UPDATE: A jury has found Larry Millete guilty of murder in the first degree. Millete was accused of murdering his wife, Maya, who vanished in 2021.
The moment the verdict was read, Maya's family could be seen crying and hugging in the courtroom.
CHULA VISTA (CNS) - A verdict has been reached in the murder trial of Larry Millete, the Chula Vista man charged with killing his wife, who vanished without a trace more than five years ago.
Millete, 44, is charged with murdering his wife of 20 years, May "Maya" Millete, who has not been seen or 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.
Prosecutors allege Larry killed his wife in their home because she sought a divorce, 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 May Millete died, she argued Larry was the only person with the means and motive 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 May's whereabouts, controlling her finances and ultimately soliciting the assistance of "spell casters" he believed could magically influence May to give up her plans for divorce.
The requests to spell casters evolved over the months leading to May's disappearance from seeking 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 May's disappearance.
The prosecutor also sought to dispel the notion that May voluntarily vanished, noting May's plans for the coming year and her devotion to her three children.
Defense attorney Liann Sabatini said in her closing arguments that Larry's behavior was colored by May's ongoing affair with a co-worker and that his conduct that was being classified as stalking was actually Larry conducting a "tragic investigation" in which he was trying to confirm whether May was cheating.
Sabatini argued Larry was being psychologically abused and "gaslit" by May, 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 May's disappearance was criminal and "so well-planned that it is nothing other than premeditation."
Though Bowles said she could not articulate the exact method of death, the presence of poison hemlock in the home has been referenced as a potential method. The contents of a vial found inside the Millete home following his arrest tested positive for coniine -- a poisonous compound found in poison hemlock -- and Larry had searched numerous times for poison 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 May'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 May entering the family's home at around 4:45 p.m. Jan. 7, but no video footage has captured 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, then 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 that evening.
Larry Millete faces up to 25 years to life in state prison if convicted of May's murder.
