It’s been nearly two years since three children in Chula Vista have seen or spoken with either of their parents. Their mother, Maya Millete, is missing and presumed dead. Their father, Larry Millete, is behind bars, facing a charge of first-degree murder in her disappearance. He’s pleaded not guilty.
Larry has been silent since his arrest in October of 2021 and hasn’t cooperated with police or prosecutors. In the wake of that silence, questions keep building:
- Where is Maya?
- If she was murdered, how? And when did that happen?
- Will prosecutors be able to convince a jury that a suburban father of three, with no adult criminal history, could make his wife vanish without a trace?
Nine months after Maya vanished, shortly after Larry’s arrest, investigative reporter Alexis Rivas requested an interview with Larry. That request went unanswered. But after a San Diego County Superior Court judge ruled Larry must stand trial for murder, a new attempt in July to speak with Larry proved successful.
Setting the ground rules for the interview
Over the course of four visits, which included two on-camera interviews, Larry Millete broke his silence to NBC 7 Investigates. Those interviews were conducted against the wishes of his defense attorney Bonita Martinez.
During the first two visits, NBC 7's team established ground rules for the interviews. Larry agreed that no questions would be off-limits.
I don’t even want to say anything. But the allegations are outrageous.
Larry Millete
Larry’s terms were unique. He told us he didn’t want his children to see their father in a jail uniform. He also believed that prosecutors would use video of his facial expressions and body language against him in the upcoming trial. So NBC 7 agreed to only show portions of Larry’s face and body.
The first interview was conducted in the regular visitation area, between thick glass. Larry and Alexis used a landline phone system to communicate. The second interview took place in a meeting room, with only open air between Larry and the NBC 7 Investigates team.
The San Diego Sheriff’s Department recorded all interviews and visits, which is standard protocol for public inmate visits.
Did you do it?
Throughout our sessions, Larry told us: The police have it all wrong.
“I know I have, I haven’t done anything,” Larry said.
Alexis: “I'm not coming here with a bias, but I do think the average person would have to believe in an extraordinary set of circumstances to believe you. Why should we?”
Larry: “Because it's [the] truth, and I don't know.”
Alexis: “Did something happen in the heat of the moment?”
Larry: “No comment.”
At first, Larry used the phrase “no comment” a lot, saying he didn’t want to jeopardize his defense at trial.
Larry: “I don’t even want to say anything. But the allegations are outrageous.”
Alexis: “Why would you say they’re outrageous?”
Larry: “Again: I just don’t want to go into detail, because then my words can be twisted.”
Alexis: “What was the last interaction you had with Maya before she vanished?”
Larry: “Um, I just don’t want to comment about that.”
Alexis: “So where do you think Maya is now?”
Larry: “Um, no comment. It’s just, I have speculations but it'll come out during the trial.”
Alexis: “I know you've told me. You think she's still alive, but is that still true?”
Larry: “Yes ma’am. But I'm kind of the guy that's like a pray for the best, prepare for the [worst].”
Alexis: “Something I keep coming back to, because I think, you know how, if Maya is still alive, how did she manage to leave your home without being seen? We have the surveillance video of the last time Maya’s seen coming home that afternoon. How is it possible for her to have left your home? Without any video, any evidence anyone's seeing her?”
Larry: “That will be coming out during the trial. There’s ways, but you don’t want to divulge that information because the DA could use this.”
Alexis: “Well, even if you can't explain how that is possible — how she leaves the home — if she's still alive, how do you explain no financial transactions? No cell phone activity? No evidence of life?”
Larry: “Again, that will come out during the trial. There's a, you know, speculation that the defense has, and I'll just leave that to the trial when that stuff comes out.”
After Maya vanished
Gallery: Evidence from the Larry Millete preliminary hearing
At 5:59 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2021, video surveillance from one of the Milletes’ neighbors captured the Millete family’s Lexus SUV pulling into the street and then backing into the garage. Prosecutors say this happened about six hours after Maya last used her cell phone.
