PORTLAND, Maine – A judge has granted the mother of Ayla Reynolds more time to find the girl’s father.
Trista Reynolds will have 60 more days to find Justin DiPietro.
Reynolds says she needs to locate DiPietro so a wrongful death lawsuit against him can move forward.
If DiPietro isn’t served with the summons, the whole case could be tossed out. Under the original court schedule, the deadline to serve DiPietro with the summons was reportedly Sunday, 90 days after the complaint was filed.
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According to court documents, DiPietro’s last known address was in California. Court filings say when an official tried to notify him of another court matter in 2017, DiPietro denied his identity, though the official said he matched the photo.
Ayla has been missing for more than seven years and was declared legally dead in 2017.
Ayla’s father, DiPietro, reported her missing from his mother’s Waterville home in December of 2011 where he and Ayla had been living.
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He told police he believed she was kidnapped.
Maine State Police later said there was no evidence of a kidnapping.
They also said they found a large amount of Ayla’s blood in the basement of the DiPietro home, which someone tried to clean up with bleach and that they believed Ayla was dead.
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