News on Ayla Reynolds disappearance.

Blood found, suspicion cast in missing Maine toddler case



From Susan Candiotti, CNN
January 29, 2012 -- Updated 0311 GMT (1111 HKT)






Justin DiPietro and Trista Reynolds appeared together publicly Saturday for the first time since their daughter disappeared.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Ayla Reynolds' parents appear together at an event to thank searchers
  
• Three adults were in Ayla's home the night before she was reported missing
  
• Their accounts don't "pass the 'straight-face' test," a Maine state spokesman says
  
• Finding out whose blood was found in the home is a top priority, he adds
  

(CNN) -- Maine police revealed Saturday that blood
was found in missing toddler Ayla Reynolds' basement and, for the first
time, cast doubt on the accounts of adults who were in the home when she
was last seen -- saying they don't "pass the 'straight-face' test in
Maine."

"We feel they know more than they're telling us," said Stephen
McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Investigators found the blood during their initial search of the
Waterville, Maine, house, though they did not specify how much blood
there was and where exactly in the basement it was located. Determining
whose blood it is is "a top priority of the crime lab," McCausland said.

Justin DiPietro -- the father of Ayla, who was 20 months old when
authorities began looking for her last month -- sleeps in the basement
of the home, which is owned by his mother.

McCausland said authorities felt they should reveal the information
about the blood discovery now, because "we need information from the
public, and we think this might help."

"The public needs to understand we're frustrated, and no closer to finding Ayla than we were ... December 17," he said.

Police have said that DiPietro's mother, Phoebe DiPietro, wasn't home
the night of December 16, when her son told police that he put his
daughter to sleep in her first-floor bedroom at 8 p.m. He called police
the next morning just before 9 a.m. to report her missing.

Justin DiPietro has said in a written statement that "he would never do anything to harm my daughter."

Police now say that Ayla was alone in the bedroom the night before
she was reported missing, even though relatives have told CNN her
younger cousin normally slept in the same room.

In addition to Ayla and her father, two other adults and two other
children were in the house on the night of December 16, according to
authorities. They were Justin DiPietro's girlfriend and her young son,
plus Ayla's aunt and her toddler. The latter two also live in the house.



Ayla Reynolds was reported missing on December 17.




The two other children are thought to have slept in a different
bedroom than Ayla, and police believe Ayla's aunt was with them,
according to McCausland.

Police said the adults told them "someone snuck into the house, went
into the bedroom where Ayla was sleeping, and no one heard or saw
anything." Yet "there is no evidence that we have found that would point
to an abduction," said the state spokesman.

"Their story ... doesn't pass the 'straight-face' test in Maine," McCausland said.

See more coverage from CNN affiliate WCSH

"We don't know what happened other than we know Ayla didn't walk out
on her own, and we have grave doubts she was abducted because there were
three adults in the home that night (and) it's a very small house."

No one has been arrested in the case, and police have not identified Justin DiPietro or anyone else as a suspect.

"We're not ruling anyone in or anyone out," McCausland said.

Police confirm that Justin DiPietro took a polygraph test, but won't
reveal the results. Lie detector evidence is not admissible in court. He
told Waterville's Morning Sentinel newspaper that police wouldn't show
him the actual polygraph paperwork to show him how he did.

"I know I went in there and smoked it," Justin DiPietro said. "I told the truth, and that's it."

Phoebe DiPietro has told CNN she fully supports her son and doesn't
believe anyone who was in the house on that December night would harm
the toddler or had anything to do with her disappearance. She has said
she just wants Ayla back healthy and safe.

"I'd give everything I owned if we can have her back," Phoebe DiPietro said.

On Saturday, Justin DiPietro and Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds,
appeared together publicly for the first time since their daughter's
disappearance to thank those who have tried to help locate Ayla, CNN
affiliate WCSH reported.

The two embraced when DiPietro showed up 30 minutes before the event
ended and later talked calmly on the steps of Waterville City Hall,
according to WCSH.

Trista Reynolds had told HLN's Nancy Grace last month that she raised
Ayla for 18 months, and that DiPietro had become involved after she
"needed to go and get a little bit of help for myself." She told HLN she
entered rehab.

DiPietro had sole custody of Ayla when she disappeared. Two days
before Ayla was reported missing, Reynolds filed court documents seeking
custody of the girl. The 23-year-old mother said she didn't tell
DiPietro she was going to court because he was "vindictive" and
"verbally abusive."

Reynolds said Saturday that "I don't have the answers that you guys
are looking for." She reacted emotionally, when asked about the police
announcement that blood was found in Ayla's house.

"I'm ready to go knocking at people's door myself because I want to
know what happened to my daughter, and I want to know where she is and
who took her or just whatever, like everybody else does," she said.

Did you know that the father took out a LIFE INSURANCE policy on her the same week he got custody off her?

Who takes out a life Insurance policy on a baby?

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/w300/n64/aliayah%20lunsford.jpg





Alliyah lunsford......that face haunts me.....

Here's a link re the insurance policy.

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2012/02/ayla-reynolds-case-understanding-motive.html