Missing toddler Ayla Reynolds has been missing now for over a decade, and her mother is pursuing legal action against the last people to see her alive. This update in the ongoing search for the missing Maine tot comes with new disturbing details regarding possible evidence of foul play in the home where she was last seen. Will Baby Ayla's mom be successful with her wrongful death suit?
Missing for over a decade
One-year-old Ayla Reynolds vanished from Waterville, Maine in the middle of the night of December 16, 2011. She was last seen in the home of her father, his mother, his sister and his girlfriend.
From the moment this child's disappearance was reported, the evidence overwhelmingly pointed in the direction of one of the adults to last see her in the home. Her father barricaded himself in the bathroom of his home on the morning that she was reported missing, and forensic evidence indicated that Ayla suffered some kind of injury leading up to her mysterious disappearance. Nonetheless, nobody was arrested in connection to her disappearance.
The search for Ayla Reynolds attracted nationwide media coverage, mostly because her story was incredibly suspicious from the get-go. Justin DiPietro reported that the one-year-old girl was taken from his home in the middle of the night while he and the other adults slept.
Evidence never seemed to confirm this, but did confirm that blood belonging to the girl was found in the basement where she reportedly slept near her father. To make matters worse, Justin and the other adults who last saw Ayla before her disappearance have never been fully cooperative with authorities. Meanwhile, the mother of this missing child continues to be one of the loudest voices in search of answers -- and justice.
Did Ayla Reynolds die in her father's home?
The wrongful death suit filed by Trista Reynolds alleges that not only did Ayla pass away in her father's home in 2011, but attempts were made by all of the adults in the home to clean up evidence and dispose of Ayla's body. The missing child's mother and her legal team claims that Justin DiPietro, Phoebe DiPietro and Elisha DiPietro all participated in cleaning up blood associated with Ayla's demise.
Phoebe and Elisha are the paternal grandmother and aunt of the missing child. If these allegations are true, then Justin and his family members could potentially be held responsible for covering up Ayla's death and hiding her body to obstruct justice.
No criminal charges have ever been brought against Justin and his family in regards to the disappearance and presumed death of the little girl. However, it is far easier to be found legally responsible for someone's death in civil court, which doesn't bode well for Justin, Phoebe and Elisha. Trista Reynolds hopes that this wrongful death suit could bring some kind of justice in the disappearance of Baby Ayla.
Where is Ayla's body?
If Ayla Reynolds died in the DiPietro home in 2011, then where did they hide her body?
During the first two years of her disappearance, many areas of the heavily wooded Maine wilderness were searched -- both surrounding Waterville, and outside of the area as well. So far no remains have been found in association with Ayla's disappearance, meaning that wherever she was hidden, the perpetrators wanted to make sure she was never found. This is a truly troubling detail to realize, but hopefully the wrongful death suit initiated by the child's mother leads to future answers to the questions that have remained for over a decade.
