Rage Against the Machine...

Stage 1

December 17

Justin DiPietro calls 911 to report Ayla is missing after finding her bed empty. Police say she could have been abducted or walked away, but the 20-month-old child couldn't have gone far.

When she was reported missing at 8:50 a.m. Saturday, the department, following its protocols, delivered automated phone messages to every home within a mile radius of where Ayla reportedly disappeared, alerting them of the disappearance. 

December 18

Massey said police have interviewed the girl's parents and other relatives and non-relatives who also were present Friday in the home where Ayla lives with her father, Justin DiPietro.

"They were, as far as we could see, very forthcoming with the information," the police chief said.  

December 19

The search of a river this morning in Waterville, Maine, failed to turn up any traces of 20-month-old Ayla Reynolds. Twenty-five agents helped conduct the river search, which Chief Massey called a "logical" step because of its proximity to the place Ayla was last seen.

State police, the FBI and game wardens, who have joined the hunt for Ayla, have said that they have not ruled anyone in or out just yet, and for now believe they are dealing with abduction.

Police Chief Joseph Massey said all possibilities were being investigated, including abduction. "Everything is open. Everything is on the table," he said.

Trista Reynolds revealed she had filed to receive full custody of the girl just prior to her disappearance from her father's home.

Neighbor, Betty Redeagle, reports hearing or seeing a "suspicious" car parked around the corner from the DiPietro home. She didn't see the color of the car, and didn't really check into it. The tip is followed upon by police.

Two vehicles are towed from the home at Violette Avenue.

Stage 2

December 22

The yellow "crime scene" tape went up, and two of the state's top homicide prosecutors, William Stokes and Andrew Benson, visited the house. Massey told reporters that investigators were expanding the search of the house and going "through that as thoroughly as we can."

Police use cadaver dogs to search an unspecified area.

December 23 (press release)

Detectives from the Waterville Police Department and Maine State Police, as well as Special Agents from the FBI will continue their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ayla's disappearance, to include the painstaking review of an unprecedented amount of information which has been gathered to date. During the weekend, investigators will continue to work on this case.

December 24 (press release)

As we recently stated, over the past seven days our investigators have gathered an incredible amount of information that we need to assimilate as we work to find Ayla. Our team of investigators and searchers have spent the past week working in the glaring spotlight of national attention that has rightly focused on the tragic event which befell Ayla and her family on December 17th. Now, detectives need the opportunity to continue their work for a few days outside of the microscope.

Stage 3

December 26 (press release)

Reward announced; $30,000, the largest amount for a missing child case in the state of Maine.

Chief Massey also stated that "at this point in the investigation, we are very confident that Ayla did not let herself out of the house at 29 Violette Avenue...In most missing person cases, the longer the investigation goes on the more concerned we become that we can find the person safe - particularly when the case involves the most vulnerable members of our community such as children and seniors."

December 27 (partial press release)

Police say they believe Ayla was kidnapped. "We believe that someone removed Ayla from the house and that is where our investigation is focusing," says Chief Massey. "I don't want to speculate beyond that, because we do not know who took Ayla out of that house and under what circumstances she was removed."

Since December 17th, investigators and searchers from the Maine Warden Service are estimated to have worked in excess of 5,000 hours in an effort to locate Ayla.

To date, we have received approximately 330 leads from people who believe they have information to offer. These leads have poured in from around the nation, including several from as far away as California. Our detectives are working to thoroughly investigate these leads, requesting assistance from investigators across America when necessary. 

December 28 (press release)

As the investigation into the disappearance of Ayla Reynolds nears the end of Day 12, the Maine Warden Service is completing the last of their large-scale search operations. 

As of this afternoon, our department has received a total of approximately 370 leads, which have been assigned to detectives for follow-up. Because of our commitment to conduct this investigation in a way that will assure us the highest possible chance of successfully locating Ayla, the agencies involved have been exceedingly cautious about releasing investigative details to the public.

