Ayla Reynolds: 10 Years Later

Dec 21

If you have any information on the disappearance of Ayla Reynolds, please contact the Maine Major Crimes Unit Central at (207) 624-7143 or toll free 1-800-452-4664. You can also leave a tip online.

Trista Reynolds gets a call she will never forget

Trista Reynolds was groggy and sleep-deprived, sitting in the passenger seat on a long car ride to Machiasport, a coastal town in the heart of the downeast region, just 50 miles from the Canadian border. Her journey had begun that Saturday morning in Portland at 6:00AM with her future father-in-law, Robert Fortier. He was at the wheel, and she was drifting in and out of sleep on their way to see her fiancé, Raymond, who had recently become an inmate at Downeast Correctional Facility because of an arson conviction.

Robert got an alarming phone call from Trista’s dad while she was asleep. He was panicked. Robert explained to him that Trista was out cold, and he said to keep driving for now, but a short while later he called back and said to pull over, wake her up, and put her on the phone. Robert stopped the car in a Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot in Ellsworth and roused Trista. Her dad was in hysterics, and although Trista was still waking up, she understood something terrible had happened: her 1-year-old daughter, Ayla, was gone.

Waterville police are involved, everyone heads to the station

Her father told her to head to Waterville. The police were involved. They were looking for her daughter. And they wanted to talk to Trista.

It was strange, they had just passed so near Waterville, and Trista had thought to herself how nice it would be to go and see her daughter, who was staying with her father, Justin. She hadn’t spoken on the phone with her for over a week and she missed her badly.

As they backtracked, (canceling their morning visit to see Raymond), the hour and a half drive from Ellsworth to Waterville seemed like an eternity. As they drove, she frantically called Justin trying to find out what had happened. There was no answer. Trista was terrified about her baby’s well-being:

When they got to the station, they sat down with the police and both Trista and her fiancé’s father, Robert, provided statements. About 30 minutes later, her own father, Ron, who Ayla called “Poppa", arrived at the Waterville PD as well, angry and distraught.

Ayla is gone, 9-1-1 call

They learned some bare-bones facts. According to a transcript later released, Justin had called 9-1-1 that morning at 8:49AM and reported Ayla missing. He was disconnected three times. Apparently his cell and other cells in the house were all low on battery. He said that the last time anyone had seen Ayla was the previous night around 10:00PM (his sister, Elisha, had checked on her before going to bed). They had discovered that she was missing from her crib Saturday morning, but a time was not specified in the call. Justin’s story? She had been kidnapped by an unknown intruder.

She was last wearing a green onesie with polka dots and the words “Daddy’s princess” on the front.

Trista and Justin’s brief romance

Though Justin and Trista had known each other for most of their lives, it was their brief romance in the summer of 2009 that resulted in Trista’s pregnancy. Justin had no intentions of having a child with her, and Ayla was a surprise. He refused to believe that he was even the father.

On April 4th, 2010, Trista gave birth to little Ayla Bell Reynolds, and one of her first impressions was “my god, she looks just like Justin”.

It wasn’t until July of 2010, after a paternity test, that Justin finally accepted he was in fact Ayla’s father, and in December of 2010 he was ordered by Child Protective Services (CPS) to pay back-child support.

Ayla custody background, CPS takes Ayla from her mom, violating her mom’s rights

Though there was no court-approved child custody agreement in place, the arrangement was that Trista had primary physical custody of Ayla in Portland. In fact, it wasn’t until mid-2011 – after Ayla was one – that he even started to have any visits with Ayla. Justin lived an hour and a half away in Waterville, and the visits were brief daytime sessions – nothing overnight.

On October 13th, 2011, 2 months before she was reported missing, Trista had a life-changing encounter with child protective services. Although I do not know what precipitated the encounter, I know what the outcome was. Trista had a substance-abuse problem, and CPS had an ultimatum: kick the habit or lose the kids. By this time, Trista had given birth to another child, Raymond Fortier, Jr., and was in a relationship with his father, Raymond Fortier, Sr, so there were two kids in her care: Ayla and Raymond.

That same day, Trista admitted herself to an in-patient rehab program in Lewiston, and in the meantime, entrusted her children to her mom, Becca, and her sister, Jessica. She was determined not to lose her children. They were her world.

4 days into her treatment, on October 17th, Justin and his family decided that they wanted custody of Ayla. Justin’s mother, Phoebe, called up CPS and somehow got the approval to take Ayla from her mother’s childcare arrangement with her family: Jessica and Becca. Jessica got a call from CPS that afternoon and told her to surrender Ayla, and when she asked, "Why?", she was told that, "he's the father and he has the right to take her" and that "the dad trumps the aunt - any day.”

Though the father’s family had permission from the state to take Ayla, they didn’t know where she was. Justin and his mom didn’t know where Jessica lived. So CPS provided the address to Lewiston PD, and Justin and Phoebe went to the station. Lewiston PD discussed the situation with CPS and they confirmed that they had given authorization to remove Ayla from Jessica and Becca’s care. So Officer Charles Weaver escorted Justin and Phoebe to Jessica’s home to retrieve Ayla.

Ayla was scared of her dad

Phoebe waited in the car while Justin and Officer Weaver went to the door. Weaver did most of the talking while Justin waited in the background.

The scene that unfolded was… dramatic.

