.5 million times.

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Police are asking anyone the girl’s parents to come forward.

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said at a news conference on Tuesday, in an address directed to the girl’s parents or caretakers: “Please step forward, clear your conscience and help us identify this young child.”

State police have also appealed to the public for information: writing on their Facebook page:

Authorities also hope that toxicology tests will soon determine if she was poisoned or ingested drugs, News Ltd reports.

They have vowed they will not rest until the case is solved.

Anyone with any information about this toddler or who has information about a missing child is urged to contact the Massachusetts State Police, the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit, or Winthrop Police.

Related:

Horror child abuse: She ate pizza while her son lay dead in his bed.

I thought I saw a sex offender outside a primary school. Did I do the right thing?

Do you have a story to share? Email us on news@mamamia.com.au

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