Introducing MURDER, SHE TOLD

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S6 BONUS I - Introducing Murder, She Told

Murder, She Told is an award-winning true-crime podcast created and hosted by victim’s advocate, Kristen Seavey, that dives into the lesser-known cold cases and true crime stories from New England and beyond. Murder, She Told uses investigative and detailed storytelling, often weaving in original interviews with the people closest to the case. Rooted in deep research, straightforward narratives, and the victims and their family at the center of every story, Murder, She Told will speak to any listener no matter where they call home.

This is “Ayla Reynolds: 10 Years Later, Part One” from Murder, She Told, hosted by Kristen Seavey. Originally published in December 2021. For Part Two, find Murder, She Told wherever you listen or at the blog below.

Ayla Reynolds was just shy of 2-years-old when her father, Justin DiPietro, called 911 on the morning of December 17th, 2011 in Waterville, Maine to report her missing. His story was that she'd been abducted from her crib in the middle of the night by an unknown intruder while the adults in the house were sleeping. Ayla Reynolds never came back home, and remains missing today. Ayla's disappearance sparked a national media storm, catapulting a grieving mother into the spotlight. Trista Reynolds, who wasn't there the night her daughter went missing, believed she wasn't getting the full story from Ayla's father. Eventually police believed it too, and announced that this was no longer the search for missing child... but rather, foul play. What happened in that house that night?

SOURCES AND CREDITS -

For all sources and photos from this episode and part two: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/ayla-reynolds

If you have any information on Ayla’s disappearance, please contact the Maine State Police, Major Crimes Unit Central, at [phone] or toll free at 1-800-452-4664.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And the Farious Nightmare contains themes thatmay be explicit or triggering. For some
specific warnings and disclaimers will be mentionedin the show notes. And the Farious
Nightmare assumes all parties that are mentionedin these cases to be innocent unless proven
guilty in a court of law.A listener discretion is strongly advised. You
can help us grow the show byleaving us a five star written review on

(00:20):
Apple podcast or Spotify, or youcan join our Patreon for lighthearted bonus content
with this Welcome to season six.Hey everyone, As we said before in
last week's episode, Courtney and Iare taking a short break to be able
to spend much need of time withour families. I'm not gonna lie.
I need a break. If y'allhaven't heard last week's episode, please go

(00:42):
listen, because yeah, Courtney spenta full day trying to paste a two
minute silence clip. And I mean, we can laugh about it now,
but Courtney's ass was crying about it. We cannot laugh about it now.
It's not funny. So if anyoneis wondering what to get us for Christmas,
it would be lots of good ratingsand reviews, maybe some exposure to

(01:06):
those who need to hear about thesecases. Set windows, Courtney, calm
down. Sorry anyway, we wantedto open up our break with a friend
of ours, Kristin Sieve from Murder, she told podcast. Kristin just celebrated
a birthday, so we kind ofwanted to honor her in a sense.
Today's case is about nineteen month oldAila Reynolds, who disappeared from her home

(01:29):
in Waterville, Maine, December sixteenth, twenty eleven. It's a heartbreaking one
but important to talk about, especiallynow since this occurred right before Christmas.
Please listen and head on over tomurder, she told, and hit subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. Makesure you leave her a five star rating
and review and tell her how awesomeshe is. And happy birthday, Kristin.

(01:53):
With that, here is Murder,she told. This is Murder,

(02:30):
she told true crime stories from Maine, New England, and small town USA.
I'm Kristen Zev. You can connectwith me at murdershtold dot com or
on Instagram at murder, she toldpodcast. Trista Reynolds was groggy and sleep

(02:53):
deprived, sitting in the passenger seaton a long car ride to Machiasport,
a coastal town in the heart ofthe Day East region, just fifty miles
from the Canadian border. Her journeyhad begun that Saturday morning in Portland at
six a m. With her futurefather in law, Robert Fortier, and
she was drifting in and out ofsleep on their way to see her fiance,

(03:14):
Raymond, who had recently become aninmate at down East Correctional Facility.
Robert got an alarming phone call fromTrista's dad while she was asleep. He
was panicked. Robert explained to himthat Trista was out cold, and he
said to keep driving for now,but a short while later he called back
and said to pull over, wakeher up and put her on the phone.

