ME AYLA REYNOLDS: Missing from Waterville, ME - 16 Dec 2011 - Age 20 months

Ayla was last seen when her father, Justin DiPietro, put her to bed at her home on Violette Avenue in Waterville, Maine at 8:00 p.m. on December 16, 2011. She apparently vanished during the night and has never been seen again. Her father called the police at 8:50 the next morning.

DiPietro, his sister, his girlfriend and the women's two children were at the residence all night the night Ayla disappeared. Authorities maintain the baby's father has not been cooperative with the investigation and they believe the adults who were in the home that night are withholding information.

Investigators found Ayla's blood in the multiple places in DiPietro's home, including her first-floor bedroom and his basement bedroom, which is where he slept that night with his girlfriend and her child. His sister and his sister's child slept on the first floor.

Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds, was in a ten-day substance abuse treatment program when her daughter disappeared. The day before Ayla went missing, Trista had filed for sole custody. Ayla had been placed with her father by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) two months prior to her disappearance. DiPietro did not know about Trista's custody bid.

In April 2012, police found some unspecified items of interest behind the Hathaway Creative Center in the Kennebec River, about a mile from DiPietro's home. May 2012, nearly six months after Ayla vanished, authorities publicly stated they believed she was dead, but did not believe she had been abducted.

Ayla was declared legally dead in 2017; the court recorded that she had died around the time she was reported missing. In December 2018, seven years after her disappearance, Trista filed a wrongful death suit against DiPietro. Although the suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, she stated the real goal of it was to get answers as to what happened to Ayla and to recover her body.

DiPietro maintained his innocence in his daughter's case and stated he has no idea where she is. He didn't respond to the wrongful death suit until May 2019; before then, his whereabouts had been unknown. In his response to Trista's filing, DiPietro said he was innocent of any wrongdoing in Ayla's disappearance and the blood in his house was from one time when she was sick.

No one has been named as a suspect in Ayla's disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.


NCMEC - Have you seen this child? Ayla Reynolds

Charley Project - Ayla Bell Reynolds – The Charley Project

NamUs - The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Media - AYLA REYNOLDS has been missing from Waterville, #MAINE since 16 Dec 2011 - Age 20 months

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Eight-year anniversary of Ayla Reynold's disappearance

This is Maine State Police's largest criminal case ever conducted. No charges have been made in the case.

www.newscentermaine.com

Eight-year anniversary of Ayla Reynold's disappearance

Eight years ago, on December 17, 2011, 20-month-old Ayla Reynolds of Waterville was reported missing. She was the daughter of Trista Reynolds and Justin DiPietro.

Her case became the largest criminal investigation ever conducted by the Maine State Police.

Ayla went missing while in the custody of her father.

DiPietro claimed that she must have been taken while she was sleeping.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Missing toddler’s blood was from when she was sick, attorney for Ayla Reynolds’ father says

Trista Reynolds, Ayla's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Justin DiPietro in December.

bangordailynews.com

Missing toddler’s blood was from when she was sick, attorney for Ayla Reynolds’ father says

His lawyer Michael Waxman says DiPietro is still upset about what happened.

“Every single day he thinks about this,” Waxman said. “Every single day upon waking, and it’s probably the last thought he has before falling asleep. He desperately frustrated as well.”

The wrongful death lawsuit alleges DiPietro didn’t do all he could to help Ayla when she broke her arm in his custody.

“He wouldn’t have allowed his daughter to continue to be in pain,” Waxman said. “He brought her as soon as he realized he needed to, the next day.”

Police reports state Ayla’s blood was found in multiple places in DiPietro’s Waterville home, including her bedroom and DiPietro’s bedroom.

His lawyer says that blood is from when Ayla was sick.

“Apparently, it’s not uncommon that if a child, or a person, is vomiting repeatedly, for some blood to be in the vomit,” Waxman said. “That’s the only explanation I’m aware of.”

He says DiPietro also wants answers for what happened, but says there might not be any.

“The fact that he doesn’t have the answers she seeks, doesn’t mean that he is guilty of causing his child’s death,” Waxman said.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Going to follow this one moving forward. Is there enough evidence for the wrongful death suit to be successful? Does he have any known cases of child abuse or neglect? Will anyone else in the house that night come forward with the truth? If she was placed in the river where they found some "items of interest", she may never be found.

 

[Saddened]

This one still bothers me to this day. Someone got away with murder.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Missing toddler’s blood was from when she was sick, attorney for Ayla Reynolds’ father says

Trista Reynolds, Ayla's mother, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Justin DiPietro in December.

bangordailynews.com

Missing toddler’s blood was from when she was sick, attorney for Ayla Reynolds’ father says

His lawyer Michael Waxman says DiPietro is still upset about what happened.

“Every single day he thinks about this,” Waxman said. “Every single day upon waking, and it’s probably the last thought he has before falling asleep. He desperately frustrated as well.”

The wrongful death lawsuit alleges DiPietro didn’t do all he could to help Ayla when she broke her arm in his custody.