December 29

Previously towed vehicles, one belonging to Justin and the other belonging to Courtney, were released back to their owners.

Stage 4

December 30 (partial press release)

Police announce foul play is suspected in what is now a criminal case.

“We believe that foul play has occurred in connection with Ayla’s disappearance,” the Waterville Police Department said in a statement. “We base our conclusions on evidence by investigators during the past two weeks.’’ Given this shift, the Maine State Police will now take over as the lead in the investigation from Waterville police, according to Massey.

Although the investigation has now become a criminal one, DiPietro has not been made aware of any other major developments by investigators. “As far as I know, that’s just been a change in terminology,’’ he said. “As far as I know we’re at the same place that we were at on Day One with this.’’

There will no longer be periodic releases of information by the Waterville Police Department relative to this case.

Stage 5

December 31 

State police release the house back to the occupants at 29 Violette Ave.

State troopers using surveying equipment appeared to be taking measurements from the driveway to the home at 29 Violette Ave. where Ayla lived with her father, Justin DiPietro.
A window of the modest vinyl-sided house on the driveway side of DiPietro's house had been removed and appeared to be part of the measuring detail.

A pickup truck with Massachusetts license plates was parked nearby, as was a Maine detective's car. A man wearing a Massachusetts State Police jacket also was on the scene.
McCausland said Massachusetts detectives offered special investigative equipment to aid in the investigation.

 January 1

  Maine State Police (Major Crimes Unit) issued its first statement on the case.
"There are no new developments," McCausland said in a written release.

January 9

Search warrant executed; Brianna Roberts arrested for possession of narcotics. The street value of the drugs is $15,000.

January 11

Police have received about 600 leads up to this point; all have been followed, but more are needed.

Kennebec River searched by dive teams. One from the warden service and one from the state police — searched the icy river below the Hathaway Creative Center on Water Street and directly below the Carter Memorial Bridge.


McCausland said investigators have “ruled out no scenarios, and ruled out no one.”

January 28

Police said Saturday that the three adults who last saw missing toddler Ayla Reynolds are withholding information. "There were three adults in the home, and their version of events is not backed up by any forensic evidence that we have located," McCausland said Saturday afternoon. "That someone slipped into the home in the middle of the night, while three adults are there, ... that someone went into the bedroom where Ayla was sleeping alone, removed her and vanished into the night -- and that the three adults did not see or hear anything -- doesn't pass the straight-face test."

McCausland said state police have taken several hundred pieces of potential evidence from the DiPietro home, including the blood, which was discovered during a full-scale investigation in late December.

January 30 (Nancy Grace)

"We have seized hundreds of items of potential evidence from inside that home over a two-week period in December. And there is not one piece of evidence at this point that leads us to believe that an abduction took place. That`s why we`re looking and asking these thee adults that were there that night, that we think that one of them has information that they haven`t told us and -- because the story of Ayla being abducted just does not pass the straight face test" McCausland said.

"...some of the blood was visible. Some of it was detected by Luminol. And that is some of the evidence that we seized from that home along with hundreds of other pieces."

When asked about Justin DiPietro no longer cooperating, McCausland said "No, that is not the terminology I`ve used. Dad has talked to us when we`ve called him. He continues to do so."

January 31

"Abduction is no longer a part of this investigation. We have grave doubts that an abduction took place and there is no evidence to support it," Stephen McCausland, spokesman for Maine Department of Public Safety, told Newscenter 5. "We are focused on what happened to her in that house. There are three people in the house that have not been truthful. Their story does not pass the smell test," he said.

A window taken from the Violette Avenue bedroom where Justin DiPietro claimed his daughter was sleeping did not appear to be tampered with and could not be opened from the outside, law enforcement sources said.

McCausland confirmed that the people in the house on the night Ayla was last seen took lie-detector tests, "and they know the results." DiPietro says he took and passed the lie-detector test, but police have not confirmed or denied that.

