A photograph of Ayla Reynolds is placed among a shrine of teddy bears on the steps to Waterville City Hall during a vigil in 2011 for the missing toddler at Castonguay Square in downtown Waterville. Morning Sentinel file

WATERVILLE — A settlement has reportedly been reached involving a wrongful death lawsuit filed over the 2011 disappearance of Ayla Reynolds.

Reynolds, who was 20 months old at the time, was first reported missing while in the care of her father in Waterville on Dec. 17, 2011. Neither Ayla nor her body has been found, although a judge later officially declared her dead. Today, Ayla would have been 14 years old.

Ayla’s mother, Trista Reynolds, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2018 against the child’s father, Justin DiPietro, alleging he and other family members should be held responsible for Ayla’s death.

News Center Maine reported Thursday that parties involved in the civil lawsuit had reached an unspecified settlement, citing the lawyer representing Phoebe DiPietro and Elisha DiPietro, who are Justin’s mother and sister, respectively. All three DiPietros were named by Reynolds in the civil lawsuit.

Details of the reported settlement and who is involved were not immediately clear.

Trista Reynolds, mother of Ayla Reynolds, in downtown Portland on Dec. 16, 2023. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald file

William Childs, Reynolds’ lawyer, and Michael Waxman, DiPietro’s lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday night. Reynolds could also not be reached for comment.

Ayla’s disappearance spurred the largest and costliest criminal investigation in Maine’s history. More than 20 searches by land and air found no trace of the girl. She was declared dead by a judge in 2017, paving the way for Reynolds to seek civil action.

Justin DiPietro, the father of Ayla Reynolds, in 2013. Portland Press Herald file

The three DiPietro defendants have faced civil counts of wrongful death, conscious pain and suffering and wrongful interference with the body of a deceased person. Additionally, Justin DiPietro has faced a count of breach of parents’ duty of care to a minor child.

The civil lawsuit alleged there is sufficient evidence that Justin DiPietro’s mother and sister, individually or together with him, had the opportunity and means to participate in causing severe injury to Ayla that led to her death. The lawsuit also alleged that all three participated in an unsuccessful attempt to clean up and conceal blood stains found in multiple locations before authorities arrived at the house, which Phoebe owned.

DiPietro has denied he had anything to do with Ayla’s disappearance and has long maintained that someone must have abducted her from the house. DiPietro, his girlfriend, and sister, Elisha, were the only adults at the home the night Ayla reportedly disappeared.

A Maine State Police spokesman said at the time of Ayla’s disappearance that DiPietro’s abduction explanation “doesn’t pass the straight-face test,” because officials found no evidence to support that the child had been taken during the night. Even so, police have not filed criminal charges related to the case.

The state police have said they continue to work the case, and have asked that anyone who might have information that could help with the investigation call 207-624-7076.