(03:37):
Robert stopped the car in a DuncanDonuts parking lot in Ellsworth and roused
Trista. Her dad was in hysterics, and although Trista was still waking up,
she understood that something terrible had happened. Her twenty month old daughter,
Aila was gone. Her father toldher to head to Waterville. The police

(03:57):
were involved. They were looking forher daughter and they wanted to talk to
Trista. It was strange they hadjust passed so near Waterville, and Trista
had thought to herself how nice itwould be to go and see her daughter,
who was staying with her father,Justin. She hadn't spoken on the
phone with her for over a week, and she missed her badly. As

(04:18):
they backtracked, canceling their morning visitto see Raymond, the hour and a
half drive from Ellsworth to Waterville seemedlike an eternity. As they drove,
she frantically called Justin, trying tofigure out what had happened. There was
no answer. Trista was terrified abouther baby's well being. I want to

(04:38):
pick her up and I want tohold her, and I just want to
tell she's gonna be okay. Iwant to tell her I love her,
and are you feeling I can't prospecther right now. When they got to
the station, they sat down withthe police, and both Trista and her
fiance's father, Robert, provided statements. About thirty minutes later, her own

(05:00):
father, ron, who Aila calledPapa, arrived at the Waterville p D
as well. Angry and distraught,they learned some bare bones facts. According
to a transcript later released, Justinhad called nine one one that morning around
eight forty nine a m. Andreported Aila missing. He was disconnected three
times, apparently his cell and othercells in the house were all low on

(05:27):
battery. He said that the lasttime anyone had seen Aila was the previous
night around ten pm. His sisterAlicia had checked on her before going to
bed. They had discovered that shewas missing from her crib Saturday morning,
but a time was not specified inthe call. Justin's story she had been
kidnapped by an unknown intruder. Ailawas last wearing a green onesie with polka

(05:51):
dots and the words Daddy's Princess onthe front. Also at the station where
Justin, his sister, Alicia,his then girlfriend Courtney, and his mom
Phoebe, Trista ran into his sisterin the hallway and Trista implored where is
she, Alisha, but Alicia respondedright back at her with her own words,

(06:14):
where is she Trista. Evidently Alishaand perhaps Justin too, believed that
Trista had something to do with ALA'sdisappearance, though she knew that she had
nothing to do with her disappearance.Trista tried to make sense of Alicia's suspicions
there was an ongoing conflict between Tristaand Justin about the custody of Aila.

(06:38):
Though Justin and Trista had known eachother for most of their lives, it
was their brief romance in the summerof two thousand and nine that resulted in
Trista's pregnancy. Justin had no intentionsof having a child with her, and
Ayla was a surprise. He refusedto believe that he was even the father.
On April fourth, twenty ten,Trista gave birth to little Aila Belle

(07:01):
Reynolds, and one of her firstimpressions was, my god, she looks
just like Justin. It wasn't untilJuly of twenty ten, after a paternity
test, that Justin finally accepted thathe was in fact AILA's father, and
in December of twenty ten, hewas ordered by Child Protective Services to pay
back child support. Though there wasno court approved child custody agreement in place,

(07:27):
the arrangement was that Trista had primaryphysical custody of Aila in Portland.
In fact, it wasn't until midtwenty eleven, after Aila was won,
that he even started to have anyvisits with Aila. Justin lived about an
hour and a half north in Waterville, and the visits were brief daytime sessions,
nothing overnight. On October thirteen,twenty eleven, two months before she

(07:54):
was reported missing, Trista had alife changing encounter with Child Protective Services.
Although I don't know what precipitated theencounter, I know what the outcome was.
Trista had a substance abuse problem andZPs had an ultimatum kick the habit
or lose the kids. By thistime, Trista had given birth to another

(08:16):
child, so there were two kidsin her care, Ayla and Raymond.
That same day, Trista admitted herselfto an inpatient rehab program in Lewiston,
and in the meantime entrusted her childrento her mom, Becca and her sister
Jessica. She was determined not tolose her children. They were her world.

(08:39):
Four days into her treatment, onOctober seventeenth, Justin and his family
decided that they wanted custody of Aila. Justin's mother, Phoebe, called up
Child Protective Services and somehow got theapproval to take Ayla from her mother's childcare
arrangement with her family, Jessica andBecca. Jessica I got a call from

(09:00):
CPS that afternoon and told her tosurrender Aila, and when she asked why,
she was told that quote, he'sthe father and he has the right
to take her, and that thedad trumps the aunt any day. Though
the Dipetro family had permission from thestate to take Aila, they didn't know
where she was. Justin and hismom didn't know where Jessica lived, so

(09:22):
CPS provided the address to Lewiston PD, and Justin and Phoebe went to the
station. Lewiston p D discussed thesituation with CPS and they confirmed that they
had given authorization to remove Aila fromJessica and Becka's care. So Officer Charles
Weaver escorted Justin and Phoebe to Jessica'shome to get Aila. Phoebe waited in

(09:45):
the car while Justin and Officer Weaverwent to the door. Weaver did most
of the talking while Justin waited inthe background. The scene that unfolded was
dramatic. When Weaver knocked on thedoor, Jessica answered and pleaded with him.
She said that AILA's father was abusive, saying he had beaten her in
the past. She said she wouldn'tgive up Ala willingly. Weaver later recalled

