Relatives of a woman whose toddler is the subject of an intensive search said Monday that they feared for the girl's safety while she was staying with her father, who was caring for the child when she disappeared.
Whitney Raynor, her mother's stepsister, said Monday that welfare agents had placed Ayla with her father in November while the mother was in rehab for substance abuse. The girl had bruises after being in her father's care, Raynor said, in addition to a broken arm three weeks ago.
"Our biggest fear is that he lost his temper and something happened. We're trying not to think about that, but in the back of our minds it's our biggest fear," Raynor said from Portland, where Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds, lives.
Spokesman Steve McCausland of the Maine Department of Public Safety said police learned of the girl's cast on her arm from either DiPietro or guests at his home Friday night. A message left with Massey wasn't immediately returned.