Police are chasing every lead in their search for Ayla Reynolds, even seeking out a retired educator from Kennebunk who posted a comment on pressherald.com that implied the child had been moved safely out of Maine.

The woman’s four-line poem caught the eye of Waterville police, who got a subpoena from the Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday to require The Portland Press Herald to disclose the woman’s contact information.

Audrey Pamela Jones said Friday that she has no actual knowledge of the young girl’s whereabouts but has been caught up, like so many others in Maine and across the country, in the story of her disappearance.

She said she believes — with no evidence to back it up — that somebody who was concerned about the girl’s well-being took her out of state.

“I don’t believe she’s missing. I believe that family (members) placed her somewhere,” she said.

Jones based her assumptions on the timing of Ayla’s disappearance — two days after her mother, Trista Reynolds, filed paperwork in court seeking custody of the child from Ayla’s father, Justin DiPietro.

DiPietro was awarded custody by the Department of Health and Human Services in October while Reynolds checked into a substance abuse rehabilitation program.

Jones said she suspects that someone in the father’s family took the child to avoid the possibility of losing custody. “They put her in a safety network somewhere,” she said.

On Dec. 17, DiPietro reported his daughter missing from the home in Waterville he shares with his mother. Police say they believe the girl was taken from the home.

Jones, 53, has worked for school systems in Westbrook, Augusta and Kennebunkport as a librarian and a computer technology instructor. She worked most recently as a security officer and dispatcher at the University of New England.

She left that job because a visual impairment has left her legally blind, although she’s able to read with the aid of a magnifier.

Jones’ poem was posted in pressherald.com’s comment section under the pseudonym “Nomainer,” following a story that appeared Monday. It read: 

Away where no one can harm her again

Your life will be happy now

Loved by those that took you to safety

A new life far from the insanity in Maine 

The letters that begin the poem’s four lines spell “Ayla,” Jones pointed out, an idea she got after receiving a poem from a pen pal.

“I really wrote it for Ayla,” she said, “because I think she’s in a good place. … The whole situation doesn’t read death. It reads like somebody saved her.”

State authorities would not comment specifically on why they are interested in speaking with Jones.

“Obviously, it’s a piece of information law enforcement wants to pursue,” said Deputy Attorney General William Stokes, who authorized the subpoena. “Every piece of information, every lead, is being pursued.”

Stokes said he knows of no underground network to help children who are taken from their homes.

Jones said she was happy to speak with police to explain why she wrote the poem. She admitted that some of her assertion that Ayla is safe in another state may be wishful thinking.

“I wish I knew,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of people would like to know she’s in a safe place.”

Members of Jones’ extended family have had custody conflicts, and that’s why she believes there are networks to help people who want to relocate an at-risk child.

Jones said that doesn’t mean she would approve of taking the girl from her home.

Jones concedes that, being out of work, she has a lot of time to dwell on Ayla.

Siblings who work in Augusta have sought to comfort her by sharing the popular theory that Ayla has been taken by well-meaning family members, she said.

The subpoena to The Press Herald called for the media company’s representatives to appear before a grand jury in February with Jones’s contact information. The subpoena did not indicate that any indictment is imminent, Stokes said.

The subpoena said the newspaper could comply by providing the subscriber and identity information to Maine State Police Detective Darryl Peary. On Friday, the newspaper provided Jones’ email address and the Internet protocol address of the computer she used.

MaineToday Media, which owns pressherald.com, was initially asked for the information Wednesday. It asked the state to get a subpoena, and then the newspaper would supply the information.

“This wasn’t a newsroom subpoena for a confidential source, so it falls into a somewhat different category than a newsroom subpoena would for sources, particularly confidential sources, which are protected by statutory privilege,” said Sigmund Schutz, a First Amendment lawyer who represents MaineToday Media. He said pressherald.com’s user agreement does not guarantee anonymity.

The company would not fight the subpoena, he said, because of the seriousness of the crime and the lack of any impact on the newspaper’s First Amendment protections. He said it called for the official request to ensure that the state would not seek online posters’ contact information without a good investigative reason.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

 

Copy the Story Link