(10:09):
that Aila was laughing, playing,and attempting to make conversation with him,
in other words, in good spirits. Jessica told Weaver to pay attention to
how her demeanor would change when Justinappeared. Weaver said, quote, I
then had Justin come to the door. Upon seeing her father, Ailah immediately

(10:30):
broke down, crying and attempted toflee the kitchen. I picked up the
child and handed her over to herfather as she continued to cry uncontrollably.
Aila was kicking and screaming, andeven tried to bite the officer as he
placed her in Justin's arms. Jessicatold Weaver that Aila was terrified of him,
and Weaver responded, if he hadhis way, he would not let

(10:52):
Ala go with Justin. So howis it that this whole situation came to
be? How is it that CPSapproved this change in physical custody. I
tried to learn a little bit aboutthe legal process when child custody is disputed,
to understand if what happened was infact legal. The answer to that

(11:13):
appears to be no. I wasgonna say, there's a lot of question
and speculation about the custody situation.I know that Justin got custody of Ala
in October after he did not getcustody of Aila temporary custody in October.
He did not No, he didnot know, he wanted and nothing stating

(11:33):
because the part of the Health inHuman Services violated my rights. That is
why she ended in Justin's care.There was no court order, There was
no nothing I had to do withany custody at all. Just to be
clear, Child Protective Services is adivision of the Department Health and Human Services,
or DHHS. The best practice whenit comes to child custody between separated

(11:56):
parents is to have an official courtblass ust child custody agreement in place.
Justin and Trista didn't have one ofthese. In the absence of a formal
agreement, the court considers whether therewas a de facto agreement in place.
In this case, there was.Trista had primary physical custody of Aila,

(12:18):
and Justin as of the previous fewmonths leading up to this October incident,
had been granted daytime visitation. Hehad seen Ala five to ten times.
Trista and he had agreed that hewould take her at times, but he
had never taken her overnight. IfJustin wanted primary physical custody, the way

(12:39):
to get it would be through eithermutual agreement, which he didn't have,
or through the legal process. Hewould have had to petition for custody in
a courtroom, and ultimately a judgewould have to approve it. There was
no judge and no court room inthis change of custody. The rationale that
was provided by the CPS supervisor,he's the father and he has the right

(13:03):
to take her and the dad trumpsthe aunt any day is simply false.
Trista had made childcare arrangements due toher absence in the rehab program, but
she technically retained full custody. Inother words, Jessica and Becca were providing
a service for Trista look after herkids while she was gone. The supervisor

(13:24):
created a false dichotomy maternal aunt versusfather. The true dichotomy was mother versus
father. Before a court would evergrant a father sole physical custody of a
child, they would also do abackground check and a home visit, both
of which were not done in ALA'scase. One of the common refrains in

(13:46):
child custody law is best interest forthe child, which considers stability and continuity,
and the status quo was that Ailawas under Trista's care. In her
retaining that would be in the bestinterest of the child. The only thing
that could trump this concern is ifthe child was in immediate danger. It

(14:07):
is possible that CPS found this tobe the case, but I could find
no report of it. Here aresome examples of reasons for emergency removal that
might be relevant to Aila. Aparent was hospitalized, they abandoned a child
for a lengthy period of time,or illegal drugs were found in the child's
home. But even if we assumedthat the reason that CPS approved the custody

(14:31):
change was due to imminent harm,what does it make sense is why they
would have left young Raymond and onlytaken Aila. If there was potential harm
to one child, surely the samerisk existed for the other. Justin took
Ailah with him to Waterville, wherehe moved back into his childhood home on
Violet Have with his mother, Phoebe, his sister Alicia, and her daughter

(14:54):
Gabriella. Justin was twenty five yearsold at the time, Kisha was twenty
four, and their mom was fortyseven. Gabriella was around AILA's age,
just a baby. Justin lived inthe partially finished basement, a large single
room, and the rest of thefamily lived upstairs. While Trista was in

(15:15):
rehab, she called Justin every dayasking to talk to Aila, keeping tabs
on her. She didn't sense thatanything was amiss. On October twentieth,
the eighth day of Trista's ten daytreatment, CPS conducted a family team meeting
to discuss Aila. Present were threeCPS representatives, two doctors, Trista's sister

(15:37):
Jessica, and her attorney. InTrista, Justin called in by phone.
By the end of the meeting,there was an agreement as to what should
happen. Aila would be returned toTrista on October twenty second, as she
completed the program. Also agreed wasthat Justin would bring Aila to the treatment
facility on the twenty first to visitwith her mom. Neither of these things

(16:00):
happened. Justin kept Aila from Trista. In the weeks that followed, Trista
called CPS repeatedly to ask for helpin enforcing their agreement. She wanted Ala
back as promised, but couldn't seemto get anywhere with CPS. Eventually,
she and Justin came to a temporaryagreement that he would continue to keep her