When Weaver knocked on the door, Jessica answered and pleaded with him. Jessica said that Ayla’s father was abusive, saying he had “beaten the child in the past.” She said that she wouldn’t give up Ayla willingly. Weaver later recalled that Ayla was “laughing, playing, and attempting to make conversation with me.” – in other words, in good spirits.

Jessica told Weaver to pay attention to how her demeanor would change when Justin appeared. Weaver said, quote, “I then had Justin come to the door. Upon seeing her father, Ayla immediately broke down crying and attempted to flee the kitchen. I picked up the child and handed her over to her father as she continued to cry uncontrollably.”

Ayla was kicking and screaming and even tried to bite the officer as he placed her in Justin’s arms. Jessica told Weaver that Ayla was “terrified of him”, and Weaver responded, “if he had his way, he would not let Ayla go with Justin.”

Did CPS break the law?

So how is it that this whole situation came to be? How is it that CPS approved this change of physical custody?

I tried to learn a little bit about the legal process when child custody is disputed to understand if what had happened was in fact, legal.

The answer to that appears to be NO.

Just to be clear, Child Protective Services is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

The best practice when it comes to child custody between separated parents is to have an official court-blessed child custody agreement in place. Justin and Trista didn’t have one of these.

In the absence of a formal agreement, the court considers whether there was a de facto agreement in place. In this case, there was: Trista had primary physical custody of Ayla, and Justin, as of the previous few months leading up to this October incident, had been granted daytime visitation. He had seen Ayla 5-10 times. Trista and he had agreed that he would take her at times, but he had never taken her overnight.

If Justin had wanted primary physical custody, the way to get it would be through either mutual agreement (which he didn’t have), or through a legal process. He would have had to petition for custody in a courtroom, and ultimately a judge would have to approve it. There was no judge and no courtroom involved in this change of custody.

The rationale that was provided by the CPS supervisor (“he's the father and he has the right to take her, and the dad trumps the aunt any day”) is simply false. Trista had made childcare arrangements due to her absence in the rehab program, but she retained full custody. In other words, Jessica and Becca were providing a service for Trista – look after her kids while she was gone. The supervisor created a false dichotomy: Maternal Aunt vs. Father. The true dichotomy was Mother verse Father.

Before a court would ever grant a father sole physical custody of a child, they would also do a background check and a home visit. Both of which were not done in Ayla’s case.

One of the common refrains in child custody law is “best interest of the child”, which considers stability and continuity. The status quo was that Ayla was under Trista’s care, and her retaining that would be in the best interest of the child. The only thing that could trump this concern is if the child was in immediate danger. It is possible that CPS found this to be the case, but I could find no report of it. Here are some examples of reasons for emergency removal that might be relevant to Ayla:

1.) The parent was hospitalized

2.) Abandoning a child for a lengthy period of time

3.) Using illegal drugs in the child’s home

But even if we assume that the reason that CPS approved the custody change was due to imminent harm, what doesn’t make sense is why they would have left young Raymond and only taken Ayla. If there was potential harm to one child, surely the same risk existed for the other.

Ayla transferred to dad, what now?

Justin took Ayla back with him to Waterville where he moved back into his childhood home with his mother, Phoebe, his sister, Elisha, and her daughter, Gabriella. Justin was 25 years old at the time, Elisha was 24 yrs old, and their mom was 47 years old. Gabriella was around Ayla’s age – just a baby.

Justin lived in the partially-finished basement, a large single room, and the rest of the family lived upstairs.

While Trista was in rehab, she called Justin each day, asking to talk to Ayla, keeping tabs on her. She didn’t sense that anything was amiss.

On October 20th, the 8th day of Trista’s 10-day treatment, CPS conducted a “family team meeting” to discuss Ayla. Present were three CPS representatives, two doctors, Trista’s sister Jessica and her attorney, and Trista. Justin called in by phone. By the end of the meeting, there was agreement as to what should happen: Ayla would be returned to Trista on October 22nd as she completed the program. Also agreed was that Justin would bring Ayla to the treatment facility on the 21st to visit with her mom. Neither of these things happened. Justin kept Ayla from Trista.

In the weeks that followed, Trista called CPS repeatedly to ask for help in enforcing their agreement. She wanted Ayla back as promised, but couldn’t seem to get anywhere with CPS. Eventually she and Justin came to a temporary agreement that he would continue to keep her and she would get regular visitation, but Trista had her concerns about Justin’s parenting.

Major accident on Justin’s watch

A major accident happened while Ayla was in Justin’s care, and on Saturday, November 12th, he took her to the emergency room. The medical records from the ER indicate they took X-rays and determined that she had a broken bone in her upper arm at the elbow joint.

Justin told the doctor that the accident had happened the night before (Friday, the 11th). He said it was rainy and that when he was on the porch with Ayla in his arms, he slipped and he fell onto her, hurting her. Although she had cried, he said she didn’t seem to be badly injured, and it wasn’t obvious until the next morning that she might need emergency medical attention.

On Monday, the orthopedic specialist thought that surgery would not be necessary, and he believed that she would likely heal well on her own. The following week on Monday, November 21st, at their third doctor’s appointment, he said that things were going to plan. Her body was healing well. This was the last date that Trista saw Ayla in person before she went missing, 26 days later.

Trista filed for custody

In the meantime, Trista and Justin continued to argue about custody, visitation, and simply talking to Ayla on the phone. Trista had had enough, and on Thursday, December 15th, two days before she went missing, Trista filed paperwork with the court to begin the legal process to obtain full physical custody of Ayla.

