Justin's Misstep

No one is completely blameless. Even though I have very strong beliefs about what ultimately happened to Ayla, I have to blame Justin, partially, for this whole situation.

Trista says:

I was tired of getting my hopes up that my daughter was going to get to come spend the night or even a weekend with me. And then when he wouldn't show with her..you know what I mean? Like..

I don't think we was not a non-caring parent..I just..I just think the way he was going about things was just wrong, by lots of ways and I mean, just, after a while of not hearing from her and not being able to see her, a mother is going to get suspicious. And that's..I started getting very suspicious of um, what was going on. 

What we don't know is why she was not seeing Ayla. It could have been the fact that she had no car, and they lived in different cities. It could have been that Trista was busy with other things. It could have also been that DHHS had some sort of safety plan that prevented her from doing so. I always talk about DHHS, because I believe their involvement (or lack thereof) is going to prove crucial in this case. Ask yourself why Jeffrey hasn't released those files, even though he said, and I quote: "I believe that all the proof we need are in DHHS's files." On his blog he says he is working on obtaining said files, but the media reports that he had already obtained them.

Hanson, a hobbyist Web designer in Portland, said www.answersforayla.com will represent the personal observations and opinions of the Reynolds family along with facts, including links to scanned copies of medical, court and Department of Health and Human Services records that the family acquired late last week.

Why the discrepancy? Why so MANY discrepancies? Again, my opinion is that whatever is in those files does not, in fact, prove a damn thing. It may even point to more motive for Trista, and it likely lessens her credibility even further. I can almost gaurantee that whatever is in that file will contradict the stories she has told about Ayla being removed from her care. The State of Maine DID NOT hold a family team meeting just for fun. They did it because one or both of the children's safety was a concern. 

Q: There's a lot of questions and speculation about the custody situation, I know that Ayla was put into, by child protective services, into custody, uh, Justin got custody of Ayla in October...

TR: He did not get custody of Ayla.

Q:...temporary custody in October? He did not?

TR: No, he did not, no, he did not.

Q: Why was she in his care?

TR: Nothing stating..Because Department of Health and Human Services violated my rights. That is why she ended in Justin's care. There was no court order, there was no nothing that had to do with any custody at all. None, whatsoever.

The toddler had lived in Portland with her mother and grandmother until mid-October, said Becca Hanson, Ayla’s grandmother. The grandparents, who are not married and have separate addresses, said Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services had removed Ayla from her mother’s care in October. The maternal grandparents criticized the agency, although no details about the action were available Sunday. 

Why would the maternal grandparents be criticizing DHHS, but not Trista who is at best a confirmed alcoholic, and at worst a full-fledged drug addict? At any rate, this attitude toward DHHS is pervasive in this family. It leads me to believe that DHHS had made a decision regarding Ayla, and possibly baby Ray, that the family strongly disagreed with. Perhaps the agency required Ayla to stay with Justin, as opposed to Trista "giving up and letting her stay there." When she was unable to compel Justin or the state to give her back her beloved baby girl, did she take matters into her own hands? Was she desperate, and as she stated, "tired of getting her hopes up"? The part about DHHS' involvement has never made sense; even the most basic question of why the police originally contacted the agency when Trista and Jessica were fighting has not been answered.

Whitney Raynor, her mother’s stepsister, said Monday that welfare agents had placed Ayla with her father in November while the mother was in rehab for substance abuse.

The toddler's maternal grandmother, Becca Hanson, told the Morning Sentinel newspaper it was the Department of Health and Human Services that took custody of the girl and turned her over to DiPietro.

Trista Reynolds told The Associated Press that she and DiPietro never lived together as a couple. But Reynolds said a drinking problem prompted her to enter rehabilitation in Lewiston for 10 days in October; she said that although her mother and older sister cared for Ayla during that time, child welfare agents intervened to place the girl with DiPietro.