(16:22):
and she would get regular visitation.But Trista had some concerns about Justin's parenting.
Have you been critical of Justin's parenting? Do you worry that she was
not safe in his care? Yeah? For what reason? Just you know,
just for the reasons, Like hewould never let me see her.
I would call to talk to herand he'd get mad about it. I

(16:44):
mean, like if I did seeher and I would notice something on her,
like a bruise or just something,he instead of like reacting in a
calm manner, he would lash outabout it or kind of like go into
defense. A major acts happened whileAila was in Justin's care, and on
Saturday, November twelve, he tookher to the emergency room. The medical

(17:07):
records from the er indicate that theytook X rays and determined that she had
a broken bone in her upper arm, right at the elbow joint. Justin
told the doctor that the accident hadhappened the night before, on Friday the
eleventh. He said that it wasraining and that when he was on the
porch with Aila in his arms,he slipped and he fell on her,

(17:27):
hurting her. Although she had cried, he said that she didn't seem to
be badly injured and it wasn't obviousuntil the next morning that she might need
emergency medical attention. ALA's arm wasput into a soft cast on Monday.
The orthopedic specialist thought that surgery wouldn'tbe necessary, believing that she would likely

(17:48):
heal on her own. The followingweek, on Monday, November twenty first,
at her third doctor's appointment, hesaid that things were going to plan.
Her body was healing well. Thiswas the last date that Trista saw
Aila in person before she went missingtwenty six days later. In the meantime,

(18:08):
Trista and Justin continue to argue aboutcustody, visitation and simply talking to
Aila on the phone. Trista hadhad enough, and on Thursday December fifteenth,
two days before she went missing,Trista filed paperwork with the court to
begin the legal process to obtain fullphysical custody of Aila. So, when

(18:30):
Alicia di Petro threw her words backat her at the police station, where
is she Trista things became more clear. The Di Petro family believed that Trista
had snuck into their home and snatchedAila. While the family members were being
questioned at the station, a massivesearch was just getting started to find Aila.

(18:52):
An automated system was utilized to calland alert everyone within a one mile
radius of the house of Alla's disappearance. According to the police dispatch log,
within ten minutes of the call,two officers arrived at the Di Patro home.
Within an hour and a half,two more officers, two detectives,
and three units from the Waterville FireDepartment had arrived. Waterville Police Chief Joseph

(19:18):
Massey, who was off duty,arrived by ten thirty am that morning with
Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey. Throughout theday, the State Police, the main
Warden Service, two more detectives andthree more officers from Waterville PD arrived,
and this was just day one.Around this time, the police decided to

(19:40):
remove the Di Pictros from their home. It's strange to think that in the
blink of an eye, if you'recaught up in an investigation, the police
contemporarily or even permanently take your stuff. In this case, the police took
an entire house and everything in it. Phoebe, Justine, and her daughter
Gabriella were out of their home.Fortunately they found a temporary place to stay

(20:06):
with some friends. Although it maybe the right thing for the investigation,
it can have quite an impact onthe people involved. Phoebe said, I
walked out of my house to godown to the station and give statements,
and all of a sudden we werehomeless on top of everything else. We
walked out with a clothes on ourback and weren't allowed back in for fourteen
days. On day two, Sunday, December eighteenth, a cadaver dog from

(20:32):
Maine State Police and a dog fromMain Game Warden Service were brought in to
assist, and nearby Messalonsky's stream wassearched. Trista, her son, and
her mom Becca were all staying ina motel in South Portland. Police had
told the Reynolds family to give themspace to conduct their investigation and their search.

(20:52):
There was nothing that they could dobut wait. Trista's father said,
it's just so hard for me tosit back and not do anything. I'm
crawling out of my skin right now. She's the apple of my eye.
On day three, Monday, Decembernineteenth, the FBI was brought in to
assist with the search. Between thedifferent agencies involved, seventy five people were

(21:18):
searching for Aila. The main Statepolice seized two vehicles from the Di Petro
home. One was owned by Justin, a nineteen ninety six Ford Explorer,
and the other was owned by Justin'sgirlfriend, Courtney Roberts, who was also
there the night of the disappearance withher young son Aiden. Her vehicle was
a silver Ford or Sedan, reportedto be a two thousand two Hyundai.