Around this time, the police decided to remove the DiPietros from their home.

Phoebe said: "I walked out of my house to go down to the station to give statements, and all of a sudden we were homeless on top of everything else. We walked out with the clothes on our back and weren't allowed in for 14 days."

Law enforcement search ramps up

On Day 2, Sunday, December 18th, a cadaver dog from Maine State Police and a dog from Maine Game Warden Service were brought in to assist and nearby Messalonskee stream was searched.

Trista, her son, and her mom (Becca) were all staying at a motel in South Portland. Police had told the Reynolds family to give them space to conduct their investigation and their search. There was nothing that they could do but wait. Ron, Trista’s father, said, "It's just so hard for me to sit back and not do anything. I'm crawling out of my skin right now. She's the apple of my eye."

On Day 3, Monday, December 19th, the FBI was brought in to assist with the search. Between the different agencies involved, 75 people were searching for Ayla. 25 alone were from the warden service. The Maine State Police seized two vehicles from the DiPietro home. One was owned by Justin, a 1996 Ford Explorer, and the other was owned by Justin’s girlfriend, Courtney Roberts, who was also there the night of the disappearance with her young son Aiden. Her vehicle was a silver 4-door sedan, reported to be a 2002 Hyundai. So not only did they take their house, they took their vehicles.

The Waterville City Council Chambers were used to set up a temporary command center for the search operation.

A spokesman for the Department of Public Safety for the state of Maine, Steve McCausland, described the nerve center: “That's where everything is being assigned; phones are ringing, assignments are being handed out – the wardens are there, the FBI, state police, Waterville police, all working together. It's a central focal point of where the investigation is today." Even temporary fiber optic cables had been run in order to increase their bandwidth.

Explosion of press coverage, Ayla’s disappearance resonates with America

The news of the missing toddler spread like wildfire. Local newspapers had picked up the story even on Day 1, publishing it digitally. It was in print by Day 2, and by Day 3, Trista Reynolds was sitting down for interviews with the local news:

By later that week, it was picked up by the largest morning news show in America, reaching an audience of over 5 million people: NBC’s Today Show.

The amount of news media coverage (in print and in video) on this case is overwhelming.

Our research turned up over a thousand articles that were written about Ayla Reynolds – many of which were published in just the first week. Nationally syndicated shows like Nancy Grace, America’s Most Wanted, and CNN news programs have all aired video segments on it.

The possibility that a little girl, 20 months old, vulnerable, and beautiful, was taken from her crib in her quiet suburban home ignited something primal in the hearts of parents across America. When people looked at Ayla’s face staring back at them on the TV, they saw their own child. When they saw Trista’s passionate interviews filled with hope and sorrow, they saw their own fears about losing a child, and together, they shouted one message: bring Ayla home.

Justin releases statement

On the evening of Day 4, Justin released his first statement to the media, (which was issued through the Waterville Police Department). This is what he said:

"I have no idea what happened to Ayla, or who is responsible. I will not make accusations or insinuations towards anyone until the police have been able to prove who's responsible for this. We will do everything we can to assist in this investigation and get Ayla back home. I have shared every piece of information with the police.”

“Ayla was in my sole custody at the time of her disappearance per agreement between her mother and me, because she was unable to care for Ayla. It has always been my intention to have a shared parenting arrangement with Ayla’s mother and I will continue to work towards that when Ayla is returned to us.”

Largest search in Maine’s history

The search efforts expanded. The water level of the stream near Justin’s home, Messalonskee stream, was lowered so that searchers could see if the water had hidden anything. The team from the FBI was a specialized unit called the “Child Abduction Rapid Deployment” team. They canvassed the neighborhood, knocking on every door and interviewing and re-interviewing everyone with the hope that some key detail would be uncovered.

Chief Massey, brimming with pride, said this about the efforts of law enforcement:

“When I walk into the briefing room at 8 every morning and I look out at 75 officers, I see nothing but commitment, determination, energy and an attitude of, ‘Let’s get it done.’ That’s optimism, that’s inspiration, and that’s law enforcement at its best.”

In addition to all the professionals, about 50 civilian volunteers from the Maine Association for Search and Rescue also joined the effort.

And local businesses chipped in to help as well. About a dozen restaurants and grocery stores donated food, and a local hotel provided facilities to serve the food.

A VP of a local trash disposal company, said this:

“Four truck drivers inspected all trash receptacles owned by the company -- nearly 600 in all – on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Their inspections included ripping open every trash bag for a close look at the contents. We searched every can that we dumped, and every load that has gone to the landfill has been searched as well.”

One of the workers responsible for the search said, quote, “the work is grim. I'd like to get a phone call saying she's alive someplace, but doing a search like this, it's really hard to be optimistic.”

On Day 9, a group of local businesses pooled their resources and offered a $30,000 reward to anyone with a tip leading to Ayla’s recovery.

By Day 10, Chief Massey estimated that 5,000 hours of man time had been expended in the search so far, and they were following up on 330 tips that had been made to date.

Trista’s constant media presence

Meanwhile, Trista was working with allies and support groups to organize vigils, walks, and memorials for Ayla. News cameras were always present, and in the absence of information from law enforcement, it gave journalists new things to report on, keeping the story on the front page and in the nation’s mind.

Trista’s perseverance and media presence was constant. Though she could not help directly with the search, she helped indirectly by keeping the world focused on the case.

