Bombshell testimony in Larry Millete murder trial | "Case by Case" | "48 Hours" Podcast | Forensic Files

It is a trial that is 5 years in the making. Larry Millete is in court this week charged with killing [music] his
39-year-old wife Maya, who was last seen in their Chula Vista, California home on
January 7th, 2021. [music] 48 hours followed Maya's family, friends, and the community as they
searched and searched for her. Yet, her body has still never been found. Meanwhile, prosecutors say that Larry
had been paying people online to cast spells on his wife. Spells to first make her stay with him and then later to harm
her. In opening statements, the prosecution said that Maya was having an affair. And
according to emails Larry sent to spellcasters, the affair resulted in Maya getting pregnant.
The prosecution says this revelation caused a huge fight between Larry and Maya in January of 2021, right around
the time she went missing. Larry Millete has pleaded not guilty. I'm 48 Hours correspondent Anne Marie
Green, and this is Case by Case. And today I'm being joined by Kelly Hessedal. She is a CBS 8 San Diego
reporter. She has been following this story and was in court earlier this week. So, Kelly, thank you so much for
making some time for us. >> Thank you for having me. >> So, let's just sort of start kind of in
the beginning. Um, I want to talk about Maya or May as some people called her. What was her relationship with Larry
like in the beginning? >> Maya and Larry met when they were working at a fast food restaurant. Um,
Maya had actually immigrated to the United States from the Philippines with her family back in 1995,
and she was just 13 years old. So, they actually got married when they were pretty young. Maya was 19 years old. I
believe Larry was 18 years old. And they fell in love, got married, waited about 10 years until they had
children. They ended up having three children, two girls and one boy. And Larry had enlisted in the Navy at
one point, and so they had relocated from Hawaii to San Diego, and that's where they settled in a portion of San
Diego called Chula Vista. They loved their children. Larry was an attentive father, according to family and friends.
Maya has always been described as very bubbly, very outgoing, someone who loved the outdoors, loved
being outside. And by all accounts, they had a a typical married life, but clearly things started to change. They
started to unravel at some point. The prosecution said this week in opening statements, to really understand
this story, you have to go back to 2020. Maya was confiding in her friends about the struggles in their marriage.
She wasn't really confiding in her family quite yet about what was going on, but she was definitely letting her
friends know that there were problems. She began an affair with a co-worker. According to prosecutors during opening
statements, it started out as a friendship and then turned physical. >> Larry obviously was not
doing well with this. He did not want a divorce. That was not an option for him.
And he is reaching out to Maya's family. He's actually sort of the prosecution said that he was writing sort of notes
to his sister-in-law trying to get her to help him keep the marriage together. But then he writes something sort of
really curious in one of the notes. This is a according to the prosecution. And he writes, "I always say friends help
you move. Real friends help you move dead bodies." And I've kind of heard this line before.
Um and it could be sort of humorous, but considering now what has happened, it doesn't sound so funny.
>> Right. And when the prosecutor said those words in court this week during opening statements, I mean, there's many
reporters that are sitting in the courtroom and you could hear everybody's fingers tapping on the keyboard the
moment that she said that because I think it really struck everybody as a line that really stood out.
>> Right. And in fact, one of Maya's coworkers testified that she had said, Maya had said to her, "Listen, if
anything happens to me, it was Larry." Um was there any talk of a legal separation or a divorce? Were they
moving in that direction? I know Larry didn't want that, but I wondered if Maya had brought it up.
>> Well, so there was a portion of time during 2020 when she actually moved in with her brother and her sister-in-law
for several weeks. Police found a letter in the Millete home during one of the searches there
that Maya had written to Larry basically saying, you know, this is unhealthy, this is toxic, I want to be happy
and happy is not with you. She said, "Let me find my peace and and I cannot find it with you." But Larry, according
to prosecutors, was desperate to keep her with him, to keep the marriage going. >> Yeah, I that note to me is about as
direct as it gets. She wanted out. Um Well, Wednesday on the stand, Maya's sister, Mary Chris, testified that Larry
had called her for advice about the relationship. And this happened in 2020. And then a little over a week before
Maya disappeared, Maya had opened up to her siblings about wanting a divorce. >> And she testified that Maya was adamant
about this. And this was actually just in the days leading up to when Maya disappeared that her family found out
she was really set on this divorce and that she had said she wanted to pawn some of her luxury handbags including a
Louis Vuitton purse at for $10,000 to help pay for a divorce attorney. >> Wow. Okay, that is interesting and all
of this for the prosecution I presume, you know, points to motive. Um but at a as I understand it as well, there were
some references to domestic violence in the arrest warrant. >> Yeah, in the arrest warrant there was a
friend that had uh told investigators at one point that Larry had choked Maya to
the point that she was unconscious. However, [music] the defense has said there's no evidence at all of domestic
violence between the two. >> All right, so that brings us to the day that Maya disappears. This is January
7th, 2021. This is the last time that anyone has seen Maya. Um Kelly, just walk us through
what we know about that day. >> There was a receptionist from a law office that testified about noon on that
date Maya made a call to that law office and said she wanted to get a divorce from her husband. Uh this receptionist
Destiny Johnson testified that um Maya wanted to do the consultation virtually but Destiny had told her according to
her testimony we really should do this in person but Maya was so afraid that Larry was
going to find out she didn't want to. So, she ended up making an appointment for a week later and and partly that was
also because that weekend they were going to be celebrating her daughter's 11th birthday up in Big Bear with the
entire family and and she according to prosecutors really did not want to ruin that for her children or for the entire
family. >> We know that her cell phone stops, I guess, pinging at around 1:25 in the
