Ayla Reynolds, a 20-month-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed toddler, loved to carry her baby doll around with her.
It was 2011, and Ayla wasn’t quite 2 years old, but her short life had already been turned upside down.
In November, she was abruptly removed from the family she had been living with. Her mother’s family. Her mother, Trista, had recently entered rehab.
Ayla’s father, who had been a very uninvolved dad up until that point, had decided to file for custody. Ayla was forcefully removed from her mother’s family and given to her father, Justin DiPietro.
Emotions were high for the next couple of weeks between the two families, but everything would change on the morning of December 17, 2011, when Justin called 911 to report his daughter missing. She had somehow, suddenly, disappeared during the night from her bed.
Ayla Reynolds has never been seen or heard from again.
Where is Ayla Reynolds?
Trista Reynolds didn’t intend to get pregnant in 2009, but when she did, she knew she had to be there for her baby. She wasn’t in a serious relationship with the baby’s father, Justin DiPietro, and when she first told him about the baby, he wanted nothing to do with the child at all.
Trista went on to have a baby girl she would name Ayla Bell Reynolds, born on April 4, 2010.
Trista had her own struggles in life and would move in with her parents in Portland, Maine. Justin occasionally would see Ayla, but not often.
In fact, Trista would later say that sometimes when Ayla would go to her father’s, she’d come home with bruises. When she asked Justin how Ayla got them, he shrugged it off and had a lot of different stories to tell.
He’d say, ‘Ayla and her cousin liked to slide down the stairs, and she could’ve gotten a bruise then.’ One time, he said that he had taken Ayla to Chuck-E-Cheese and she must have gotten the bruise from playing, either from another child or the equipment itself.
In 2011, with Trista living in Portland, and Justin living in Waterville, Maine, which is just over an hour away, visits were sporadic. There was also no official custody agreement filed with the court, although there was a court order for Justin to pay child support. Along with that order, there was a paternity test filed which did confirm Justin was Ayla’s father.
In 2011, it was also noted that Justin was late on child support payments.
In November of 2011, Ayla went for a visit to her dad’s. During that visit, there would be an accident that required a trip to the Emergency Room. Ayla had broken her arm.
When Trista pressed Justin for answers, he said that he was walking up the stairs outside the house, carrying Ayla and it was raining. He slipped and fell, landing on Ayla, and hurting her. In fact, he thought she was just mildly injured at the time, and it wasn’t until the next day when her arm was swollen so badly, that he took her to the Emergency Room.
Trista was always suspicious of Justin’s stories, but I’m not sure to what level. I’m sure now, much more so, but at the time…it’s hard to say. Kids get hurt all the time, especially toddlers. Maybe, to outsiders, it seemed fairly normal?
At this time, Trista also had a baby boy and was still living with her family.
On November 21, Trista made a decision to check herself into rehab. She was allegedly going into a 14-day program, and she left her children- Ayla, and her young son, in the custody of her sister, Jessica.
Somehow, Justin learned about this and went to DHS- Department of Human Services- to ask for custody of his daughter.
The chain of events that would happen next are extremely frustrating.
DHS went to Jessica’s home to let her know that her dad was requesting custody. Jessica refused to turn over Ayla. DHS returned with police officers to take Ayla, and give her to her dad.
Ayla was removed from Jessica’s care and turned over to Justin and his family.
All of this seemed to happen without any court orders, which would normally have to be in place.
DHS would also have to do three things before taking Ayla. Three things that were not done. The protocol was absolutely not followed.
- A home visit to Justin’s home.
- A background check on all people living in the home.
- Interviews with family members.
Again, none of these were done prior to turning Ayla over to Justin.
Now, there are two reasons why this could have gone down this way.
First, there was no official custody agreement on record, so legally, in this circumstance, it would almost stand to reason that Justin would get custody of Ayla. This kind of muddles up the process. An agreement on record would have helped facilitate what needed to happen.
Second, and this may be a coincidence or it may be a sign of corruption in the department, the caseworker that happened to take on this case and remove Ayla without following proper procedure, was a relative of Justin. This woman was related to Justin’s mother, Phoebe, who also lived in the home with Justin.
Coincidence?
So this woman possibly ignored all rules and regulations for removing a child and gave her to Justin, who happened to be her relative.
Interesting.
When Trista learned that Ayla was taken from Jessica and handed over to Justin, she checked herself out of rehab and raced home.
She wasn’t able to see Ayla, despite requests, but she did speak to Ayla on the phone on December 8.