1-year-old Ayla Reynolds had a quite a personality

Ayla was easy to focus on. Her wispy blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and gap-toothed grin were irresistible.

Trista said that she was born with that smirk on her face. She said, “I don't think Ayla has ever had a bad day.”

In a personal interview, Trista opened up about Ayla and her personality. "I used to tell her she was going to be mommy's star, but this isn't how I wanted her to become a star."

When looking in a book of baby names, the name ‘Ayla’ struck her and her fiancé Raymond immediately. The name means ‘forever flower’.

Trista said Ayla’s favorite time of the day was around 6 a.m. when she awoke, jumping up and down in her crib, in her Tinkerbell-themed nursery, and reached out for ‘Mommy’.

Trista would bring Ayla into her bed along with her son, Raymond, who is 11 months younger than his sister, for cuddling. Then they'd dance and sing with the radio while they made breakfast. Trista’s brother said that Ayla loved music and that whenever he would turn on the radio, she would dance. Her favorite song? “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5.

Ayla liked being the center of attention. She'd spin around in circles and intentionally fall to the floor, looking up to make sure everyone was laughing, and if there was a camera around, she'd put herself in front of it.

When she was up to mischief, like one time she emptied her aunt's purse, she'd flash Trista a sly smile and then scurry away giggling.

Trista and Ayla would take frequent walks in Portland, and if you could hear music from a passing car, Ayla would start dancing. Perfect strangers would stop and take notice saying, “Your daughter is so amazing. She is so funny, so full of life!” Cars would honk their horns.

Ayla would try and help with her younger brother. If he started to cry, she would come charging across the house to be with him. She would help with everything. Even if Trista was changing his diaper, Ayla would try and push her out of the way.

As she grew older, Ayla began picking up words, like momma (which she usually pronounced ma-MA! at the top of her lungs), bubba, dadda, nanny and thank you. More recently she began winning laughs by saying "Ki-ki-ki kick your butt!" which she learned from some older cousins.

But Trista held onto some memories for herself. Memories, she feared, might be all that she had left of Ayla.

Innocuous poem investigated, retired schoolteacher questioned

The Portland Press Herald had a comment section open for many of its online articles, and someone commented with this poem:

“Away where no one can harm her again
Your life will be happy now
Loved by those that took you to safety
A new life far from the insanity in Maine”

The police took the poem seriously, wondering if the author knew of Ayla’s whereabouts. They subpoenaed the Herald for the author’s contact information. The Herald complied and police tracked down Ms. Audrey Pamela Jones, a retired school teacher. She said that she had no knowledge about Ayla, but had been caught up in her disappearance. She believed that somebody concerned about the girl’s well-being took her out of state. "She just embodies the innocence of Maine children. She's such a small little innocent child. Her pictures just break your heart. You know there are so many children like her suffering in our state."

Audrey admitted that she was out of work and had a lot of time to think about the case.

Law enforcement language shifts

The police, per usual, were very careful and restrained in the language that they used with the media, generally keeping their sound bites focused on the extraordinary manpower involved, the number of tips received, and the goal of the mission: to bring Ayla home. But their message evolved, becoming more sinister, as the search went on.

At first, Chief Massey said,

“Everything is open. Everything is on the table.”

But the optics changed as the house and the land it sat on were cordoned off with crime scene tape and the cars parked there were impounded. Journalists also reported seeing William Stokes, top brass of Maine’s criminal prosecutors, on scene.

Waterville Chief Massey insisted, though, that the investigation was considered a missing persons case, not a homicide investigation.

By Day 10 of the search, Police publicly ruled out the possibility that Ayla had somehow left on her on accord. Massey said,

“Based on our knowledge of the interior of the house and the sequence of events that would have needed to occur for her to make it outside on her own, we feel comfortable that we can eliminate that possibility and focus on other possibilities.”

On Day 13, Chief Massey turned over the reins to the State Police Major Crimes Unit, making an announcement: “At this point, we believe that foul play has occurred in connection with Ayla's disappearance. The case has evolved from the search for a missing child to a criminal investigation."

At the end of January, a little over a month into the investigation, police revealed that Ayla’s blood had been found in the home and that they had suspicions about the three adults in the home (Justin, Courtney, and Elisha). The next day, McCausland said,

"Their version of events is not backed up by any forensic evidence that we have located. That someone slipped into the home in the middle of the night, while three adults are there… that someone went into the bedroom where Ayla was sleeping alone, removed her and vanished into the night -- and that the three adults did not see or hear anything -- doesn't pass the straight-face test."

And finally, 6 months later, on May 30th, McCausland said that it was unlikely Ayla was alive. Nothing pointed in that direction.

Ayla’s father, Justin, breaks press silence

Though Justin had stayed out of the media initially, after about 2 weeks, he started making more appearances, even appearing on the Today Show, where he weighed in on the change of message from law enforcement.

Justin insisted that someone had abducted Ayla, saying,

"I hope that whoever had the courage to come into this house and take her has the courage to bring her back. It's gone on long enough.”

When asked about what had happened that night, he offered up no details, saying “it was just a normal night.” He continued,

"I'm here to help in any way I can. By coming on here it's in hopes of reaching out to the person that does have my daughter, to let them know that what you're doing isn't right. You may think what you're doing is right for Ayla, but it's not. You have no right. You're not her parent. She belongs home with her family."

