Police investigating the disappearance of Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds have turned their focus to the three adults who were in the home with the girl the night she was last seen, saying that the evidence doesn't point to an abduction.
In what is being called the most intense investigation launched in Maine within the last decade, state police are now saying they believe the adults inside the house the night baby Ayla disappeared know more than what they're saying. Investigators are dismissing the basic premise that Ayla's father Justin DiPietro has suggested all along that his 20-month-old was abducted on Dec. 17. DiPietro had reported her missing that day.
"We have searched that home and we have found not one piece of evidence to lead us to believe Ayla was abducted," Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety said. "We think one or all three of the adults have info they haven't told us and we need that info in order to find Ayla."
Recently police revealed that evidence found at the home includes Ayla's blood, which was discovered in the partially-finished basement that her father used as his bedroom. While investigators will not say how much blood was discovered, they told Ayla's mother Trista Reynolds that it was "more than a small cut would produce."
"There was blood found and it wasn't just a small amount … I don't want it to be real," she said. Trista Reynolds, 23, was in a substance abuse rehabilitation program at the time of her daughter's disappearance, and baby Ayla had been placed in her father's care while she was seeking treatment.
On the night that the girl was last seen, DiPietro, 24, and his girlfriend, along with her small child, were allegedly in the basement of the Waterville home. DiPietro's sister was also in the house, along with her young child, in a bedroom on the main level, while Ayla was reportedly in an adjacent bedroom by herself. DiPietro's mother was not at home that night.
"The adults inside that home say someone came into the house -- a small home -- went into a bedroom Ayla normally doesn't sleep in, took her, vanished in the night -- and not one of them heard or saw anything," McCausland said.
At a vigil for baby Ayla over the weekend where the child's parents saw each other for the first time since her disappearance, DiPietro refused to comment.
"I'm not here to answer any questions," he said. While police say that DiPietro has been cooperating with the investigation, they say someone isn't telling the whole truth.
Police have not named DiPietro a suspect, or even a person of interest. They say they have ruled no one out and no one in, and that they are no closer to solving this case than they were on the morning of Dec. 17 when Ayla was reported missing.
On Saturday the girl's family posted a message on the website they had set up to aid in locating her.
"Even in light of this evidence we are more determined than ever to find out what has happened to Ayla and we still cling to the hope that she is alive and will be returned to us," the message said. "We urge anyone that has information about Ayla to come forward now and unburden yourself of the truth."
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