09/26/2013
Relatives clash at hearing for Ayla Reynolds' father
Trista Reynolds, the mother of the child who was reported missing on Dec. 17, 2011, appears with her family to confront Justin DiPietro.
A courtroom confrontation between the grandparents of missing Waterville toddler Ayla Reynolds ended with both sides being escorted from the Cumberland County courthouse on Wednesday.
Trista Reynolds, the mother of the child who was first reported missing on Dec. 17, 2011, went to the Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court with her family to confront Justin DiPietro, the missing girl’s father, who was in court for an unrelated domestic assault charge for allegedly shoving his ex-girlfriend, Courtney Roberts.
DiPietro’s mother, Phoebe DiPietro, called Trista Reynold’s father, Ron Reynolds, an obsenity in the courtroom, prompting him to follow her into the courthouse hallway, where their confrontation escalated, according to witnesses.
Both Phoebe DiPietro and Ron Reynolds were escorted from the building by judicial marshals, followed shortly afterward by Trista Reynolds and other members of her family who were also asked to leave.
“I got asked to leave the court, because Justin’s mother came by and called me an (expletive),” said Ron Reynolds, breaking into tears at one point as he walked outside the courthouse on Pearl Street. “I got up and started saying something, so they asked me to leave the court.”
Trista Reynolds planned a press conference to coincide with Justin DiPietro’s court hearing, in hopes of raising attention to the fact that no one has yet been charged in her daughter’s disappearance. Ayla Reynolds has been missing for two years.
The planned press conference was Reynolds’ latest public effort within the past week. Earlier, she released evidence in the case that she said state police had released to her regarding blood evidence from Ayla that was found at Phoebe DiPietro’s home at 29 Violette Ave., Waterville, where she was last seen.
Reynolds said she believes DiPietro, his sister, Elisha DiPietro, and Roberts, who were all at the home with Ayla when she was reported missing, should be prosecuted, though she acknowledged that accusing them of Ayla’s death isn’t possible without her daughter’s body.
“I don’t understand why Justin, Elisha and Courtney have not been charged yet,” she said after being ordered from the courthouse. “I don’t understand why they haven’t been charged with lying to the police.”
Reynolds has said earlier this month that police told her Ayla’s blood was found in DiPietro’s car, as well as on his shoes and in his bedroom.
DiPietro and his supporters have said that Ayla was taken from the home by strangers, a claim that Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said doesn’t “pass the straight-face test.”
While his family and Reynolds’ family sparred inside and outside the courthouse, DiPietro spent an hour conferring with his lawyer behind closed doors.
His appearance before the judge lasted only minutes.
DiPietro pleaded guilty to one count of violating conditions of release related to a Sept. 6 traffic stop during which police found alcohol in his vehicle. He was sentenced to four days in jail, which he has already served, and ordered to pay a fine of $150, which he paid Wednesday.
DiPietro also faced a charge of assault related to the incident in July with Roberts, but that charged was dropped Wednesday because Roberts, his former girlfriend, changed her story since filing a complaint.
The court hearing for DiPietro was unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance, but it was a public opportunity for Reynolds and her supporters to confront him one more time.
DiPietro arrived at the courthouse shortly before 1 p.m. with his mother. Both took a seat in courtroom 7 and waited for the judge.
Reynolds, her father and others of her supporters also entered the courtroom, sitting in the same row as DiPietro but without acknowledging his presence.
At one point, DiPietro got up to leave. He made sure his exit route did not take him directly past Reynolds.
Shortly after that, Phoebe DiPietro stood to leave. She walked past Trista and Ron Reynolds and said something inaudible to them.
Ron Reynolds then stood up and followed her out into the hallway, shouting, “What did you say to me?”
Pheobe DiPietro continued walking while Ron Reynolds was restrained by court security officers.
“Your son killed my granddaughter,” he yelled as she walked away.
Both of them were asked not to return to the courtroom.
Reynolds watched the confrontation but was less animated than her father, saying about Pheobe DiPietro, “She sits on a couch all day that has her granddaughter’s own blood on it.”
The confrontations did not end there.
Reynolds and her father then waiting with their supporters outside the courthouse while DiPietro’s case was resolved.
Phoebe DiPietro was escorted back into the courthouse to retrieve him and was confronted by Reynolds and her father.
When DiPietro and his mother came outside a few minutes later and started walking away from the courthouse. Reynolds and her father followed, shouting at them.
“Tell me what you did to her,” Reynolds said.
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/Ayla-Reynolds-update.html
Trista Reynolds, the mother of the child who was reported missing on Dec. 17, 2011, appears with her family to confront Justin DiPietro.