Forty-five minutes later, with the sun coming up, video captured the SUV driving off with Larry and his youngest child inside. The SUV didn’t return to the house until 12 hours later, just after 6 p.m.
Alexis: “Where did you go for 12 hours with your cell phone turned off the day after Maya vanished?”
Larry: “Again: I'd rather not answer that question.”
During the preliminary hearing, a detective testified Larry told him that he took his son to Torrey Pines, but lifeguards told the police they didn’t remember seeing Larry or his son that day. And beach parking lot cameras didn’t spot the SUV.
Investigators say they downloaded data from the SUV’s computer. While it didn’t record the vehicle’s location throughout the day, detectives say someone entered the Millete’s home address into the vehicle navigation system at 3:29 p.m. That’s two and a half hours before Larry and his son returned home – suggesting they may have been driving home from someplace significantly farther than Torrey Pines.
Alexis: “So if you didn’t go there, where did you go?”
Larry: “Not true. I already explained where my son and I went. And the reasons why. So you know for them to try to argue that is just ridiculous.”
Alexis: “Well, why did you turn your phone off? Something detectives say you rarely did.”
Larry: “No. No. Trust me: During trial, that’ll come out. It’s not, it’s not that reason.”
It didn’t take long for Maya’s family to notice she was missing. During the preliminary hearing, her siblings testified that Larry acted like nothing was wrong, so they were the ones to call the police.
Alexis: “Why weren't you freaking out that weekend?”
Larry: “Again, um, people cope, you know, people react and cope in different ways. It's shocking. It's like a shock to the system. And some people freak out, some people stay calm. I just try to, again, keep my composure and try to think things through. And I'm thinking about more of my children. Hey, I don't want them being affected, freaking out. Maybe if I don't freak out, they're not going to freak out. You know?”
In January of 2021, it felt like all of Chula Vista stopped. Everyone was trying to find Maya. And it didn’t take long for people to notice who wasn’t part of public search events.
Alexis: “We have a huge file of video showing the hundreds of people that search for your wife, every weekend, off of hiking trails and open fields. For some moment, it kind of felt like all of San Diego County was searching for Maya. You weren't. Where were you?”
Larry: “Trust me. Um, the main reasons I didn’t go, where I was getting death threats from almost instantly. After, you know, the situation and we were doing our own thing, but it wasn't like in the limelight. You know, so again: I don't want to answer that question.”
Alexis: “If it was my boyfriend that went missing, I would lose my mind and I would be out there desperate to find him, and why don't I feel that from you?”
Larry: “I’m kinda … I shed tears in private, you know? Again, see, I didn't want to say that because I don't want to embarrass or humiliate our children because this stuff stays out there, and, you know, to hurt someone, they usually use your weaknesses against you.… So, you know, not just because I'm not weeping or crying in public, or on camera, doesn't mean that, you know, I'm not human and I, I don't have feelings, you know.”
A month after the disappearance, police say Larry stopped cooperating with their investigation.
Documents destroyed in the backyard
Four months after Maya vanished, a large fire in the Millete’s backyard caught another neighbor’s attention. District attorney investigator James Rhoades testified about what that neighbor witnessed.
“It was approximately 8 p.m. at night, and she felt her windows rattling, so she proceeded to go out into her backyard, and she could see a large fire … with a single male standing by a large fire pit and that she believed it was Larry Millete, and she described the fire as being something to burn stuff, not in a recreational sense,” Rhoades said on the stand.
What evidence can I burn? Then they've already been to, that was after the third search, second, or third, they did a fourth one, like a really another extensive search.
Larry Millete
Police say they later recovered a burned credit card and some papers. At the hearing, Rhoades suggested that Larry may have tried to destroy Maya’s belongings. But in our interview, Larry told us a different story.
“Ma'am. That's normal practice. If you ask my next-door neighbor and my other neighbors, I've been doing [this] since 2013,” Larry said.
Larry told us the family burned junk mail all the time. Not only that, he said the fire was well after police had already searched the Millete home multiple times.