When asked about why he had been silent up to this point, Justin acknowledged that his efforts to reach out were delayed.

"Getting in touch with the people from the Laura Recovery Center was a big step. You can say I was sort of naïve for the first few weeks. I just thought that Ayla was going to be home.”

He also said that at first, he was coached by law enforcement to stay out of the press, which McCausland later admitted was true, but that there was a misinterpretation that that initial embargo was permanent. It was not. In fact, police encouraged both him and Trista to stay in the public’s eye.

He also responded directly to the insinuations that had been leveled at him by Nancy Grace and Trista’s appearance on the show:

“I publicly invite Nancy Grace to come spend a day with me. Nancy Grace, please come see me. Do you want to spend a day with me? Do you want to see what I’m going through? Do you want to see the ins and outs of it? I invite you to.”

He also said, that, while uncomfortable at times, he was complimentary of the efforts from police.

"Some of the techniques and tactics that they had to use, without getting into specifics, hasn't been fun. But, whether they're popular with me is irrelevant. It's about bringing my daughter home. Whether it’s being asked the same question 25 times and you've got someone in your face telling you you're a liar, the truth is the truth. It can't be said enough. The truth is patient, and it will come out."

Websites and blogs pop up, comment wars

The conversation online about the case between friends, family, and interested members of the public was constant. When you look back at archived snapshots from that time, you find comment threads hundreds of posts long with dozens of contributors.

There were at least 8 websites and blogs that had been published, dedicated solely to Ayla’s case.

Jeff Hanson, Trista’s stepfather, was behind one of the biggest ones: aylareynolds.com.

Jeff recalled that he was looking at a child while he was out and about, and he caught himself staring - realizing that he was trying to determine if it was missing Ayla. He said that at that moment he realized he was obsessing over it – he was seeing her everywhere. He knew that he needed to do something, so he locked himself in a room and for three days worked on creating the website which went live on January 1st.

Jeff’s style of writing is very clear and fact-oriented. He published some information that was given to the Reynolds family by police that was nowhere else published. It was an important source of information for online sleuths, and though it has since been taken down, it can still be found through modern sites that archive the contents of old websites and preserve them for future generations.

There was some rivalry amongst the sites. Some of the sites were published by friends and family of the DiPietros and others were published by friends and family of the Reynolds. One time, when Trista confronted the DiPietros at a courthouse, the anger boiled over and there was a sharp exchange of words between her and Phoebe:

Mainstream media paid attention to the sites and would reference them in their news reports.

Police reveal forensic evidence to Trista and her family

The family was aware that Ayla’s blood had been found at Phoebe’s house. They even had heard a rough idea of the quantity – quote “more than a cup” an investigator slipped to them at one of the vigils that they had organized. A cup of blood is an enormous amount – especially for a toddler – 8 ounces is 25% of all the blood in her whole body.

But they had never seen the details. They had never had the evidence laid out for them. They had never seen photographs. Below, you can find a two-page diagram that outlines the forensic evidence shown to the Reynolds.

In January of 2013, law enforcement sat down with the Reynolds and revealed what they had discovered in the Violette Ave home of Phoebe DiPietro. Here are the disturbing details of the visible blood that was found throughout the property:

Justin’s 1996 Ford Explorer had a car seat in the back, and on the left shoulder strap investigators found Ayla’s blood, as well as dried vomit in the back seats of the car.

In Ayla’s bedroom her blood was found on the pom-poms of her pink princess slippers that sat on the floor next to her crib. Her baby doll’s face and arms were smeared with blood. Investigators believed she may have tried to wipe her own bloody mouth with the toy that brought her comfort.

On the couch in the living room, a silver-dollar-sized stain of her blood was found on the cushions, but it was in the basement that the majority of the blood was found.

Blood in the basement

A fist-sized pool of Ayla’s blood stained the center of Justin’s mattress – the mattress that Justin and Courtney slept on. Also on the bed, vomit was found and an unidentified pink hair-like fiber, perhaps from a toy. Next to the bed sat Justin’s sneakers, which were stained with Ayla’s blood on the tongue and inside. And on the walls and the concrete floor, next to the bed, were blood spatters that were consistent with Ayla’s standing height. Some of the drops were as big as a dime. A blood spatter analyst for the state determined these spatters were the result of blunt force trauma, or projectile vomit. Also near the bed in the basement were wood pallets, leaning against the foundation wall, which were spattered with Ayla’s blood. And lastly, there was a blue plastic bin and a sheet contained within, both of which had blood stains. Police said the sheet had been used to clean up Ayla’s blood.

The police determined that some of the spray patterns of blood in the house were likely from coughing up blood, suggesting that Ayla’s injuries were both internal and external.

Trista cuts the meeting short

It was horrifying. Trista and her family were stunned.

Police told them to prepare themselves, because what they were going to show next was even more shocking. Police used a chemical called luminol that reacts with trace amounts of blood and glows blue. In addition to blood, luminol reacts with bleach and other cleaning chemicals. The glow only lasts for 30 seconds and it can only react once. In order to properly document evidence revealed through luminol, the room must be dark, and the camera must be ready.

The police showed her two slides from the house that had been illuminated by the chemical, and Trista was devastated. She left police station in a panic, convinced more than ever that her daughter Ayla had been murdered. The police had more slides to show her, but she wasn’t interested. She had seen enough. She later wrote,

"my daughter suffered greatly while in the care of her father, yet he hasn’t been held accountable. It’s obvious that a crime was committed there.”