(21:41):
The Waterville City council chambers were usedto set up a temporary command center for
the search operation. A spokesman forthe Department of Public Safety for the State
of Maine, Steve McCausland, describedthe nerve center. That's where everything is
being assigned. Phones are ringing,Assignments are being handed out. The wardens

(22:02):
are there, the FBI, StatePolice, Waterville Police all working together.
It's a central focal point where theinvestigation is today. Even temporary fiber optic
cables had been run in order toincrease their bandwidth. The news of the
missing toddler spread like wildfire. Localnewspapers had picked up the story even on

(22:25):
day one. It was in printby day two, and by day three,
Trista Reynolds was sitting down for interviewswith local news. I just want
a home and I'm hoping for maybemy Christmas present that will be it,
that she's gonna come home. ByLater that week, it was picked up
by the largest morning news show inAmerica, reaching an audience of over five

(22:47):
million people, NBC's Today Show.The amount of news media coverage, in
print and in video on this caseis overwhelming. It's been thirteen days since
Aila disappeared here from her father's house. Dive teams were back in the water
today searching for any sign. Forthe twelve consecutive day police searched in and
around the home of missing twenty monthold Aila Reynolds. Our research turned up

(23:10):
a thousand articles that were written aboutAila Reynolds, many of which were published
in just the first week. Nationallysyndicated shows like Nancy Grace, America's Most
Wanted, and CNN News programs haveall aired video segments on it. The
possibility that a little girl twenty monthsold, vulnerable and beautiful, was taken

(23:33):
from her crib in a quiet suburbanhome ignited something primal in the hearts of
parents across America. When people lookedat AILA's face staring back at them on
the TV, they saw their ownchild. When they saw Trista's passionate interviews
filled with hope and sorrow, theysaw their own fears about losing a child,

(23:53):
and together they shouted one message,bring Aila home. On the evening
of day four, Justin released hisfirst statement to the media, which was
issued through the Waterville Police Department.This is what he said. I have
no idea what happened to Aila orwho is responsible. I will not make

(24:17):
accusations or insinuations towards anyone until thepolice have been able to prove who's responsible
for this. We will do everythingwe can to assist in the investigation and
get Ayla back home. I've sharedevery piece of information with the police.
Aila was in my sole custody atthe time of her disappearance per agreement between

(24:37):
her mother and me, because shewas unable to care for Aila. It
has always been my intention to havea shared parenting agreement with AILA's mother,
and I will continue to work towardsthat. When Aila is returned. Missing
child experts were weighing in on theodds of ALA's safe return, and things
were not looking good. Scott Bernstein, founder of Child Recovery International in New

(25:02):
York City, when asked about ALA'sodds, said one percent hope. But
I'll go for that one percent hope. As time passes in a missing person's
case, the probability of a safereturn decreases. Van Zandt, another expert,
told the Associated Press, if youdon't get this child back real quickly,

(25:25):
you know that it gets harder andharder. There was a race against
time. The search efforts expanded.The water level of the stream near Justin's
home, Messlonsky Stream was lowered sothat searchers could see if the water had
hidden anything. The team from theFBI was a specialized unit called the Child

(25:51):
Abduction Rapid Deployment Team. They canvassedthe neighborhood, knocking on every door in
interviewing and reinterviewing every everyone with thehope that some key detail would be uncovered.
Chief Massey, brimming with pride,said this about the efforts of law
enforcement. When I walk into thebriefing room at eight every morning and I

(26:14):
look out at seventy five officers.I see nothing but commitment, determination,
energy, and an attitude of let'sget it done. That's optimism, that's
inspiration, and that's law enforcement atits best. In addition to all the
professionals, about fifty civilian volunteers fromthe main Association for Search and Rescue also

(26:36):
joined the effort, and local businesseschipped in to help as well. About
a dozen restaurants and grocery stores donatedfood, and a local hotel provided facilities
to serve the food. A VPof a local trash disposal company said this,
Four truck drivers inspected all trash receptaclesowned by the company, nearly six
hundred in all, on Monday,Tuesday, and Wednesday. Their inspections included

(27:03):
ripping open every trash bag for aclose look at the contents. We searched
every can that we dumped, andevery load that has gone to the landfill
has been searched as well. Oneoff the workers responsible for the search said,
quote, the work is grim.I'd like to get a phone call
saying that she's alive someplace, butdoing a search like this, it's really

(27:26):
hard to be optimistic. On daynine, a group of local businesses pooled
their resources and offered a thirty thousanddollars reward to anyone with a tip leading
to ALA's recovery. By day ten, Chief Massey estimated that five thousand hours
of mantime had been expended in thesearch so far, and they were following

(27:47):
up on three hundred and thirty tipsthat had been made to date. Meanwhile,
Tristo was working with allies and supportgroups to organize vigils, walks,
and memorials for Ala. Newscaps werealways present, and in the absence of
information from law enforcement, it gavejournalists new things to report on, keeping
the story on the front page andin the nation's mind. I hope she's

(28:12):
okay with like, my biggest fearis that she's all owe and she's scared?
Is she and nobody to turn to. Trista's perseverance and media presence was
constant. Though she couldn't help directlywith the search, she helped indirectly by
keeping the world focused on the case. Ayla was easy to focus on.

(28:37):
Her wispy blonde hair, icy blueeyes, and gap tooth grin were irresistible.
Trista said that she was born withthat smirk on her face. She
said, I don't think Ayla hasever had a bad day. In a
personal interview, Trista opened up aboutAila and her personality. I used to
tell her that she was going tobe Mommy's star, but this isn't wow.