On December 15, 2011, Trista filed custody paperwork with the courts for sole custody of Ayla. She hadn’t told Justin because she didn’t want to anger him and continue fighting with him, but Justin somehow found out.
On December 16, 2011, an angry Justin sends Trista a text message saying she will never see Ayla again.
On December 17, 2011, at 8:51 a.m., a call was made to the Waterville 911 Dispatch. This first call was from a young man, who said his daughter was missing and he learned she wasn’t in her bed that morning. The call was eventually cut-off, and this man called back.
That man was Justin DiPietro.
Justin said that when he woke up that morning and checked on Ayla, her bed was empty and there was no sign of her.
Authorities showed up at Justin’s home within 8 minutes of that call.
At first, they believed that she possibly had wandered off. The house was thoroughly searched, as was the outside of the home. And eventually, neighbors’ yards were also searched.
But no Ayla.
Trista learned about Ayla missing when an officer knocked on her family’s door down in Portland. Trista in fact wasn’t home but was driving to northern Maine to visit a friend in prison. Her parents called her and she immediately turned the car around and returned home.
Trista knew it was bad but just hoped that she had wandered off or someone had her somewhere and could bring her back to her.
Justin told Trista and law enforcement, that the night before had been a fairly normal night.
Justin and his girlfriend, Courtney, along with Courtney’s young child, were sleeping in a room in the basement. Also in the home was Elisha DiPietro, Justin’s sister, and her young child, who had slept in one bedroom that night, and Ayla had slept alone in another room.
According to the family, Elisha’s child usually slept in Ayla’s room with Ayla, but for some reason that night, she did not.
Apparently, Phoebe, Justin’s mother, was not at the home that night.
Justin said they put Ayla to bed around 8:00 p.m. and then he watched TV with Courtney until they fell asleep.
Elisha said she checked in on Ayla around 10:00 p.m., and the girl was fast asleep.
The next morning when Justin went into Ayla’s room, he found her bed empty. There are actually some different accounts of who found the bed empty, Justin or Elisha, but either way, Ayla was nowhere to be found.
Police searched the home for any sign of a break-in, but there was none.
Search dogs were brought in to comb the neighborhood, but found no scent to follow and no sign of Ayla.
Trista and her family went into full-blown panic mode. Justin and his family went into hiding and basically stayed away from all press and media, at least in the beginning.
By the next day, December 18, police have come out and stated they don’t believe the girl just wandered off. First of all, the temperatures in Maine during that time were in the single digits. Second, Ayla is only 20 months old. And lastly, Ayla had a broken arm. How would this little girl manage to get up and out of the house with no one noticing?
Suspicion is first cast on Trista. Did she kidnap her child? She had just filed for custody of her and expressed interest in getting her away from Justin. Then, when officers look at her cell phone locations, they do confirm that she had previously driven by Waterford. She claims it was on the highway as she was heading north, and never got off the road, but just passed on by.
Justin’s family was outspoken in their belief that Trista did something.
Justin, later when finally talking to the media, said that he believed she was kidnapped by someone she knew, and that’s why they didn’t hear her cry.
That same day, however, Justin, his girlfriend Courtney, and his sister Elisha are brought in for questioning.
On December 19, 2011, Investigators take in Justin’s car and Courtney’s car to search for evidence. Nothing is released as to why, perhaps because of the questioning done the day before, but both vehicles are towed in.
It becomes clear that they don’t think the child wandered off, and that they believe something happened at the home.
Suspicion also moves from Trista, over to Justin and his family.
On December 20, 2011, Trista’s family holds their first prayer vigil for Ayla.
That same day, a nearby creek is partially drained and searched. Again, no official word is given as to why they searched that particular area. They found nothing.
On December 22, 2011, crime scene tape goes up at the home and everyone is asked to leave.
Dozens of investigators converge on the scene, from local, state, and federal agencies. It was all hands on deck for this little girl.
Tons of evidence is taken from the house during that search.
Trista begins making media rounds and talking to everyone who will listen about Ayla. She seems like a mother desperate for her child.
Meanwhile, Justin hadn’t said a word, wouldn’t even talk to Trista about what happened.
Eventually, Justin sent a written statement to the media saying he was just too emotional to do anything pubicly.
Now, there is a lot of public speculation of course as to what happened, and when the case involves a young child- a toddler- people are angry.
At the end of December, police do announce they believe this very possibly is a case of foul play, and begin to expand their search.