Trista’s father, Ron, was furious was Justin and spoke to him directly in a passionate news interview.

Others shown the same presentation

Apparently, police showed Justin and the DiPietro family the same photographic evidence a few months prior, and, according to police notes, Justin had no reaction.

Police also sought to show the photos to the Tudela family, the family with whom the DiPietro’s stayed during their exile from their house as it was being processed by crime scene investigators. The Tudelas refused. They weren’t interested.

Police also wanted to present the images to Courtney Roberts, Justin’s girlfriend, who claimed to have slept in his basement the night of her disappearance, and she, too, refused.

Trista goes public with the evidence

Trista told the press,

"Justin, Elisha and Courtney are still walking the streets like nothing has happened. After seeing [the evidence], it’s started to settle in my mind that Ayla really is deceased and not coming back. I’m unable to close my eyes and not see her blood."

In September of 2013, 8 months later, Trista wrote an explosive letter to the press about the evidence and photos she’d been shown. She was tired of waiting, and with or without the blessing of law enforcement, she just wanted to light a fire under the investigators and reignite public interest.

What did police say? Well, unsurprisingly, “no comment”. They have refused to comment on the blood evidence other than to say it exists, it belongs to Ayla, and it is more than what would be produced by a small cut. Police have however, said, that they believe Ayla was a victim of foul play inside the DiPietro home at the hands of somebody who knew her, and that they believe the trio of adults present that night are lying.

Elisha DiPietro says that blood due to vomiting

Crime Watch Daily went to Phoebe’s home in the spring of 2016 and knocked on the door. Elisha answered the door, and the reporter asked her about the blood evidence. Her explanation? Ayla was lactose intolerant and was throwing up. I looked around a little bit online, and the common symptoms of lactose intolerance are gas, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Nausea and vomiting are listed, but are not even one of the common symptoms, much less vomiting blood.

Ayla abducted by a stranger? Improbable.

In addition to the blood evidence, there are many other elements of this case that cast doubt on Justin, Elisha, and Courtney’s account from that night.

First off is the statistical improbability. According to an expert who was featured in a number of news articles, abductions of children by strangers account for around 100 out of the more than 750,000 missing-persons cases investigated in the United States each year. That’s .01% (point oh one per cent) of all cases… only one out of 7,500 cases.

And then there are the logistical problems. The DiPietro home is small. There are three small bedrooms on the ground level, and Ayla’s bedroom is the last bedroom on the right as you walk down a hall from the side door that they used as a primary entrance. The notion that someone entered at night, found their way to Ayla’s room, took her from her crib without her making any noise, and snuck back out the door, without alerting any of the other four people sleeping there, sounds pretty extraordinary. If this theory were true, it would suggest that whoever did it had an intimate knowledge of the layout of the house, and a clear intended target.

Something else that is odd about the timeline is the 10 hr timeframe that nobody checked on Ayla. From 10:00PM to 8:00AM is 10 hours, and that is the timeframe that Justin said that Ayla was alone in her room. Trista, who was intimately familiar with Ayla’s habits, said that Ayla didn’t sleep through the night. She normally got up once or twice for a diaper change or to have a bottle. The notion that nobody checked on her that entire time, and only discovered her missing at 8:00AM sounds pretty unlikely.

Phoebe DiPietro lies to the nation

Phoebe, the owner of 29 Violette Ave, was interviewed at her home by national correspondent, Susan Candiotti. The segment was aired on both Nancy Grace as well as NECN (New England Cable News), and in it, Phoebe claimed that she was home the night that Ayla went missing. But she had lied to the nation. She wasn’t home that night. She was staying elsewhere. CNN even ran a segment calling her out in her lie. It was strange and jarring and cast doubt on the whole story.

Police, however, did later confirm that they knew where she had stayed that night and that she had told them her whereabouts. Why she lied to media is still a mystery.

Phoebe’s responses to other interview questions were… odd. Some of her answers had long hesitations. Some answers were vague. Some were non-answers. Some weren’t even addressing the question asked.

Did Justin drive to Portland the morning of Ayla’s disappearance?

Investigators told Trista something unbelievable about the morning that Ayla disappeared: Justin had driven to Portland and back before calling 9-1-1. He said that he thought that Trista had taken Ayla and he was looking for her, but he never called her or anyone in her family. During that long drive, he did, however, call his friend, Derek Tudela, a man who, just weeks prior, had sold him a $25,000 policy on Ayla’s life.

Justin, after having Ayla in his care for only a few weeks, purchased a life insurance policy in late October or early November from Derek, about a month before she disappeared. A surprising action from a father who was at arm’s length for 9 months of pregnancy and 18 months of her life, emerging only in the final two months before her disappearance.

Strange texts from Justin

Trista said that she would get strange texts from Justin in the weeks following him taking Ayla. He would say that he was afraid someone would try and kidnap Ayla, or “snatch her”. The very last time that he said something like that was sometime around December 11th, 6 days before Ayla was reported missing. His final text read:

"I shouldn't have to be scared or live in fear in my own home thinking someone can come at any time and take Ayla."

Trista said that she interpreted these messages at the time to mean that he was afraid that she or someone doing it on her behalf would come and take Ayla from Justin, but after Ayla truly did go missing, its meaning became more threatening and confusing. Trista said that she has “always asked herself what those texts meant; why would he have said that to me?”