“He wouldn’t have allowed his daughter to continue to be in pain,” Waxman said. “He brought her as soon as he realized he needed to, the next day.”

Police reports state Ayla’s blood was found in multiple places in DiPietro’s Waterville home, including her bedroom and DiPietro’s bedroom.

His lawyer says that blood is from when Ayla was sick.

“Apparently, it’s not uncommon that if a child, or a person, is vomiting repeatedly, for some blood to be in the vomit,” Waxman said. “That’s the only explanation I’m aware of.”

He says DiPietro also wants answers for what happened, but says there might not be any.

“The fact that he doesn’t have the answers she seeks, doesn’t mean that he is guilty of causing his child’s death,” Waxman said.

Oh give me a break. Vomiting blood repeatedly, common when children are sick? A broken arm with a 20 month old? Some cases I think they should just take what they have after a certain amount of time and give it their best try. Poor baby.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

On this date in Maine history: Dec. 16

Dec. 16, 2007: Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg, 56, dies of prostate cancer at home in Deer Isle, where he has lived for 25 years. Fogelberg, a native of Peoria, Illinois, also lived many years in Colorado and recorded his music there. Achieving his greatest success in the 1970s and 1980s, he...

www.pressherald.com

Dec. 16, 2011: Ayla Reynolds, age 20 months, disappears from her father’s home in Waterville. She is reported missing from her bed the next morning, leading to the largest search for a missing person in Maine history.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

A decade in, the case of missing Waterville child Ayla Reynolds ramps up

Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds, is making progress in her civil lawsuit that seeks to hold the child's father, Justin DiPietro, accountable in the case that's nearing its 10th anniversary.

www.centralmaine.com

A decade in, the case of missing Waterville child Ayla Reynolds ramps up​

Ten years to the day that Justin DiPietro reported his daughter, Ayla Bell Reynolds, missing from their Waterville home, he will be interviewed as part of a civil lawsuit seeking to hold him accountable for her death.

It’s an indication that progress is ramping up in the case of Ayla a decade after her disappearance, which is giving her mother, Trista Reynolds, renewed hope.

“I’m actually hoping that this is the year my Christmas wish will come true,” Reynolds said this week.



After delays in the case last year because of the coronavirus pandemic and other issues, Trista Reynolds’ lawyer, William H. Childs, this year received documents he was seeking from the state Attorney General’s Office, including evidence and documents from the Maine State Police investigation.

“We now have that; it has been provided to my forensic expert and my expert has rendered a report,” Childs, of Portland, said this week. “But the report and source documents are still subject to a confidentiality order with the court, so they can’t be disclosed to anyone as of yet.”

Childs said he anticipates a judge will allow for release of the report but first must hear from the AG’s office about whether it objects to that disclosure. There is no date set for a civil trial in the case, he said.

“Predicting when any civil trial will be heard by a jury during this pandemic is pure guesswork,” he said separately in an email.

Childs is reticent to reveal details about the case while it’s in court, but paperwork he filed in Cumberland County Superior Court reveals he was granted extensions in the case throughout the year. Those extensions were needed because of the large volume of information from the state police investigation and AG’s office. That office had to pore over the material and make redactions where appropriate.

The investigative materials include “thousands of pages and many photos and other recordings,” court documents say.

MORE AT LINK

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

'I hope it keeps haunting them:' Ayla Reynolds' mother demands answers after 10 years

PORTLAND (WGME) -- Ten years later, the disappearance of 20-month-old Ayla Reynolds has been the most extensive investigation in Maine history, but the truth about what happened remains a mystery. Also read:10 years since disappearance of Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds, father to be interviewed. "I...

wgme.com

'I hope it keeps haunting them:' Ayla Reynolds' mother demands answers after 10 years

Ten years later, the disappearance of 20-month-old Ayla Reynolds has been the most extensive investigation in Maine history, but the truth about what happened remains a mystery.

"I remember just walking down the street with her,” mother Trista Reynolds said. “And people would just light up seeing her when she would smile, or just start waving, or if she heard music and she started dancing in her stroller."

All Trista Reynolds has left of her daughter are the memories.

"She was awesome,” Trista Reynolds said. “She loved to dance, and she loved to smile. She'd wake up in the morning jumping in her crib. That's how I knew she was awake."


"Whatever they hide and whatever they're holding onto, that's something that they have to live with for the rest of their life," Trista Reynolds said. "I hope it keeps haunting them. And I'm hoping today and tomorrow, oh, I hope it's haunting them really bad right now. I really do."

"It's frustrating that for 10 years I've wanted the answers, but we're not getting them," Trista Reynolds said. "That's what I want. I want the truth."

 

[GrandmaBear]

I pray she gets answers. People can't avoid the stand in a civil case like a defendant can in a criminal case and they can depose them as well.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Court documents: Someone tried to 'clean up' Ayla Reynolds' blood before police arrived

PORTLAND (WGME) -- Ayla Reynolds’ mother is now requesting an expansion of a wrongful death lawsuit against her father. The request based on new details about what investigators found in the home where Ayla Reynolds disappeared. Also read:Ayla Reynolds' mother seeks to expand wrongful death...

wgme.com

Court documents: Someone tried to 'clean up' Ayla Reynolds' blood before police arrived
Ayla Reynolds’ mother is now requesting an expansion of a wrongful death lawsuit against her father.

