PORTLAND, Maine (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) – The mother of missing Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds said she and other family members plan to take polygraph tests and that she plans to share the results.
Trista Reynolds told the Bangor Daily News Monday that she’s been offering to take a lie detector test since the day her 20-month-old daughter disappeared and that her family is in the process of arranging with investigators to take the tests.
Last week Ayla’s father, Jason DiPietro, said he took a polygraph test shortly after Ayla disappeared.
WGME reports DiPietro claims police never told him the results of his test. According to the article, police said they gave him the results but are not releasing them to the public.
Trista said she wonders if DiPietro knows more about Ayla's disappearance than he's saying since he won't tell her or the public the results of his polygraph test.
Ayla was in her father’s care when she vanished Dec. 17. The state had awarded him temporary custody while Trista underwent medical treatment at a rehab center for a drinking problem. Trista said prior to that, DiPietro had very little contact with Ayla.
DiPietro claims he put Ayla to bed the evening of Dec. 16 and when he woke up the next morning she was missing from her crib.
On Jan. 10 Trista appeared on the Today Show to discuss her missing daughter's case. She said she doesn't think Ayla's father is being completely truthful about what happened the night their daugther vanished. It didn't help that police had announced they'd found evidence of foul play at DiPietro's home. On Dec. 30 it was reported that police changed the classification of Ayla's case from a "missing persons'" case to a "criminal investigation."
Police Chief Joseph Massey had said, "This case has evolved from the search for a missing child to a criminal investigation. For this reason, I have asked the Maine State Major Crimes Unit to assume the lead role as this investigation progresses."
Days before the toddler went missing Trista secretly filed for custody. She claimed she didn’t tell DiPietro because he’s “vindictive” and “verbally abusive.”
In early Jan. it was reported that DiPietro had enlisted in the services of the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children to assist in the search for his daughter. Some believe this may be a sign of his innocence while others believe it was simply smoke and mirrors to take negative attention away from him.
Statement Analysis by Peter Hyatt
On Monday, Statement Analyst Peter Hyatt provided an analysis of DiPietro’s statements made to the Bangon Daily News. Based on those statements, and previous research he's done in Ayla's case, Hyatt concluded that:
- Justin DiPietro is withholding information, deliberately, from police, about what happened to Ayla
- Ayla is not alive
- Ayla was not kidnapped
He says his conclusions came from "within the language."
Hyatt provides his professional opinion based on years of experience reviewing and analyzing hundreds of missing persons' and other crime cases.
He said that from outside the language “we have drugs. Drugs and children never mix. Never. Yet, where there are drugs, people talk.”
He said that while DiPietro won't say what the results of his polygraph test were, he did say he "smoked" the test.
Hyatt said that was a strange choice of words given drug rumors that circulate this case. Locals say DiPietro made a living selling prescription drugs on the streets, Hyatt writes.
Hyatt said he believes someone knows something that can break this case wide open. Someone near Justin, his mother Phoebe, and “the rest of them” he said.
Hyatt asks: What did happen to Ayla?
“Something took place inside the house that police have called ‘foul play’,” Hyatt wrote. “And given that drug involvement surrounds Ayla's life, it does not take a great deal of imagination to believe that she died, from anything such as over dosing on someone in the house's drugs, to falling, to even being shaken in anger while someone was withdrawing.
“Next came a cover up and a phony kidnapping story where the burden remains on police as the father simply says ‘...and she was gone...’ and then stays away from media and from making statements that will come back to bite him.
“Like Deborah Bradley, he gave an implausible story, but unlike Bradley, he kept quiet and was careful to not give details.
“Sometimes it seems that parents of missing children benefit from each others' lies,” Hyatt said.
Babies missing from their cribs
During the months of Oct., Nov., and Dec., three babies were reported missing from their cribs - Lisa Irwin, Tyler Dasher, and Ayla. Lisa and Tyler were from Missouri, their cases eerily similar. Click here to read the similarities.
In all three recent cases parents said they put their babies to bed at night and woke up to empty cribs.
Tyler’s case was quickly solved. Two women walking their dog found his body in a cemetery near his home. His mother confessed that she’d been out late the night before and wanted to sleep. She beat Tyler to death when he woke up and wouldn’t’ go back to sleep.
Lisa and Ayla remain missing. Police suspect foul play in their cases.
About Ayla’s disappearance:
Ayla Bell Reynolds was born April 4, 2010. She was reported missing by her father, Justin DiPietro, who said he last saw her when he put her to bed the evening of Dec. 15. He said when he got up the next day she was missing from her crib at his Waterville home.
She was 20 months old at the time of her disappearance and was last seen wearing a green one-piece pajama with polka-dots and the words “Daddy’s Princess” written on them.
She is 2’9” tall and weighs approximately 30 pounds. Ayla’s left arm is in a sling and soft splint. She has short, thin blonde hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information about her disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call Waterville Police at 207-680-4700.
According to Ayla’s flier posted on the Laura Recovery Center website, there is a $30,000 reward to the person or persons who provide information leading to the location and return of Ayla Reynolds.
Anyone with information about her disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call Waterville Police at 207-680-4700.
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