It's been almost two weeks since little Ayla Reynolds went missing from her father's home in Waterville, Maine in the middle of the night. The fact that even with a $30,000 reward for information that leads to the kidnapped baby, police have come up empty leaves parents across the country to shake their heads and grab their own kids in fierce hugs. But a move just this morning by the 20-month-old girl's mom, Trista Reynolds, could make a real difference in how you're looking at this case.
Like most missing child cases -- whether it's the recent (and still unsolved) disappearance of Lisa Irwin or the infamous vanishing of Jon Benet Ramsey -- the story of baby Ayla has drawn increased scrutiny on the lives of her parents. And the fact that Justin DiPietro and Trista still weren't speaking to one another days after their daughter went missing the night of December 16 in her polka dot pajamas was hard to shake.
So an appearance by Trista Reynolds on the Today Show this morning to publicly beg her ex to "just talk to me" can only be a good thing, right? At least it means that one half of Ayla Reynolds' family unit has decided to put aside past hurts and make the missing child a priority.
Trista says she's tried to reach out to DiPietro on a personal level several times, but he's spurned her requests for contact even while he's come out to talk to the media himself. It's not hard to believe her when he isn't refuting it, even though he is talking to the media. Just yesterday, Ayla's dad told media he thinks that someone took his daughter from the crib in his home, and he begged that person to return her safely. In a statement issued via Waterville Police, DiPietro said he would never hurt his daughter and is cooperating fully with police.
And yet, it's hard not to feel like that's not enough.
Justin DiPietro is, by all accounts, the last person to have seen little Ayla. He put her to bed on the night of December 16 and claims she wasn't in the crib the next morning, which is when police were alerted. Police say Trista is not a suspect in the disappearance of her daughter, she seems to really have the child's best interests at heart. And I know if my child were missing, I know I would want to talk to the person who saw her last. I would want every minute detail of her last moments.
Having them relayed by police wouldn't be enough. I would want to hear them from the horse's mouth, because as a mother, that would be the closest I could come to my child. That seems only fair.
Besides, corny as it may be, I put a lot of weight in a mother's intuition. If Trista can force Justin to face her with this public push, maybe she can get out of him details of the night that will help solve this case -- whether they're details he's hiding or details he doesn't even realize are that important.
Either way, giving the mother of a missing child more information to help her in the search for her child can only be a good thing, right? Can you believe it's been two weeks, and Ayla's parents still haven't spoken?
Image via National Center for Missing & Exploited Children