Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
Ayla Bell Reynolds
Ayla, date, approximate 2011; Trista Reynolds; Justin DiPietro; Pajamas similar to Ayla's
Date Missing 12/16/2011
Missing From
Waterville, Maine
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 04/04/2010 (12)
Age 1 year old
Height and Weight 2'9, 30 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description Green onesie pajamas with white polka dots and "Daddy's Princess" written on the front. A photo of a similar outfit is posted with this summary.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Ayla's left arm was in a sling with a soft splint at the time of her disappearance.
Details of Disappearance 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.
Justin, 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 Justin'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. There was about a cup of blood in total, and evidence that someone had tried to clean up the stains.
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. Justin did not know about Trista's custody bid. Photos of Trista and Justin are posted with this summary.
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 ly 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 Justin. 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.
Justin maintained his innocence in his daughter's and stated he has no idea where she is. In his response to Trista's filing, Justin 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.
In 2022, the wrongful death suit was expanded in scope: Justin's mother, Phoebe DiPietro, and sister, Elisha DiPietro, were both added as defendants. Based on unspecified new evidence, Trista alleges the women played a role in Ayla's death and in the subsequent coverup.
No one has been named as a suspect in Ayla's disappearance. Her remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
Waterville Police Department
207-872-5551
Maine State Police
207-624-7076
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
NamUs
The Huffington Post
Bring Ayla Home
Facebook Page for Ayla Reynolds
Fox News
The Morning Sentinel
CBS News
The Bangor Daily News
The Daily Mail
ABC 15
WGME 13
Fox 23 Maine
Missing Person Photos
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Resources for Missing Persons
According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day.
Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends.
Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.
Missing Person Photos