(29:00):
I wanted her to become a star. When looking in a book of
baby names, the name Aila struckher and her fiance Raymond immediately. The
name means forever flower. Trista saidAILA's favorite time of day was around six
a m. When she awoke jumpingup and down in her crib in her
Tinkerbell themed nursery and reaching out formommy. Trista would bring Aila into her

(29:25):
bed along with her son, Raymond, who is eleven months younger than his
sister, for cuddling. Then they'ddance and sing with a radio while they
made breakfast. Trista's brother said thatAila loved music and that whenever he would
turn on the radio, she woulddance her favorite song moves like Jagger by
Maroon five. Aila liked being thecenter of attention. She'd spin around in

(29:49):
circles and intentionally fall on the floor, looking up to make sure that everyone
was laughing, and if there wasa camera around she'd put herself in front
of it. When she was upto mischief, like one time she emptied
her aunt's purse, she'd flash Tristaa sly smile and then scurry away giggling.

(30:10):
Trista and Aila would take frequent walksin Portland, and if you could
hear music from a passing car,Ala would start dancing perfect. Strangers would
stop and take notice, saying,your daughter is so amazing. She's so
funny and so full of life.Cars would honk their horns. Aila would
try and help her younger brother.If he started to cry, she would

(30:33):
come charging across the house to bewith him. She would help with everything,
even if Trista was changing his diaper, Ala would try to push her
out of the way. As shegrew older, Ala began picking up words
like mama, which she usually pronouncedmama at the top of her lungs,
Bubba, dada, nanny, andthank you. More recently, she began

(30:57):
winning laughs by saying kika kaka kickyour butt, which she learned from her
older cousins. But Trista held onto some memories for herself, memories she
feared might be all that she hadleft of Ailah. The police, per
usual, were very careful and restrainedin the language that they used in the

(31:18):
media, generally keeping their sound bitesfocused on the extraordinary man power involved,
the number of tips received, andthe goal of the mission to bring a
La home, But their message evolved, becoming more sinister as the search went
on. At first, Chief Massiesaid everything is open, everything is on

(31:40):
the table, but the optics changedas the house and the land it sat
on were cordoned off with crime scenetape and the cars parked there were impounded.
Journalists also reported seeing William Stokes,top brass of Mains Criminal Prosecutors on
zine Waterville. Chief Massey insisted,though that the investigation was considered a missing

(32:01):
person's case, not a homicide investigation. By day ten of the search,
police publicly ruled out the possibility thatAla had somehow left on her own accord.
Massey said, based on our knowledgeof the interior of the house and
the sequence of events that would haveneeded to occur for her to make it

(32:22):
outside on her own, we feelcomfortable that we can eliminate that possibility and
focus on other possibilities. On daythirteen, Chief Massey turned over the reins
to the main State Major Crimes Unitmaking an announcement. At this point,
we believe that foul play has occurredin connection with AILA's disappearance. The case

(32:44):
has evolved from the search for amissing child to a criminal investigation. At
the end of January, a littleover a month into the investigation, police
revealed that AILA's blood had been foundin the home. This is a report
speaking with Steve McCausland, spokesperson forthe Main Department of Public Safety. In

(33:06):
the early days of the investigation,detectives collected hundreds of pieces of potential evidence
from the home, including blood inthe basement. News eight first reported last
night that blood was Alibs. Policewouldn't say how much blood they found or
if they believe the toddler is dead. We still hold our hope that this
little girl is alive, but wecan tell you that as the days turn

(33:28):
into weeks, our concern grows,but we are still hopeful that we'll find
her, and that they had suspicionsabout the three adults in the home,
Justin Courtney and Alicia. We thinkthat those three individuals know more than they're
telling us. Are they lying.I'm telling you that they're not telling us
the full story. The next day, McCausland said their version of events is

(33:53):
not backed up by any forensic evidencethat we have located, that someone slipped
into the home in the middle ofthe night while three adults are there,
that someone went into the bedroom whereAila was sleeping alone, removed her and
vanished into the night, and thatthe three adults did not see or hear
anything doesn't pass the straight faced test. And finally, six months later,

(34:20):
on May thirtieth, mccauslin said,this, the searches, the dives,
and the evidence gathered at this point, we think it is highly unlikely that
Aila Reynolds will be found alive.Nothing points in that direction. Hearing the
unspoken words Ayla is dead devastated theReynolds family. I saw on a lake

(34:43):
holder and love her and care forher and watch her grow up. I
don't get to I don't get todo any of that. I don't even
get to lake I don't give toshare birthdays with her anymore. Though Justin
had Day out of the media initially, after about two weeks, he started

(35:04):
making more appearances, even appearing onThe Today Show where he weighed in on
the change of message from law enforcementand Justin. As you just heard in
the piece, police are now sayingthat they believe foul play is involved.
What are investigators telling you about whathappened, what they believe may have happened
here? As far as I knowfrom that's just been a change in terminology.