morning, right? That night, she Maya is doing some sort of random Google searches, isn't she?
>> That's right. So, what we know from January 7th, according to prosecutors, um
there's surveillance video uh earlier in the day of her going out to get her Jeep
washed. The children ask if they can come with. Around 4:43 that afternoon, uh there's surveillance video showing
her returning home. And yes, at around 8:00 that night, there was a Google search. She Googled something about a
motorcycle, according to prosecutors. There was also a message to her family. She had this group chat she was in with
her family. And around that same time, she had messaged them talking about the sale of a trailer, uh buying some toys.
They were planning ahead, according to prosecutors, for future trips as well as that Big Bear trip uh that they were
going to be going on that weekend. >> So, for for Maya, it's by and large a regular day. What about Larry?
>> So, on January 8th, we know from security footage he backed his Lexus SUV into the driveway early that morning,
around 6:45 or so. And then there's also security footage of him leaving after that.
As for where he went, he had told investigators, according to the prosecution, that he took his 4-year-old
son to the beach. According to the prosecution, his phone was turned off that entire time. And when asked about
that by Maya's family members, he just said, "You know, I kept it off for the entire day," but didn't explain why.
>> So, obviously her family has become increasingly concerned. I mean, so what is her family doing?
>> So, on January 8th, her brother says, "I've been trying to call her. I've I've
her. I've been texting her, and she's not answering. Something is wrong. He messages or talks to Mary Chris, the
older sister, according to prosecution, and says, "I don't know what to do." So, family went to check on her. Mary
Chris drove down to San Diego to the Millet home, and she testified that Larry's demeanor was was normal. He
acted like everything was just fine. Don't worry. Don't call police. Don't call investigators. And that is when my
Mary Chris dialed 911. >> And so, that is when Maya is officially reported missing, right? When Mary Chris
makes that 911 call. >> So, yes, it it kind of happened overnight because Mary Chris and her
husband spent the night at the home. They were even out canvassing the neighborhood
like into the early morning hours, according to her testimony, looking for her sister. And it was the next morning
that they went out and even gathered some volunteers up and began looking for her.
>> So, Kelly, let us talk about what I think is one of the wildest pieces of evidence in this case. Prosecutors said
that Larry was paying people online to cast spells on his wife. He wanted to be able to
control her. He wanted to, you know, make her fall back in love with him. >> Now, when law enforcement first came to
the Millet house, they found spell books in the house during their first visit to
the home. Not only do these emails to spell casters show that Larry wished harm on Maya, but the emails are also a
window into what was going on within the relationship and the timeline. >> So, this has already come up this week,
but I I actually want to refer back to the arrest warrant here, and these are all communications to these spell
casters online. This is some of what he was saying, right? Please punish May and
incapacitate her enough so that she can't leave the house. It's time to take the gloves off. Can you hex to have her
hurt enough that she will have to depend on me and need my help. She's only nice
to me when she needs me or sick. Thanks again. Maybe an accident or broken bone.
And then on the day that Maya disappears he sends multiple emails to spell casters saying, I think she wants me to
snap. >> It was almost like he was confiding, you know, his deepest, darkest uh secrets to
them about what was going on in his marriage. He spent a lot of money on these spell casters and when we first
found out about this, you know, 5 years ago, I mean, everybody's jaw dropped. It
was something that we had just never seen before. But I will say one of the most telling
things about the spell casters, according to the prosecution this contact he had with them the way
that it changed after Maya disappeared. Prosecutors say was very apparent. At one point he had, according to them at
least, said something along the lines of stop hexing May. And this was the day after she disappeared. And then
the spell caster emails all sort of diverge into start punishing Jamie Laird, the man
that she had been having an affair with. And there was no mention of Maya again after that.
>> That is fascinating. So, can we talk a little bit more about that? >> One of the big moments of the trial this
week was the prosecution speaking about one particular email that Larry sent to spell casters where he revealed that the
co-worker Maya was allegedly having an affair with, uh Jamie Laird, had gotten Maya pregnant.
>> Do we know if that's even true or if it was just something that Larry made up or
that Larry believed to be true? >> At this point there has not been a doctor up on the witness stand. we have
not seen any medical records uh proving that she was pregnant. Uh I do believe at one point during some of these emails
with spell casters, he had talked about an abortion that Maya had had, but at this point in the trial we have not seen
any proof of this. This is all just through emails that Larry is sending to these spell casters.
>> So, I want to talk about something else that was discovered inside the Millete
home, a vial. >> That was kind of a moment that we had not heard about up until now. This was a
new piece of evidence. So, this vial was discovered inside the Millete home. It was a small vial with a little cap on
it. The prosecution says they had the contents of that vial tested and it came back positive for the same chemical in
poison hemlock. Now, the prosecution also said that there was a Google account that was traced back to Larry
and that Google searches were recovered showing that he had searched for things like flower and hemlock, poisoning, what
is the best poison for a fast death, those sorts of things. However, the defense has countered basically saying
this wasn't what prosecution >> made it seem was making it out to be. >> Right. >> When investigators were first on this
case and they visited the Millete house, they did not consider it a crime scene,
right? They were investigating a missing person's case initially. >> Absolutely. And so, it wasn't for weeks
later that they determined that an investigation needed to begin and at that point, I mean, this was a couple
weeks after she had disappeared. >> Well, when 48 Hours first spoke to Maya's family, uh this is a few years
back, they were really outspoken and kind of frustrated about the police response. Um I know the police released
a statement in April of 2021 saying that they were keeping cards close to their chest because it was an active
