Jury finds Larry Millete guilty of murdering missing wife

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (CN) — A San Diego County jury on Thursday found Larry Millete guilty of first-degree murder in the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Maya Millete, after prosecutors argued he became consumed by jealousy, obsession and increasingly desperate attempts to stop her from leaving him.

Jurors began deliberating Wednesday afternoon following nearly two months of testimony, capping a closely watched trial that examined the tragic case of a 39-year-old mother of three who vanished from her home in Chula Vista, California, on Jan. 7, 2021.

Maya Millete’s body has never been found.

Larry Millete, 44, who did not testify during the trial, has maintained the possibility that his wife may still be alive somewhere. He was arrested in October 2021.

The jurors were given the option to convict Larry Millete of either first- or second-degree murder, or alternatively, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. The case largely hinged on circumstantial evidence.

The courtroom was subdued with anxious anticipation as family members of Maya Millete filled the seats into the overflow courtroom to await the jury’s decision at about 3:30 p.m. The mood in the courtroom was celebratory, as the yearslong case finally reached a conclusion.

Two family members, dressed in Maya Millete’s favorite color, green, stood from their seats following the jury’s announcement and embraced each other through muffled sobs as the court debriefed the jurors.

Family members and police investigators joined together to photograph each other with San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Christy Bowles outside the courtroom.

“Our thoughts, myself and my team, remain with Maya Millete and her family,” Bowles said in short press conference. “This verdict can erase the years of uncertainty they have endured … This case shows that a case does not depend on recovering a victim’s body.”

But the prosecution’s victory on Thursday was bittersweet.

“Today gives a little bit of justice for Maya and her family, but she is still missing, and we are going to work tirelessly to look for her,” Chula Vista Police Department Chief Dan Peak said.

Speaking softly amid the throng of TV cameras and press, Maya Millete’s sister Maricris Drouaillet thanked the police investigators, prosecutors and members of the media for following the case over the past five years.

“Justice has been served today,” Drouaillet said. “But we still have the second step to go through. We still have to bring my sister home and her three children who have been waiting for her for five years.”

During closing arguments on Tuesday, the prosecution described Larry Millete as a man driven by jealousy and obsession after his wife had an affair with a coworker and decided to end their marriage. However, the defendant’s attorneys described him during closing arguments on Wednesday as a man who was himself emotionally abused and gaslit by his wife, arguing that he didn’t have the criminal sophistication to pull off a murder in which his wife’s body was never recovered.

Bowles argued that months of evidence pointed to a single conclusion: Larry Millete murdered his wife after she rejected his efforts to save their failing marriage.

She pointed to what she described as a mountain of evidence that Larry Millete was responsible for her disappearance. This included his repeated use of so-called “spellcasters,” online companies offering magic spells to regain his wife’s affection, which escalated into requests to injure and sicken her.

The prosecutor also pointed to internet searches involving poisons, testimony regarding the couple’s increasingly volatile relationship and evidence that Maya Millete had planned to file for divorce the day she disappeared. Bowles argued the defendant’s use of magic spells directed at his wife ended once Maya was last seen.

Surveillance footage showed that Larry Millete backed his Lexus SUV into their garage at about 6 a.m. the morning after Maya Millete went missing. At 6:45 a.m., the vehicle left the residence, located in Chula Vista’s San Miguel Ranch neighborhood, and did not return for 12 hours. Larry Millete’s phone was powered off before he left. Bowles said the vehicle had an unaccounted 444 miles on its odometer.

Bowles also said the car was suspiciously clean.

Prosecutors believe her body may have been buried somewhere around the Colorado River Reservation, near the Arizona border and about 200 miles from Chula Vista.

Larry Millete maintained that he was at the beach that day with his son.

Beverly Feldman, a juror who spoke to press outside of the Chula Vista courthouse, said that the defendant’s whereabouts on Jan. 8 was the most damning evidence. There were no doubts, Feldman said.

Eleven out of the 12 jurors quickly decided that it was murder, but they needed to decide unanimously if it was first- or second-degree.

“The prosecution was very impressive,” Feldman told the press. “The defense was way in over their heads. The burden wasn’t on them. It was on the prosecution, and they laid out evidence that was overwhelming. We could see what Larry did.”

Jurors did not decide on the method of murder, but Feldman said they believed it was likely done with poison or possibly strangulation — or a combination of the two.

The abrupt end to the spellcasting against Maya after she went missing was also especially damning, Feldman said.

“It was an obsession. He was excessive — unbelievably excessive,” Feldman said. “She couldn’t get out fast enough and she finally did, but he ultimately got her.”

Bowles also argued that Larry Millete was controlling, showing up at her work randomly and requiring her to take selfies of herself so he knew where she was.

Defense attorney Liann Sabatini countered that prosecutors built their case on assumptions rather than proof.

She portrayed Larry Millete as a psychologically fragile husband devastated by his wife’s affair and deteriorating mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her client may have been desperate and emotional — but never homicidal.

Sabatini told jurors that Maya emotionally abused her husband throughout the marriage and that his behavior, including paying online spellcasters, was a reflection of the emotional turmoil he was experiencing.

She reminded jurors that no body, murder weapon or direct forensic evidence linked her client to Maya Millete’s disappearance. Investigators never recovered DNA, blood or physical evidence of a murder.

Instead, Sabatini argued prosecutors stitched together suspicious behavior and invited jurors to do the work themselves.

The emotionally charged trial often drew crowds of family members, members of the press and the public into overflow courtrooms. The trial was originally scheduled in 2022 but was delayed multiple times.

Throughout the seven-week trial, jurors heard testimony from family and friends of Maya Millete, investigators and forensic experts, among others.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Enrique Camarena did not schedule a sentencing hearing for Larry Millete after the verdict announcement. An additional unresolved weapons charge will be dealt with first. Larry Millete waived his rights to a jury trial for that charge.