When was the last time Ayla had been seen alive?

What if Ayla didn’t disappear sometime Friday night / Saturday morning? What if Ayla had been gone for days?

Trista said that the last time that she could confirm that Ayla was alive was when she spoke to her on December 8th, 9 days before she was reported missing. She was scheduled for a doctor’s appointment – a follow up on her broken elbow – for December 12th, but Justin canceled the appointment. Between the 8th and the 17th, Trista said that Justin always had a reason not to put Ayla on the phone – she was sleeping or busy playing or watching a movie. What if Ayla were already gone?

Why the silence?

Though many signs point to the culpability of the people in the house that night, what is most difficult to explain is how is it that Phoebe, Elisha, Justin, and Courtney, the four adults closest to the case, all tell the same story? If something happened to Ayla, it seems unlikely that they were all involved in it. So why would those who are innocent allow this dark cloud of suspicion to hang over them? Is it the bond of family? Or is there something else at play?

Declaring Ayla legally dead

Trista wanted answers. Trista wanted the truth.

Phoebe, Elisha, and Justin DiPietro, despite the fact that early on police ruled out abduction, still say they believe that Ayla is alive and well to this day, and was taken from the home by a stranger.

If law enforcement wasn’t going to give her the information she wanted, she would have to get it herself. Trista hired attorney Williams Childs of Portland, who graciously agreed to take the case pro bono, to hatch a plan. And the first step in that plan was have Ayla declared legally dead.

There was a minimum waiting period of five years, but in 2017, she filed some court documents to get a hearing before a judge who would listen to arguments and consider whether it was likely that Ayla was deceased.

They had a duty to serve Ayla’s father with notice of the hearing, but Justin had moved. He no longer lived at his mom’s Violette Ave home, and from what she had heard, he had moved to Los Angeles, California. She had no way to reach him, and no one would connect her with him, so she hired a sort of bounty hunter called a process server in LA to track him down. The process server located Justin and asked him “Are you Justin DiPietro?” He said he was not.

Anticipating this, Trista and her lawyer had armed the process server with a snapshot of Justin, and when he looked down at the image, he said, “Well, you sure look a lot like him. You’ve been served.”

In September of 2017, the hearing was held and evidence was presented. Trista provided testimony and so did Detective Jeff Love, head of the Maine Unsolved Homicide Unit. In a brief 30-minute hearing, Judge Joseph Mazziotti declared that Ayla Reynolds had died on or about December 17th, 2011, the day she was reported missing.

Wrongful Death Civil Suit

The first step in a complicated legal process was complete.

By declaring Ayla dead, Trista was able to file a wrongful death suit against Justin DiPietro, the next step in her plan.

Wrongful death sounds like a similar charge to manslaughter, negligent homicide, or even murder, but the key difference is that a wrongful death suit can be brought by an individual whereas the other charges must be brought by the state. The attorney general’s office was not prepared to file criminal charges against Justin, so Trista took matters into her own hands.

Another big difference between a wrongful death civil suit and a criminal murder charge is the burden of proof. In a criminal case, you must prove that someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but in a civil trial the burden is lower. The legal term for a civil trial is “preponderance of the evidence” and it is often translated to lay people as “most likely” or a more than 50% probability of being true.

Lastly, in a civil trial, the only penalty that can be levied is a financial one; a jail sentence cannot be imposed, only money can be awarded.

Trista and her lawyer both knew that she wasn’t going to get any money out of Justin. That wasn’t the point of the lawsuit. The point of the suit was to reveal information, to find the truth.

Justin hiding out on the other side of the country

In December of 2018, Trista officially filed the suit in court, and once again she was faced with the challenge of serving Justin. He was still living in California, and again she hired a process server. This time, though, they couldn’t find him. They even hired a private investigator to try and track him down to no avail. So they asked for an extension from the judge for 60 days (which was granted), and took an unusual, but badass step.

They published a public summons and notice of the lawsuit in the newspaper. The notice was published in the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, as well as a Los Angeles based newspaper for 3 weeks in April 2019. That’s right, Justin was served through the newspaper!

In May, Justin’s lawyer, Michael Waxman of Portland, responded, saying that Justin’s story had been consistent and that he had nothing to with her death or disappearance. Justin was also forced to respond to a series of statements presented by Childs after the filing, all of which were answered by Waxman on his behalf with a bunch of vague non-answers.

Police files revealed

It was at this point that the real purpose of the lawsuit was revealed: through a process called discovery, Trista’s attorney would force the police to release to Trista their case files and force Justin to testify under oath.

Childs put in the discovery requests and waited.

After that, everything slowed to a crawl, at least in the public’s eye, while thousands and thousands of documents, recordings, and photos were sorted and redacted in preparation for a civil case whose date in front of a jury had yet to be set. Trista’s lawyer knew it would be a slow process, and told the Press Herald “The state of Maine did a half million-dollar investigation on this. It’s not something that’s going to be reviewed in a day or two. It’s a painstaking process.”

Despite that, this was a huge moment for Ayla’s case. The police had agreed to open the case to Trista for her use in her civil suit. Maine State Police unsolved case files are kept notoriously close to the vest, a lot of families are denied access to their loved one’s case files and never have the opportunity to view them while the case is still open.

Pandemic slows things, but progress till being made

And then 2020 came, and the pandemic brought everything to a halt. Civil cases took the back burner in an already congested legal lineup of criminal cases, and pushed everything back, including Ayla’s wrongful death lawsuit.

