Sling or no sling?

The first few days when Ayla was reported missing, we were told she was wearing a sling. Later the sling wasn’t mentioned in her description.

12/17/11 MS
The child lives at 29 Violette Ave., off Cool Street. She was last seen wearing green, one-piece pajamas with polka dots and the words “Daddy’s Princess” on them. She is 2-feet 9-inches tall, and weighs approximately 30 pounds.

Her left arm is in a sling and soft splint. She has short thin blond hair and blue eyes.

12/18/11 WMTW

At 1:13 – “She also had a sling with a soft cast that was wrapped in a white bandage.”

Then in early January Justin said she didn’t have a sling.

1/7/12 MS
“He looked over the X-rays, and said, ‘I don’t know what they told you initially, but this isn’t as bad as they said,'” Justin recalled. “They just put a splint on there with an Ace bandage. She didn’t even have a cast or a sling or anything like that.”

DiPietro said Ayla’s arm was healing well in the days before she disappeared.

“Her arm was to the point now, before all this happened, that she was lifting it up. She wasn’t bending it, but she would take (the splint) off sometimes, and she was getting to the point where she was starting to use that arm again,” he said.

To my knowledge Trista has never said that Ayla had a sling and it isn’t mentioned in the reports from the ER or the Orthopedic’s office.

Emergency room

Orthopedic 1^st visit

Orthopedic 2^nd visit  

The last time we printed flyers, Jeff asked one of the detectives if she was wearing a sling so we would know whether to include it in our description. He didn’t receive an answer.

Did Ayla have a sling?

Did it go missing with Ayla?

Was the report of the sling a mistake made by LE?

If Ayla did have a sling, was it found during one of the early searches or dives?

 Maine State Police Tip Line  –   207-624-7076