investigation. >> And the fact there was no body. So, I think for them, they still had the idea
as well that it's possible she could potentially still be out there. But yeah, the family was very frustrated in
the beginning and that's when they turned to the media. Mary Chris, the sister, did numerous interviews with the
media trying to get her sister's story out there and trying to really put pressure on the police to really focus
on this investigation. >> Yeah, and I mean, police did not formally search the Miliete house until
January 23rd. It's more than 2 weeks after Maya disappeared. When they did, they seized two Glock handguns, a rifle,
and a shotgun. Additionally, in May of 2021, police served Larry with a gun violence restraining order. Per the
order, Larry was to surrender his firearms to law enforcement. He did not comply. And that meant that they could
then get a search warrant for the house. They seized more weapons once they got into the house. Additional unregistered
firearm as well, meaning that he, Larry, was also now in possession of an illegal
firearm. Gave police a little more leverage. Based on all of this information, all that was uncovered in
the investigation, law enforcement decided to move forward and arrest Larry. Um, when was he arrested?
>> Larry was arrested in October of 2021. So, obviously, several months after Maya
had disappeared. And the news conference that day is something I will never forget because Mary Chris, stood up
there in front of all of these reporters. And actually, it made me very emotional
that day. It It always gets me when I think about it now. She Her voice was shaking and she was just begging
people to to stand by her family. And so, she was really appealing to all of the people out there
to to help them with any tips, any any leads, anything like that because she said she wanted to keep that promise
to the children. >> Mhm. But still, there's no body. Right? Uh these are difficult cases.
>> Absolutely. A no body case, a very high burden for the prosecution to prove this. And I think that's the reason why
this trial is ex- pected to last 3 months. I mean, there's so much evidence they are putting out there. Their
opening statement alone nearly went on an entire day because they were laying out in the opening statement piece by
piece all the people that the jury was going to hear from, all of this evidence, all of these uh experts that
are going to be testifying. So, yes, it is going to be a very long trial. >> What do we know about the defense's
strategy at this point? >> The defense's strategy is we don't know what happened to Maya
Millete. There's lots of things that could have happened to Maya Millete, and they have really been
steering the jury toward the man that she was having an affair with. >> Mhm. >> They want to stir up that doubt in the
jury's mind that it's it's possible somebody else could have done this. At one point during
pre-trial motions, they were talking about somebody could have taken Maya, but it wasn't Larry.
>> Well, let's let's talk about this. And let's talk about the man that she was having an affair with.
>> Well, according to the defense, she had created this Instagram account, kind of like this private, anonymous
Instagram account where she was basically talking to Jamie Laird on this account,
and also venting her frustrations about her marriage on this account as well. But according to defense, there was a
sexual relationship. There was a lot of graphic images and graphic photos shared
between the two of them. The defense made it clear this wasn't like they just met up a couple of times. This was
something that had been ongoing. So, the defense also points to Jamie's wife. His wife was pregnant and
actually his alibi for where he was the day Maya disappeared is he says he was at the
hospital with her because she was going into labor. >> Mhm. >> And so, the other thing the defense is
probably going to point out during testimony is that Jamie never reached out to Maya after she disappeared. Their
communication pretty much just ended on January 7th. And we learned through the prosecution this week that both Jamie
and his wife are expected to take the witness stand during this trial. >> Hm, that is interesting. Um, okay. So,
this trial is expected to last 3 months. Why so long? >> Well, they have a lot of circumstantial
evidence to get through. They have a lot of investigators who are going to testify. They have a lot of experts that
they're going to want to put up on the witness stand. We know from pre-trial motions that just the cell phone data
itself was kind of in question by the defense. And then there's a lot of family members to also get through who
are all testifying, a lot of friends. One of the biggest moments this week was that Maya's father was on
the witness stand. He was being questioned by prosecutors. He has a translator with him.
And that one moment he got up and had this just emotional outburst at Larry that he was crying and wailing and
screaming saying, "I loved my daughter. Why did you do this? Why did you do this?" And this went on for a while.
One of the defense attorneys left the courtroom crying. The judge cleared everybody out of the courtroom. The
defense tried to call for a mistrial, but the judge said no. The judge said to the jury,
"You can take into account the emotion behind what he said, but you must ignore the statements that he made." But I
think that there were a lot of people that were pretty shaken by what they saw. >> Yeah, you know, you don't want people to
have outbursts in court, but this family has waited so long for answers. They still don't know where Maya is, and
it's, you know, in many ways kind of a double loss for them. Maya is gone, um, but Larry was part of their family.
>> You know, and I've talked to legal experts about this who have made some pretty sad revelations that at the end
of the day, Maya's family just wants to bring her home. That is all they want. They want
to know where her body is. They want to bring her home. And sadly, legal experts
have said the chances that they're going to get that closure and find out exactly
where she is is extremely slim. I mean, if Larry is found not guilty, obviously,
then there's nothing for him to reveal to them. However, if if he is found guilty, this
would probably get tied up in the court system for a while. >> It's quite a case, Kelly.
And I know you'll be in the courtroom watching. This is a case of 48 Hours has been following for years, and we're
certainly going to continue to follow it as the trial unfolds. Kelly, I got to thank you so much for joining us and
taking some time out of your busy day to sit [music] down and talk with us. >> Thank you for having me.
>> I'm Anne-Marie Green. This is Case by Case from 48 Hours. We will be back next
week, and make sure that you let us know which case you are following in your podcast reviews and comments.

