Episode 123: The Disappearance of Ayla Reynolds
Ayla’s mom Trista Reynolds with a photo of Ayla’s father Justin DiPietro, who denies any involvement in the disappearance but has since fled to California.
Ayla Reynolds was born on April 4th, 2010, to parents Trista Reynolds and Justin DiPietro. They both lived in Maine, Trista in Portland and Justin in Waterville, although Trista and Justin were not together. Trista claims that Justin did not want anything to do with Ayla from the beginning and even denied being the father, but that Justin’s mom, Phoebe Dipietro, pushed for him to have a relationship with his daughter.
In October of 2011, Trista went to inpatient rehab to get treatment for substance abuse. During this time Ayla was going to stay with Trista’s sister Jessica Reynolds, however Justin had a police officer accompany him to Jessica’s home to get Ayla. Lewiston Maine police officer Charles Weaver arrived on scene with instructions to retrieve Ayla and give her to Justin. Jessica had no knowledge of any of this and called her and Trista’s dad, who told Officer Weaver over the phone to watch Ayla’s reaction when she saw Justin. As soon she saw him Ayla “freaked out”, but Officer Weaver maintained that his orders were to take Ayla and that this was per the Department of Human Services.
On October 11th, Justin claims that he tripped and fell on top of Ayla while bringing in groceries, resulting in an injury to her arm. He neglected to get her medical attention until the next day where it was discovered that Ayla had a broken left elbow and arm. In November, Trista was out of rehab and reported that she noticed bruises on Ayla’s legs. Justin reassured her that they had a fun day at Chuck E. Cheese and that Ayla just got a little too excited in the ball pit. What Trista discovered later was that the Chuck E. Cheese location near them did not have a ball pit.
Trista’s last contact with Ayla was on November 21st, 2011. She filed for sole custody over her daughter at the Cumberland County District Court on December 15th. Justin was not aware that Trista had filed for custody as every time she called to talk to him and Ayla, he would not allow her to talk to Ayla. Ayla was never brought in for her follow-up appointment with her doctor for her broken arm.
On the morning of December 17th, Justin reported Ayla missing from Phoebe’s house on 29 Violette Avenue in Waterville where he was staying, stating to the 911 operator “I woke up this morning. My daughter is not here." Justin was there with his girlfriend at the time named Courtney Roberts, his sister, Elisha DiPietro, as well as two other children. The adults all claimed that Ayla, 20-months-old at this time, was put to bed at 8:00pm the night before, and when they woke up she was gone. Elisha claims that she checked on Ayla at 10:00pm and she was still asleep in bed. It took Justin 14 hours to file the missing persons report.
She was last seen wearing green polka dot print pajamas that had “Daddy’s Princess” written across them. She also had a soft cast on her left arm from her previous injuries. Ayla was 2 feet 9 inches tall, 30 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Within three days the FBI was involved, and six days after her disappearance Trista appeared on The Today Show where she said that Justin was responsible and that he didn’t keep Ayla safe. In the weeks that followed Justin’s story changed from him initially saying that Ayla must have wandered off to claiming that someone must have broke in and taken her. Law enforcement disproved both of these claims.
On January 29th, 2012, state police held a press conference where they discussed the discovery of a large amount of blood found in Justin’s home. It was confirmed that more than one cup of blood was found in the basement and other bloodstains were found in other areas of the house, including next to Justin’s bed. The next day detectives said that Justin’s sister and mom were not being truthful about the events that took place in the home. Police continued to search the area, draining bodies of water and combing the surrounding woods.
On May 17, 2017, Ayla was declared dead by the State of Maine. After the declaration, a news team went back to Justin’s mom’s house to discuss this with their family. When confronted in the driveway, Justin’s sister Elisha told reporters that she "refused" to believe her niece was dead and that her family had nothing to do with Ayla's disappearance. Phoebe, Justin’s mom and Ayla's grandmother, accused the media of wanting to "convict" them. Justin was nowhere to be found and it was revealed that he fled the state. A few months after the ruling, he was tracked down in California.
On December 17, 2018, Trista Reynolds filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Justin DiPietro, accusing him of causing Ayla's death through "intentional wrongful actions" and that he subjected Ayla to "pre-death pain, fright, terror and physical injuries." She stated “I wonder if this is haunting you Justin. I wonder if our daughter haunts your dreams or if you see her blue eyes when you close your eyes at night. I wonder if you even think about that night you murdered her."
On February 22, 2022, Trista sought to amend and expand the wrongful death suit against Justin due to newly discovered evidence and include Phoebe and Elisha in the suit, as it was Phoebe’s home and Elisha was there on the night Ayla went missing.
Trista now lives in Portland, Maine with her two sons. She says that Ayla loved the color pink and that they honor her by shining a pink light on their porch every night of the year, and 24 hours a day throughout the month of December for the anniversary of her disappearance. Some hardware stores in the Portland area also carry pink lights and some neighborhoods display them in her memory, especially during the holidays.
This case was the largest criminal investigation and the third largest search for a missing child in the state's history. State police continue to welcome any tips or information, and ask that anyone with any information on the disappearance of Ayla Reynolds please call 1-800-452-4664 or 207-624-7076. You can also leave an anonymous tip on the Maine State Police website at maine.gov.
Image sources:
newscentermaine.com - “Vanished | Where is Ayla Reynolds?”
boston.com - “20-month-old Ayla Reynolds disappeared 7 years ago. Now her mother is suing her father.”