Missing
Ayla Bell Reynolds
Ayla, approximately 2011; Trista Reynolds; Justin DiPietro; Pajamas similar to Ayla's
Date and time person was reported missing : 12/16/2011
Missing location (approx) :
Waterville, Maine
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 04/04/2010 (11)
Age at the time of disappearance: 1 year old
Height / Weight : 2'9, 30 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : 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 case summary.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Ayla's left arm was in a sling with a soft splint at the time of her disappearance.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : 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. Photos of Trista and DiPietro are posted with this case 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 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 damAge at the time of disappearance: s, 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.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
