Welcome back to the Frozen Truth podcast. This is an update episode of our
season two case, the disappearance of Aila Reynolds from Waterville, Maine. There
is a procedural updates in that case, and we'll get to that coming up
next. This is an update about our season two case of Frozen Truth,
the disappearance of Aila Reynolds, who was a year and a half old baby
girl who disappeared from her father's care in Waterville, Maine. As we record
this update. As I released this update December sixteenth, two twenty one.
Aila disappeared ten years ago today on December sixteenth, two eleven. There were
three adults in Justin's mother's home that night, Justin along with his girlfriend at
the time, and Justin's sister. The story of the people who were in
that house that night goes that Aila was asleep, She was checked on later
on in the evening, had gone to bed about eight pm, and when
they woke up the next morning, Aila was gone, and Justin called the
police. Obviously, for coverage to that case, you can go back to
our season two when we commenced coverage to that case. It had reached a
certain point the police investigation had reached a certain point where it seems outwardly like
all avenues of investigation had kind of gone as far as they could with the
leads that they had. The Main State Police investigates all homicide cases ian Maine
outside of Augusta and Portland, and they're even involved in those from time to
time, So the jurisdiction of Alis case falls under the Main State Police and
always has. We interviewed Detective Love of the Main State Police, who was
as forthcoming as he would be about an active and ongoing investigation, but stop
short of giving too many details about the case. In a couple of years
since our coverage of Alis case, we've received meaning I have received a few
leads, a couple of tips which have been forwarded onto the Main State Police.
You never know what might move the needle in something like this. You
never know what police have and what nation might mean to them. The information
that has been generated by our coverage of the case so far has been underwhelming
to me. Nothing having deep dived into the case, nothing I thought that
stood out. But again, you never know. So we forwarded that information
onto the Main State Police and they acknowledged receiving it. When last I spoke
with Trista's side of the family. They had initiated a civil lawsuit against Justin
Depietro, and the purpose of that civil suit was not so much to seek
damages or any kind of monetary outcome, but to get Justin de Pietro on
the record in court under oath as to his account of what exactly happened that
night inside the home. That's an extremely important part of the investigative process and
could potentially be very significant in the case. Whatever Justin Depietro says when he's
interviewed now for this civil lawsuit, when he's deposed under oath, can be
compared to any other past statements he's made in public, or any other statements
he's made to police evidentiarily that could lead to something. It could catch him
in some sort of an untruth if in fact he had something to do with
ALA's disappearance. And that deposition has been delayed I know, very frustratingly from
the family side four months. I think it's been over a year as a
matter of fact, that that lawsuit has not gone forward in the court,
mostly from what I've heard, because of COVID issues, the backlog of the
court system there that prevented this action from coming to the front of the line.
But that day is here, and in fact, tomorrow, December seventeenth,
twenty twenty one, tomorrow is the day that Justin Depetro is scheduled to
be deposed in that civil lawsuit against him. If you want to read the
latest on that. Over the last week, Amy Calder has always been my
go to reporter. She's a local there in central Maine, and she's covered
this story from the beginning. I spoke to Amy off the record just by
phone when I was in Waterville and we talked about the case, and I
got a pretty good idea of where she stood and what her report has told
her over her years of covering the case. The police with the news of
Justin de petro civil lawsuit and his deposition this week moving forward, the police
have come out in the media this week Lieutenant Love, I think I referred
to him as Detective Love previously, he's a lieutenant for the main State Police.
Now he has given local media quote saying we still investigate this case.
It is open, it is active. Lieutenant Love also said that in the
last year they've received thirty leads in this case. And remember, there is
physical evidence. There is at least some of ALA's blood that was found inside
of Justin's mother's home where he was staying in Waterville, Maine at the time.
I think through the family it had become apparent that about a cup's worth
or over a cup's worth of blood was found in the basement, with a
strong odor of bleach also being in the basement. I'm not sure that information
was ever supposed to be made public by the family, And after the family
released that detailed information to the media out of kind of frustration with lack of
progress in the case, I think police stopped communicating some of those details.
Right before our coverage of the case, a judge declared Ala Reynolds legally dead,
and the reason for that was what is happening today. The reason for
that declaration is so that the family can proceed with the civil lawsuit. Police
have also said they're not going to rush this case. They have one shot
to get it right. And being that this is a nobody homicide, at
least at the moment, I think it's fair to assume it's a homicide.
Aila did not, at eighteen months old, go missing on her own accord,
and she was in the care of three adults that night, and police
have also said that they believe that one or all three of the adults inside
that home that night, no precisely or exactly, depending person to person,
what happens to Aila, And they have been wanting to get the complete story
from Justin to Pietro pretty much since day one, and I don't feel in
speaking with Lieutenant Love, I don't feel they think they have that full story.
And while this is not a police interview that Justin de Pietro was scheduled
to give tomorrow as we were, it isn't on the record account and lawyers
are not police and don't question witnesses in litigation and lawsuits the same way.
But Trista's family's lawyer knows the purpose of this civil lawsuit and so his questions
will, I would imagine, be artfully tailored to narrowing down specifics of Justin
Depietro from him for the purposes of the criminal investigation that is ongoing in his
daughter's disappearance. So this is an extremely important development in the ai La Reynolds
disappearance. And this is something that Trista and her side of the family has
been angling toward for years, and that day is finally here. Regardless of
Justin de Pietro's involvement or not in his daughter's disappearance, this is something that
should shed some light on a very important aspect of what happened that night,
and that was what did he among the other two adults in the house that
night, see or hear or remember pertaining to ALA's disappearance. Also, pretty
importantly, my under standing is that as a result of the civil lawsuit the
family, Trista's family and her lawyer have now become privy to forensic examination and
other evidence that they probably didn't have access to before from the main state police.
Eventually, all of this, I'm sure will come out one way or
another, if the case is judicated, if it goes to trial, then
all of the information will eventually come out. But as we have been over
the last several years, we need just to be a little bit more patience.
Something happened to Ela inside that house, and I'm still of the belief
that there are people inside that house that night, and also probably almost certainly
outside of that house that night that no Manila Reynolds disappearance, And so as
We've been patient thus far. We just need to continue to be a little
bit more patient for those answers to come out. But the most important thing,
just as Trista's family is doing right now, is for the public,
for all of us to keep pushing be patients, but also be aware that
this case is still unsolved and that nobody has been held account for what happened
to this tragic story of what happened to this innocent girl. As we receive
any more updates, i'll let you know. But that is the latest on
our season two case, the a La Reynolds disappearance. Thank you for listening
to Frozen Truth, and we'll talk again soon.