After years of waiting, Larry Millete’s murder trial is underway in San Diego. He is accused of killing his wife, Maya Millete, who disappeared in 2021. The first week has already delivered bombshell testimony. In this episode of "Case by Case", "48 Hours" correspondent Anne-Marie Green and CBS 8 San Diego reporter Kelly Hessedal break down the 2021 disappearance of Maya before diving into the stunning allegations laid out in court–including an alleged affair and emails with online spellcasters.

The cases everyone's talking about, explained as they happen. "Case by Case" is a weekly update on the biggest criminal stories unfolding now. New episodes every Friday, available wherever you watch or listen to podcasts. You can also get ad-free access to 48 Hours podcasts by subscribing to 48 Hours+ at 48HoursPodcasts.com.

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Brief Summary

Larry Millete is on trial for the murder of his wife Maya, who disappeared in 2021 amid marital strife and alleged spellcasting.

Key points

Maya's Disappearance. Maya Millete was last seen on January 7, 2021, and her body has never been found.
Maya's Divorce Plans. Maya confided in friends about wanting a divorce just days before her disappearance.
Larry's Spellcasting. Prosecutors allege Larry paid for spells to control Maya, revealing a dark side to their marriage.
Larry's Arrest. Larry was arrested in October 2021, months after Maya went missing, amid growing evidence against him.
Emotional Outburst in Court. A father cries out in anguish over his daughter's disappearance, shaking the courtroom.
Family's Desperate Search for Closure. Maya's family yearns for answers about her fate, but the future looks bleak.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Let me find my peace and I cannot find it with you.

Maya's letter to Larry about their toxic relationship.

0:30WatchMay 22, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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