For some reason, it's important for Trista to deny that Justin had custody. Everyone around her seems to realize that Justin had custody, even if it was temporary, but Trista asserts that her rights were violated. When DHHS "places" a child with someone, that person has effectively been given custody of the child. That custody may be temporary, until a more permanent situation is worked out in front of a judge, but it is custody nonetheless. The denial of custody may be being used to justify Trista taking Ayla; as many dumb asses people like to say, she had just as much right to Ayla as Justin did. But did she really? Was it her prerogative to just walk into someone else's home? Not to mention that usually when DHHS removes a child from your care, there are conditions (like rehab) to get the child back.

Q: If you could speak to Justin right now what would you say to him?

TR: Just come talk to me. Like, just talk to me. You know, like, he's the only one that can answer some of my questions. You know, like, we have a daughter that is missing. We used to be able to get along all the time. Just talk to me. That's all I want, just..he was the last one to see her alive. Like, just talk to me. That's all I want. Just talk to me. 

TR: Just why after, you know, so many weeks, he's finally wanting to come out here and you know, put up posters and get like, T-shirts made for her and you know, just, like, why? I find that -like, you know, why wasn't he out here with me in the beginning doing all of this? Like, why after, you know, two weeks of it, you're finally, you know, saying hey this is what I'm about to do, I want to get T-shirts made and I want to go door to door.

TR: I was wanting to maybe lash out a little bit about it but that wasn't going to get me anywheres, it was amazing to have him by my side yesterday. Um, to support Ayla as her parents, as mom and dad.

It is clear to me that at the beginning of this investigation, Trista wanted---NEEDED---Justin to come and talk to her. She even wonders why it took so many weeks for him to get involved. He wasn't OUT there WITH HER in the beginning. Later, when the two did talk, it felt AMAZING to have him BY her side. If the two were talking by phone, as has been reported, why did Trista need him to "come and talk to her"? Is it because phone lines are tapped, and she couldn't reveal certain things over the phone? 


Justin's misstep: unfortunately, he called 911 instead of calling Trista. The Reynolds clan has made a big deal about the fact that Justin did not call Trista to tell her that Ayla was gone. I believe this is important to Trista, because if Justin had just picked up the damn phone and called her, she could/would have ended this before it even got started. Maybe, just maybe, Justin immediately suspected that Trista had taken her. Trista probably banked on the fact that Justin would call her first, especially since she or someone in her family had threatened that they could come and take Ayla any time they chose to do so. According to Jeffrey, these types of exchanges occurred up until the day before Ayla went missing. Trista was through threatening, and ready to carry out her plan, eh? I mean, even Phoebe thought that Justin would go beating down doors to find Ayla. He did the right thing, but in all actuality it may have been the wrong thing.

If Justin had called Trista, instead of involving the police, I don't think Ayla would still be "missing". Hypothetically, Trista would have used Justin's phone call to explain why she took Ayla. She probably would have said that she's in love with Justin, that she wants to be a family, and that she's jealous of Courtney Roberts for taking her role as a mother to Ayla.

One more thing to note, Trista filed for parental rights/responsibilities on December 15. She claims to have last talked to Ayla on December 8 (I believe). She last saw Ayla on November 21. 
We are to believe that after a week without talking to Ayla, and 3 weeks without seeing her Trista was so concerned about a lack of communication and infrequent visits that she finally filed? Don't forget, by her own doing, Trista did not see Ayla for 2 weeks after she got out of rehab. Also, why didn't she file initially when Justin would not return Ayla to her as planned? What was different? It is NO COINCIDENCE that Trista filed on December 15. Is she  using the fact that she filed as a cover for her nefarious acts that just so happened to occur 1-2 days later?

I report, you decide. =)

Side note: It won't work Tori Gifford and Jeffrey Hanson (Dumb & Dumber).
Trista's story is like Swiss cheese; it's filled with holes, and quite frankly, it stinks.