PORTLAND — The mother of a toddler who disappeared from the father’s home in December 2011 is releasing what she says are investigatory details in hopes of pressuring law enforcement to bring charges.

Trista Reynolds told WCSH-TV that investigators informed her that they found her daughter’s blood on the father’s shoes and in his vehicle. Police previously said only that the girl’s blood was found in a partially finished basement where the father slept.

Ayla Reynolds was 20 months old when she disappeared from her father’s Waterville home. She’s presumed dead.

State police confirmed sharing details of the investigation with Trista Reynolds in a face-to-face meeting in January and in several telephone updates.

“Investigators met with her to give her an update on the investigation, the specifics of which we’re not getting into,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The girl’s father, Justin DiPietro, declined to comment to the TV station. He couldn’t be located for comment by The Associated Press on Wednesday, a day after he was released from the Cumberland County Jail, where he’d been held for violating bail conditions on a charge unrelated to the youngster’s disappearance.

Police have said DiPietro and two other adults in the house on the night Ayla disappeared are not telling investigators everything they know.

Trista Reynolds said she doesn’t know what happened to the girl, but she wants justice.

“Something terrible happened to Ayla that night, whether it was done by accident or on purpose. People need to be brought to justice for it,” Reynolds said.

Copy the Story Link