A Chula Vista man has been convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Maya “Maya” Millete, who vanished from their home more than five years ago.
Larry Millete, 44, was charged with killing his wife of 20 years, who has neither been seen nor heard from since Jan. 7, 2021. Her body has never been found, but police and prosecutors say there is no evidence to suggest she was alive after that date.
Following about six weeks of testimony, a Chula Vista jury deliberated for less than a day before coming to the verdict.
A sentencing hearing was not set, as an unresolved assault weapon possession charge will be dealt with first. Millete is set to be back in court next month for a status conference.
He faces up to 25 years to life in state prison for Maya’s murder.
Prosecutors alleged that he killed his wife in their home, then loaded her body into an SUV and disposed of her on Jan. 8, during a period of about 12 hours in which his whereabouts remain unknown.
While Deputy District Attorney Christy Bowles conceded to jurors that she could not specifically say how Maya Millete died, she argued Larry was the only person with the means and motive – he was upset because she wanted to divorce him – to kill her.
The prosecution’s case focused largely on what Bowles described as Larry’s possessive and controlling behavior, which allegedly included regularly tracking Maya’s whereabouts, controlling her finances and ultimately soliciting the assistance of “spell casters” he believed could magically influence Maya to give up her plans for divorce.
The requests to the purported magic practitioners evolved over the months leading to Maya’s disappearance. They moved from asking to make her fall in love with him again to making her obey him to causing her to become sick or incapacitated so she would be dependent on him.
Bowles argued those messages illustrated his capability to cause his wife physical harm and noted his spell requests abruptly ended following her disappearance.
The prosecutor also sought to dispel the notion that Maya voluntarily vanished, noting that she had plans for the coming year and was devoted to her three children.
Defense attorney Liann Sabatini said in her closing arguments that Larry’s behavior was colored by Maya’s ongoing affair with a co-worker and that his conduct could be explained. It was actually Larry, she said, conducting a “tragic investigation” in which he was trying to confirm whether Maya was cheating.
Sabatini argued Larry was being psychologically abused and “gaslit” by Maya, whom she said was denying the affair to family and friends while at the same time portraying Larry as “crazy” and “the villain” for suspecting it.
While she said jurors might not agree with how Larry handled the situation, Sabatini said, “There is no playbook for heartbreak.”
Regarding the alleged murder, Sabatini told jurors they were being asked to speculate rather than rely on facts in a case that lacked a body, crime scene, murder weapon or eyewitnesses.
Bowles argued the lack of a body was even more compelling evidence that Maya’s disappearance was criminal and “so well-planned that it is nothing other than premeditation.”
Though Bowles said she could not pinpoint the exact method of death, the presence of the poison hemlock in the home has been referenced as a potential method.
The contents of a vial found inside the Millete residence following his arrest tested positive for coniine – a poisonous compound found in poison hemlock – and Larry had searched numerous times for hemlock online, as well as other methods for killing or incapacitating someone.
But Sabatini dismissed the poison theory as “silly,” arguing there was no reason for Larry to keep the plant inside his home nearly a year after Maya’s disappearance if he was guilty and that it was more likely one of his children picked the plant, as poison hemlock is commonly found throughout San Diego County.
She also argued that Larry searched for the plant as a means to commit suicide due to his despair over his deteriorating marriage.
Surveillance footage captured Maya entering the family’s home at around 4:45 p.m. Jan. 7, but no video footage showed her leaving.
According to trial testimony, her last known contact with anyone was in a text message with one of her sisters at around 8:15 p.m. Jan. 7. Her cell phone terminated all cellular connections at about 1:25 a.m. Jan. 8.
Larry – whose phone also terminated cell connections on the morning of Jan. 8 – allegedly left the family’s home in an SUV at about 6:45 a.m. and did not return until about 6 p.m.
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