Even in December of 2020, Childs was still waiting for the redacted documents from the state, but in 2021, they received them. These reports will remain confidential for the moment, but the fact the process has been completed and handed to Trista’s lawyer is a big moment and paves the way for more discovery. Eventually, much of this will become public record, and I am eager to see it.

The next step was to review the police documents, and to hire experts to weigh in on key issues. Here are some of the experts that they have planned to hire: Blood Splatter Experts, Criminologists, Polygraph examiners, Private Investigators, Interrogators, Body Language Experts, and Statement Analysis Experts. In other words, they planned to conduct their own complete investigation.

Justin’s lawyer, Michael Waxman, said that although he hasn’t had a chance to review the forensic evidence, he thought it would quote “provide comic enjoyment.” He continued, “there is no evidence which I’ve seen that supports any claim that my client had anything to do with her disappearance.” According to Waxman, Justin currently lives somewhere in the Midwest, though the article claims Waxman is unsure of which state.

The Portland Press Herald just reported this past week this little nugget: 10 years, to the day, after Justin reported Ayla missing, he would be deposed under oath by Trista’s attorney.

10-year anniversary brings hope

Pursuing legal action in this capacity is extremely costly, and even though William Childs is working pro bono, the cost of third-party forensic testing and expert analysis falls in the lap of Trista and her family. So, Trista’s stepfather, Jeff Hansen, has created a GoFundMe to raise $25,000 to help offset the costs. They have raised $11,000 so far, and they need your help. I have made a donation, and I encourage you to do so as well. This is literally the perfect time to do it. They are hiring experts now and they need your help today. If you would also like to contribute, head to aylareynolds.com and tell them Murder, She Told sent you. I’ll include the link in the show notes and on our website.

And that is where the case currently stands, in December of 2021. A decade after little Ayla Bell was taken from her home and hidden in a place where nobody can find her.

Maybe by this time next year, Trista’s revised Christmas wish will have finally come true, and a grieving family and state will have answers, and justice, for little Ayla Bell Reynolds.

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Ayla Reynolds’s last reported to be wearing this onesie

One of the cars seized by police (Courtney Roberts’ Hyundai)

Maine State Police and Waterville Police, crime scene investigators

Phoebe DiPietro’s home, Ayla went missing from here (29 Violette Ave, Waterville, ME)

Justin’s then-girlfriend, Courtney Roberts

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety

Justin DiPietro’s interview on the Today Show

Trista Reynold's interview on the Today Show — Trista Reynolds’ interview on the set of the Today Show with Matt Lauer

Phoebe DiPietro's interview on the Today Show

Memorial shrine at 29 Violette Ave, last place Ayla Reynolds was seen alive

One of the many billboard advertisements for Ayla throughout the country

Jeff Hanson, Trista’s stepfather, author of aylareynolds.com

Confrontation between Trista Reynolds (left) and Phoebe DiPietro (right)

Trista’s father, Ronald Reynolds, directly addressing Justin in an interview

Justin DiPietro in LA with Crime Watch Daily (2016)

Justin DiPietro in Los Angeles, interviewed by Crime Watch Daily (2016)

Wrongful death civil suit, press conference, 2020, Trista’s attorney, Williams Childs (left)

Wrongful death civil suit, press conference, Trista Reynolds

Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Various articles from the Waterville Morning Sentinel, The Bangor Daily News, and the Boston Globe, written by Amy Calder, Ben McCanna, Brian MacQuarrie, Christopher Cousins, David Hench, David Sharp, Doug Harlow, Glenn Adams, Jesse Scardina, Kaitlin Schroeder, Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, Nick McCrea, Pat Wellenbach, Rachel Ohm, Seth Koenig, and others.

Full listing here.

Online written sources

“The Taking of Ayla Reynolds”, by Terrilyn Simpson, Oct 2013, here.

Official documents and correspondence

Emergency Room medical records, 11/12/2011, here.

Medical records, broken elbow follow up, 11/14/2011, here.

Medical records, broken elbow follow up, 11/21/2011, here.

Trista’s application for “parental rights & responsibilities” (Ayla custody question), Thur, 12/15/2011, here.

9-1-1 Call from Justin DiPietro, Sat, 12/17/2011, here.

Photo Sources

Images from various archived websites (aylareynolds.com), Facebook, press images (Portland Press Herald, AP, Bangor Daily News), and still from various video sources below.

Video Sources

Full listing here.

'Missing girl's grandmother changes story' (CNN), 1/10/2012

'Ayla Reynolds' Grandmother Speaks Out' (New England Cable News), 3/21/2014

'Read the 43 responses given by lawyer of Ayla Reynolds' dad' (News Center Maine), 5/16/2019

'Mom, Baby Ayla’s dad ‘didn’t protect’ her' (Today), 12/22/2011

'Mom begs dad of missing baby Ayla, ‘Just talk to me’' (Today), 12/28/2011

'Dad of missing child: ‘I’ll do anything to get my daughter home’' (Today), 1/1/2012

'Baby Ayla’s mom ‘not getting the whole truth' (Today), 1/9/2012

'Police Believe It’s Unlikely Missing Maine Girl…' (Fox News), 6/1/2012

'Uncut: Mother Of Missing Toddler Speaks Out' (YouTube), 12/19/2011

'Search For Baby Ayla Continues' (YouTube), 12/22/2011