(35:30):
As far as I know, we'reat the same place that we were
at on day one with us.Justin insisted that someone had abducted Aila,
saying, quote, I hope thatwhoever had the courage to come into this
house and take her has the courageto bring her back. It's gone on
long enough. When asked about whathappened that night, this is what he

(35:52):
had to say. Can you tellus about the last time that you saw
your little daughter? I know isnow more than two weeks ago. She
was wearing, as it was described, Alma's polkadot pajamas or top, said,
Daddy's little princess. Tell us aboutthat night. It was just a
normal night. There was nothing.I put it a bed and just the

(36:13):
normal night. He continued. I'mhere to help in any way I can
by coming on here. It's inhopes of reaching the person who has my
daughter to let them know that whatyou're doing isn't right. You may think
what you're doing is right for Aila, but it's not. You have no
right. You're not her parent.She belongs home with her family. When

(36:35):
asked about why he'd been silent upto this point, Justin acknowledged that his
efforts to reach out were delayed.Getting in touch with people from the Laura
Recovery Center was a big step.You can say. I was sort of
naive for the first few weeks.I just thought that Aila was going to
be home. He also said thatat first he was coached by law enforcement

(36:58):
to stay out of the press,which McCausland later admitted was true, but
that there was a misinterpretation that theinitial embargo was permanent it was not.
In fact, police encouraged both himand Trista to stay in the public's eye.
He also responded directly to the insinuationsthat had been leveled at him by

(37:20):
Nancy Grace and Trista's appearance on theshow. I publicly invite Nancy Grace to
come spend a day with me.Nancy Grace, please come see me.
Do you want to spend a daywith me? Do you want to see
what I'm going through. Do youwant to see the ins and outs of
it? I invite you to.He also said that while uncomfortable at times,
he was complimentary of the efforts frompolice. Some of the techniques and

(37:45):
tactics that they had to use,without going into specifics, hasn't been fun.
But it's about bringing my daughter home. Whether it's being asked the same
question twenty five times and you've gotsomeone yelling in your face, tell telling
you you're a liar, the truthis the truth. It can't be said
enough. The truth is patient andit will come out. Justin also had

(38:09):
an emotional plea to make too,as would be captor, but it fell
a little flat. A lot hasbeen said about you, obviously in the
last couple of weeks before we hada chance to speak to you directly.
What do you think people should knowabout you and about your relationship to your
little girl? I can tell youis what I'm not. I love my

(38:35):
daughter. I would never do anythingto harm my daughter. She's the world
to me. Can you tell usspecifically then, about your daughter? Tell
us what makes your daughter so special. She's my daughter, she's my child,
She's my world. That's She's everythingto me. Justin said that he

(38:59):
asked for a polygraph examination one day, and by January fourteenth, he said
that he'd taken one. When askedabout his results, at first, he
said I smoked it. Steve McCauslandresponded, saying he was baffled by Justin's
statement. He said that the statepolice told him his results and that his

(39:20):
claim was simply untrue. When journalistsreturned to Justin, he said, that's
all irrelevant. I wanted to seethe results myself. They're not letting me
see them. Why don't they letthe public see them? To answer back,
Trista insisted on being polygraphed as well. The police, although they were
satisfied with her candor, indulged inher request and set up a testing date.

(39:44):
Unfortunately, the examiner that administered hertest determined that Trista, due to
an undisclosed medical condition, wouldn't beable to achieve reliable results. Trista was
disappointed and admitted as much publicly.She said that she would seek medical health
to try and become healthy to getretested. I found no news of her
being retested, though grand jury proceedingsare always done in secret, so Although

(40:09):
we have no official report from lawenforcement, it has been reported that one
of these meetings was held on Februaryninth. Generally, at a grand jury
hearing, prosecutors present their case andcall witnesses before a group of citizens to
get their blessing to indict someone,compel witness testimony, or secure evidence.

(40:31):
It wasn't reported what this hearing wasabout, but the list of witnesses who
testified was provided. On the diPetro side, it was Phoebe Alicia,
Justin's older brother Lance, and Justin'sgirlfriend Courtney. On the Reynolds side,
it was Trista and her father Ron. The outcome of the hearing wasn't reported,

(40:53):
but based on the fact that Justinwasn't called to testify, one might
infer that the hearing was about whetheror not to indict him. Though if
that were the aim of the prosecutors, I suspect that they would have succeeded,
since ninety nine percent of indictments proposedto a grand jury are given the
green light. It's not clear whatthis all means, but I found it

(41:16):
interesting. On March fourteenth, anothermissing person's case was inadvertently solved volunteer searchers
working on ALA's case found the skeletalremains of a man on the banks of
the Masslonsky Stream, a half milefrom the Violet av house where Ala went
missing. It's surprising that with themagnitude of the search efforts, with the