The request based on new details about what investigators found in the home where Ayla Reynolds disappeared.


In 2012, documents show investigators ruled out any possibility that Ayla Reynolds was abducted.

“Whatever did happen in that basement, she suffered a terrible death,” Trista Reynolds said.

Investigators believe the adults who were in the home that night are “withholding information.”


Four days ago, Trista Reynolds’ attorney filed new documents based on evidence collected by state police.

According to those documents obtained by CBS13, Ayla Reynolds’ blood was found throughout the home, totaling about a cup's worth.

New evidence shows attempts to “clean up” the blood before investigators arrived.

There is also evidence alleging some of the adults in the house that night caused severe injuries that led to Ayla Reynolds’ death and attempted to remove her body and hide it in an unknown location.

 

[Kimster]

This is sickening! All of them should be behind bars!

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Father of missing girl argues against expanding death suit

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — The father of a Maine toddler who went missing more than a...

www.middletownpress.com

Father of missing girl argues against expanding death suit​

The father of a Maine toddler who went missing more than a decade ago and was later declared dead has attempted to reject an effort to expand a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming that the statute of limitations for the new allegations has expired.

Last month, Trista Reynolds, the mother of Ayla Reynolds, requested to expand the 2018 lawsuit against the toddler's father, Justin DiPietro, with additional claims that a decade ago, DiPietro and his family allegedly tried to “clean up” Ayla's blood and hid her body, The Morning Sentinel reported.

In a court filing on Thursday, DiPietro's lawyer, Michael Waxman requested that the judge throw out the new allegations and also asked that DiPietro’s sister and mother not be included in the lawsuit.

Waxman said he saw the expert report and argued that the DiPietro’s family cannot be added to the lawsuit since it would violate a two-year statute of limitation for a wrongful death complaint.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Father of missing girl argues against expanding death suit

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — The father of a Maine toddler who went missing more than a...

www.middletownpress.com

Father of missing girl argues against expanding death suit​

The father of a Maine toddler who went missing more than a decade ago and was later declared dead has attempted to reject an effort to expand a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming that the statute of limitations for the new allegations has expired.

Last month, Trista Reynolds, the mother of Ayla Reynolds, requested to expand the 2018 lawsuit against the toddler's father, Justin DiPietro, with additional claims that a decade ago, DiPietro and his family allegedly tried to “clean up” Ayla's blood and hid her body, The Morning Sentinel reported.

In a court filing on Thursday, DiPietro's lawyer, Michael Waxman requested that the judge throw out the new allegations and also asked that DiPietro’s sister and mother not be included in the lawsuit.

Waxman said he saw the expert report and argued that the DiPietro’s family cannot be added to the lawsuit since it would violate a two-year statute of limitation for a wrongful death complaint.

I'd like to know how this turns out BECAUSE if an original suit was filed in the statute time frame which it was it appears, and a criminal investigation did not disclose or result in certain facts of her death until now, THEN the mother never knew his family was involved nor knew about a CUP of this 20 MONTH old child's blood (a LOT), etc. and the statute in my opinion of expanding it and adding now known others (his family members) should start on knowing that NOT when Ayla died!

I'm not saying nor do I know what the law says or a judge will rule but I am saying if it is NOT like that, it should be and the law should be changed! A two year statute? Wow. I thought the minimum statute in any type of case was at least three years a person had. I guess not so in Maine.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I don't know details here but he would have to pay for a civil defense attorney in such a suit himself I believe in all states. Is he in jail? I am wondering how he afford a defense attorney. Of course if an insurance company is involved in the defense, they would have one.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Ayla Reynolds' grandmother, aunt added to wrongful death lawsuit

Maine State Police say they are still actively investigating.

www.newscentermaine.com

Ayla Reynolds' grandmother, aunt added to wrongful death lawsuit​

The wrongful death lawsuit against Ayla Reynolds' father now includes Ayla's grandmother and aunt.

On Feb. 18, Trista Reynolds asked a court to expand that lawsuit to include DiPietro's mother, Phoebe DiPietro, and his sister, Elisha DiPietro. The toddler went missing from Phoebe's home. According to court documents, Phoebe was not home at the time but Justin and Elisha were.

 

[Summer_Breeze]

Search for Ayla Reynolds continues 11 years after her disappearance

The Ayla Reynolds is still ongoing 11 years after her disappearance.

wgme.com

by Ariana St Pierre, WGME
Friday, December 16th 2022

<snip>
In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services temporarily placed Ayla with her father.

Two months later, she went missing from his Waterville home.

"Whatever they hide and whatever they're holding onto, that's something that they have to live with for the rest of their life," Trista said. "I hope it keeps haunting them. And I'm hoping today and tomorrow, oh, I hope it's haunting them really bad right now. I really do."