Mom of missing tot holds out hope for daughter's return

WATERVILLE, Maine -- A mother in Maine is making another plea to the public to help her find her daughter.

Ayla Reynolds has been missing since December.

Police say they suspect foul play but continue to hold out hope that she's alive -- as does her mother.

Trista Reynolds says she starts every day with the same thought: this could be the day that Ayla comes home.

"I can't wait to see her running to me and just arms right open,” she said. “And just mommy mommy. And hearing everything that she's got to say. I picture a lot to keep me going."

Reynolds is running on hope, despite news that Ayla’s blood was found in her father's home.

"I can't. I just cannot think about it, or think about why it's there,” Trista said. “There could be many reasons. There's no one to blame right now because no one knows. I'm still trying to comprehend it right now."

And even though police say Ayla's father, Justin Dipietro, hasn't told them everything he knows about Ayla's disappearance, Reynolds says she’s not pushing him for answers. She’s letting the police do that.

In fact, she and Dipietro seemed friendly at a vigil for Ayla this weekend.

"He is the only one who knows what I'm going through,” she said. “He's going through the same exact thing that I'm going through, missing his daughter. We're missing our daughter right now. If it's anybody who knows, he knows that I'm going through on the inside every single day."

But Reynolds is furious that someone out there knows where Ayla is -- and hasn't come forward.

"How do you sleep at night?” she asked “How do you eat? How do you go on, knowing up here that you've done something so wrong? How do you just -- how do you find it to be OK?"

Reynolds says the hope that someone will come forward is the reason she continues to do interviews and appear at public events.

She doesn't want anyone to forget about Ayla.

She says until police give her a reason not to, she will hold on to that hope.

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