WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — Law enforcement officials say the cost of the four-month search for missing Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds could be as much as half a million dollars.
Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey says his department has spent money on overtime, increased office supplies and even fiber-optic cable to support FBI transmissions and other data.
State police and the state Warden Service have also been intensely involved in the investigation.
Ayla was 20 months old when she was reported missing Dec. 17 by her father, who said he last saw his daughter when putting her to bed the night before.
Police have described the disappearance as a crime, but there have been no arrests.
A Department of Public Safety spokesman justified the costs, telling the Morning Sentinel “it’s what we do.”
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- In this March 27, 2012 photo, Jeff Hanson displays a photo on his website about his missing step-granddaughter at his home in Portland, Maine. Hanson decided he needed to do something constructive as the investigation drew out, so he created the first of two websites aimed at drawing attention to Ayla Reynolds, the Maine toddler who disappeared on the night of Dec. 16 from her father’s home in Waterville. The original website has received more than 1 million clicks, and there are now more than a dozen websites, blogs and Facebook pages dedicated to the case of the blond, blue-eyed youngster, helping to raise awareness along with billboards, posters and other conventional means of spreading the word about missing children.
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