CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — NOTE: This page will be updated throughout the day.
10:18 a.m. — The prosecution called its first witness of the day, former Chula Vista police forensic specialist David Garber.
Garber, who now teaches at a police college in Canada, testified about the photos he took of the Millette home during the execution of a search warrant on Jan. 23, 2021.
In one of the more memorable photos shown to the jury, Gerber pointed to a sad face drawn in the dust atop of the piano. Also written on top of the piano was the word, “momy”—a misspelled version of the word “mommy.”
He did not say who drew the picture or wrote the word.
One of the photos Gerber took showed the search history from a computer in one of the children’s rooms dated Thursday, December 3.
Some of the search phrases included “how to mentally torture someone with words” and “psychological torture.”
He showed the jury a letter that Maya wrote to Larry dated Aug. 29, 2020. In it, she wrote that she is not herself anymore.
"I've turned into this bitter, angry person who is careless with her words. But that's what our marriage has turned me into, and I hate it," Maya wrote in a handwritten letter. "I want to be happy and happy is not with you."
She asked Larry to let her find her peace.
Judge Camarena reminded the jury that the letter is hearsay, but he has allowed it to be shown during the trial.
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10:05 a.m — Day 5 of the Larry Millete murder trial began with the cross-examination of the Chula Vista police officer who responded to a missing person’s report at the Millete home.
Homicide detective Ryan Culver was a patrol officer in 2021. He testified that on the night of Jan. 9, 2021, he went to the Millete home in Chula Vista to investigate a missing person’s report. The missing person was Maya Millete, Larry’s wife.
Larry, who was wearing a charcoal sweater with a light-colored collared shirt on Tuesday, is on trial for the murder of Maya. He has denied having anything to do with her disappearance.
Maya’s body has never been found.
Larry’s defense attorney pointed out that Larry voluntarily let police inside their home to search it. Maya’s sister and brother-in-law, Maricris and Richard Drouaillet, were also at the home. Larry and Maya’s three children were sleeping at the time.
Defense attorney Colby Ryan asked Culver if he found any evidence of foul play, in which he responded that he did not.