 

Other Information 

*not necessarily in chronological order*

Videotape of Justin and 2 companions taken at Cumberland Farms on December 15.

Life Insurance Policy, reportedly $25,000. Unable to locate any direct statement from law enforcement regarding this policy.

Trista and her mother, Becca Hanson, were unable to complete polygraph exams. Ronnie reportedly took and passed one. Unable to confirm or deny this information with statements by law enforcement.

Some of  the blood found in the home belonged to Trista Reynolds. Unable to locate any direct statement from law enforcement regarding the owner(s) of other blood found.

Items found in  a river that was previously searched. Law enforcement has declined to release details about what the items were.

Thoughts

On December 18, Chief Massey commented that the families were cooperating and seemed to be forthcoming with information. The next day, public comment was that the agencies involved, including the FBI, were viewing the case as an abduction. It is also interesting to note that the Waterville Police Department called this a kidnapping AFTER the top homicide prosecutors visited the home. The significance of these things is that after MSP took over the case, McCausland began saying that the DiPietros' story didn't pass various tests of the senses. What changed? I would assume that they have been telling their story since the beginning.

The blood was found in late December. To date, law enforcement officials have refused to comment on the amount of blood, and whether or not there was any evidence of spatter or a cleanup. I keep going back to the finding of the blood. I am of the opinion that once a preliminary DNA test determined that the blood was Ayla's, police shifted their opinion. A preliminary DNA match is hard to explain as a science, but from what I understand a preliminary match occurs when police do not have the victim's actual DNA to compare to the sample. So they use a close relative's DNA, and determine the probability of markers from that. From what Trista has revealed, some of the blood turned out to be hers.  Her blood was supposedly found on sheets. Blood on sheets would not necessarily be visible to the naked eye, especially if the sheets had been washed. Was the blood found with luminol Trista's? I don't want to get too graphic, but I would imagine that having sex on one's menstrual cycle could cause blood to present a splattered or spattered pattern. One thing we do know is that Trista's DNA was requested or given at some point, in order for her to be ruled in as the contributor of some samples. Most importantly, police have NEVER confirmed the amount of blood to be a cup full; they have never said how much blood was Ayla's, or whether or not anyone else's blood was found. The only updates regarding the blood evidence have come from the Reynold's family.

Four days before releasing the home back to the DiPietros, the Waterville Police Department was publicly saying that Ayla was kidnapped. We know that police had control of the home for 2 weeks, and the blood was found at some point during those 2 weeks. From the time investigators gained control of the home, until the time they said this was a kidnapping was 9 or 10 days. So, this leads me to believe one of two things: they announced it was a kidnapping despite the blood evidence, or they had not found the blood evidence within the first week or so. Since McCausland has said that some of the blood was visible with a naked eye, I highly doubt that it took investigators 9 or 10 days to see it. Even if investigators were not able to determine whose blood it was within the 10 days, finding a large quantity of blood at the home of a missing child would be troubling. It would not lead investigators to say the child was kidnapped.

Up until at least January 11, McCausland was saying that no scenarios had been ruled out. Again, this was after the finding of the blood. This was after survey equipment was used, river searches, interviews, etc. Even now that the blood has been determined to be Ayla's, McCausland still will not rule anyone out. If Ayla shed a cup full of blood, no kidnapping occurred, and Trista Reynolds has a rock solid alibi---isn't she all but eliminated as a suspect? Apparently not, according to Steve McCausland.

Overall, there have really been few significant updates since January. Have detectives been on the wrong trail? Is the evidence matching up with their gut feelings? Is the evidence contradicting their intuition? Do the police agencies have differing ideas about where Ayla is and what happened to her?


All of the above is my opinion, with the exception of the timeline which is  backed up with credible media links. I understand that cases evolve, and as evidence comes in, investigators are able to focus better. It is still surprising to me that this case has been handled as it has, and there are even articles where retired law enforcement personnel questioned the handling of the case early on. Feel free to point out things I have wrong or may have overlooked!


Good day, folks!