(41:40):
extensive use of scent dogs, thatit took three months to identify an adult
man's remains a short half mile awayfrom the crime scene. Investigators later identified
the remains as Stephen Brandon. Hehad been missing for eight years. On
February sixteenth, to thousand and four, Brandon left his home on foot,

(42:01):
without his cell phone and said nothingto his family or girlfriend. Police believe
that he died by suicide. Theconversation online about the case between friends,
family, and interested members of thepublic was constant. When you look back
at archived snapshots from that time,you find comment threads hundreds of posts long,

(42:25):
with dozens of contributors. There wereat least eight websites and blogs that
had been published dedicated solely to ALA'scase. Jeff Hansen, Trista's stepfather,
was behind one of the biggest ones, Aila Reynolds dot Com. Jeff recalled
that he was looking at a childwhile he was out and about and caught

(42:45):
himself staring, realizing that he wastrying to determine if it was missing Aila.
He said that at that moment herealized he was obsessing over it.
He was seeing her everywhere. Heknew that he needed to do something,
so he locked himself in a roomand for three days worked on creating the
website that went live on January first. There was some rivalry amongst the sites.

(43:08):
Some of the sites were published byfriends and family of the di Petros,
and others were published by friends andfamily of the Reynolds. One time,
when Trista confronted the di Pictros atthe courthouse, the anger boiled over
and there was a sharp exchange ofwords between her and Phoebe. I am
daily grandmother, and I believe she'sa lot on her mother. Yes,

(43:31):
even seen it live and tell usall you did with them. Mainstream media
paid attention to the sites and wouldreference them in their news reports. The
constant turn of commentary led to hundredsof tips being submitted to the police.
Most of them were well meaning,but some of them were a little extraordinary.

(43:51):
Police admitted that of the roughly thirteenhundred tips that they had received.
Over three hundred of them came frompsychics. They I dutifully looked into all
the tips, but said that notone of the psychic tips had any credibility.
In December of twenty twelve, ayear after Ayla went missing, McCaslin
had made up his mind and said, we don't want any more psychics calling

(44:15):
us. It had been a yearsince Ala had disappeared, and after the
white hot spotlight of the media cooled, investigators decided it was time to sit
down with Trista and reveal some detailsof the investigation to her. Back in
January of twenty twelve, just amonth after the incident, investigators had told

(44:37):
the world that Ayla's blood was foundat the house. What I didn't say
before is that one of the investigatorslet it slip to Trista's family at a
vigil. The amount more than acup. A cup of blood is an
enormous amount, especially for a toddler. Eight ounces of blood would be about

(44:59):
a quarter of all the blood inAILA's body. In January of twenty thirteen,
Trista met with the main State policedetectives and in an unassuming conference room,
they showed her a slideshow presentation offorensic evidence. It was photograph after
photograph of AILA's blood. As theyclicked through slide after slide, Trista was

(45:22):
overcome with emotion. It ended shortlyafter it had begun. It was too
much for Trista to bear. Shefled the room, believing for herself what
the police had long said, Herlittle girl, Aila Belle Reynolds, was
dead. Tune in next week tothe conclusion of the Aila Reynolds story.

(45:49):
I'll walk through the blood evidence foundin the house, dig into the latest
on the case, through Trista's legalpursuit for truth and justice, and explore
other topics like why Aila had atwenty five thousand dollars life insurance policy purchased
weeks before her disappearance. I wantto thank you so much for listening.

(46:10):
I'm so grateful that you chose totune in, and I couldn't be here
without you. Thank you for oneyear of murder, she told. If
you want to support and contribute tothe show, there's a link in the
show notes with options. Leaving anice review or telling a friend is a
great way to support too. Youcan connect with me on Facebook or Instagram
at Murder, she told podcast Adetailed list of sources for this case can

(46:32):
be found on the blog at murderShetold dot com. Thank you to Byron
Willis for his research and writing support. If you're a friend or a family
member for the victim, you aremore than welcome to reach out to me
at Hello at Murder, she tolddot com if you have a story that
needs to be told, or wouldlike to suggest one, or if you
have a correction, I would loveto hear from you. My only hope
is that I've honored your stories andkeeping the names of your family and friends

(46:57):
alive. I'm Kristin Sevie, andthis is murder, she told. Thank
you for listening. Thank you forlistening to an Nefarious Nightmare. Music used
in the theme was originally by ghostStories Incorporated, remixed by Ryan RCX Murphy.
Additional background music is provided by EpidemicSound. A Nefarious Nightmare is scripted,

(47:22):
researched, and produced by Courtney Fennerand Amanda Cronin. I'm Lanie Hobbs
and as always, be vigilant forwhen you mess with the bees, you
get the hive.