The search includes not just the nearby creek, but Quarry Park, and also specifically some dumpsters in Waterville, behind a fitness center, nightclub, and a Comfort Inn hotel, but they still find nothing.
A neighbor comes forward and tells authorities that he had heard a lot of commotion and noise around 3–3:30 in the morning, the night that Ayla disappeared. It was enough to cause his dog to bark and wake him up, and when he looked out the window he saw a running car in his neighbor’s home, the home of Justin DiPietro.
As time goes on, no sign of Ayla is ever found, and while a lot of people point fingers at Justin, and possibly his family, there is no evidence. Or at least, we thought.
That is, until two years after Ayla disappeared, Trista releases a bombshell of information on a website she created for Ayla.
She says, that shortly after the search at Justin’s home, and the search of the vehicle, she and her family were brought into police headquarters and taken into a room. The police showed them dozens of photos and forensic analyst reports.
In the home and in Justin’s SUV, police found blood evidence in several places. They found blood in the living room and blood in the basement. There was blood splatter on the wall in Justin’s room, a sizable bloodstain on his mattress- about 5 inches in diameter, there was blood on Justin’s shoes, and they found a blue tote with blood drops on it. Inside the tote was a sheet, also with some blood splatter on it.
In Justin’s vehicle and in Ayla’s car seat, they also found blood droplets and vomit.
All of it was positively identified as belonging to Ayla, and all together, it amounted to well over one cup of blood, which is certainly a lot for a 20-month-old baby.
Apparently, officers had asked Trista and her family to keep that information quiet, but after 2-years of no answers, they figured why not let the public know about it.
This is the reason investigators had earlier stated they believed foul play was involved and that they were likely looking for a body.
While Justin’s family continued to stay relatively quiet, they did speak out every now and then. Their excuse for all that blood and vomit? Elisha said that Ayla was lactose intolerant and sometimes vomited blood, and that’s likely what it was from.
Trista pushed for law enforcement to file charges for abuse or neglect, but they told Trista to wait because they’d rather charge him and/or his family members with mu*rder when the time came.
In 2013, Trista confronts Justin at the courthouse. He was there, why? Because he had a hearing for a domestic violence charge against his girlfriend Courtney. The same Courtney that was in the home with him the night that Ayla vanished.
Courtney has still never publicly spoken about that night.
Honestly what disturbed me the most, is Justin’s attorney, walking alongside Justin with a smirk on his face. Which is absolutely sickening to me- a young woman is confronting this man about her missing baby, and this attorney smirks and laughs about it?
In 2017, the courts declare Ayla legally deceased, recognizing that the likelihood she is still alive is almost nonexistent.
Fast forward to 2018, Trista files a wrongful dea*th lawsuit against Justin. This was postponed in March of 2019 because they couldn’t get successful service on Justin.
Justin had moved to California and they finally are able to have successful service on him through the newspapers in California, and the case can move on.
And then, of course, 2020 happened, so the case has moved along slowly.
Trista’s attorney as I mentioned earlier, is working pro-bono and they are working to raise funds to be able to hire the right experts and analysts for the trial.
In February of this year, the lawsuit was amended to include Pheobe, Justin’s mother, and Elisha, his sister.
In March, just last month, Justin’s lawyer argues that is baseless and they are past the statute of limitations.
So that brings us to the present day. Ayla’s body has still not been found, and no one has yet to be held accountable for Ayla’s disappearance.
It’s a shame that all the blood and vomit evidence, along with that being the last place Ayla was, with Justin, that all of that still isn’t enough evidence to charge him. But I guess, even with all that evidence, we still can’t say for sure it was Justin. Maybe it was someone else in the home?
Do you believe the break-in theory, or do you think something happened inside the home by Justin, Courtney, Elisha, or Pheobe?
Interestingly, Phoebe originally said she wasn’t there that night, but in later interviews would contradict that and say she was actually there.
There have been many searches of woods, parks, and rivers, and all of those have turned up nothing.
The Messalonskee Stream is real close to the house on Violett Street in Waterville. It’s also close to the Kennebeck River.
Or, was she discarded in a dumpster nearby?
This is such a sad story, and I can’t believe I can even say this, but this is the fourth case I’ve covered of a missing child who was involved in the DHS system. Adam Hermann, Jaliek Rainwalker, Harmony Montgomery, and Ayla Reynolds.
Ayla Bell Reynolds is described as a caucasian female, 2 foot 9 inches tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was 20 months old in December of 2011.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Ayla Reynolds, or what may have happened to her, please contact the Waterville Police Department at 207–872–5551.