“That wasn’t Maya’s card,” Larry told us. “That was basically one of those, um, you know, those junk mail credit cards…. What evidence can I burn? Then they've already been to, that was after the third search — second or third —they did a fourth one, like a really, another extensive search. So what else can I have burned?”
But in hindsight, Larry acknowledges the optics of how he acted after Maya disappeared left room for suspicion.
Alexis: “What would you do differently?”
Larry: “Maybe I should have been more, you know, um, involved. You know. But again, it was a surreal, shocking moment. You know, thinking, 'OK, maybe there's nothing wrong. Maybe I'm just overreacting.' ”
A complicated marriage
The prosecutors' evidence against Larry isn’t limited to what happened after Maya vanished. They presented even more material from the months before Maya was last seen alive.
Alexis: “What did you love about Maya?”
Larry: “Oh, she’s kind, beautiful, very intelligent. She’s been my best friend since we were 15. And, um, you know, we just get along…. You know, over 20 years together. I loved her and love her still.”
Larry and Maya were high school sweethearts and married when she was 18. He said he still hopes Maya will come back home.
“I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy, and if it takes 5, 10, 15 years, you know, I'd wait,” Larry told NBC 7.
But in court, family and friends – including Maya’s brother, Jay-R Tabalanza — testified the Milletes’ marriage was on thin ice.
“She didn’t want anything to do with him anymore,” Tabalanza said.
In fact, Maya and Larry separated for several weeks the year before she vanished. Jay-R’s wife, Genesis Tabalaza, testified that Maya told her Larry was prone to violent outbursts.
“She said that when Larry gets angry, he would punch the wall,” Genesis said.
Maya’s co-worker Kristeen Timmers said Maya revealed something even more foreboding.
“Through tears, she told me, ‘I’m afraid Larry will hurt the kids to hurt me,’ ” Timmers testified.
The hearing didn’t just reveal marital fighting. It exposed something Maya kept secret, even from her tight-knit family. District attorney investigator Matthew Grindley testified Maya had an affair with a married coworker named Jamey in the months before she vanished.
Betrayed. Again: Maya’s my best friend, and just seeing that stuff, I felt really betrayed. I couldn't believe it.
Larry Millete
“I first noted from Sept. 19, 2020, up through Jan. 7, 2021, May had communicated with [Jamey] almost on a daily basis,” Grindley said. “Based on the messaging it was sexual. It was also very emotional.”
Gallery: Maya's Instagram Messages
And months before she vanished, she secretly recorded an argument with Larry suggesting he knew about her infidelity.
Maya: “That’s enough for you to wish death on me all the time?”
Larry: Oh, that’s enough, that, you know that, you gradually had an affair since December. And he probably evenm whenever he got hired or whenever, and you got close to him, oh he’s cute and all that stuff. And you’re probably the one that hired him.”
Maya: “Every day you do this. Every day you do this.”
Larry: “You’re always like, 'Oh, it was a thing but, no, it was gradual. You guys — he was going for you already. He was going for you.”
Investigators testified Jamey and Maya ended the affair before she disappeared but remained close.
Detectives say the Milletes’ home surveillance camera captured the last known video of Maya Thursday afternoon, Jan. 7, 2021, after she came home from a car wash. This was ahead of the family’s weekend trip to Big Bear for her daughter’s birthday. That same afternoon, Maya called two law firms that handle divorce cases. During one of those calls, she spoke with Desteny Johnson, who handles intake calls at Broaden Law.
“To me, she was very excited,” Johnson testified. “She was so looking forward to the trip with her children, and she didn’t get to go.”
Alexis: “When is the first time you found out about [the divorce]?”
Larry: “The preliminary.”
Alexis: “How did you feel when you found out?”
Larry: “Betrayed. Again: Maya’s my best friend, and just seeing that stuff, I felt really betrayed. I couldn't believe it.”
But text messages shown at the preliminary hearing between Larry and his boss suggest he wasn’t entirely in the dark. Two days before Maya vanished, Larry texted, “She’s asking for a divorce again.” Then, on Jan. 7, Larry wrote, “I’m about to lose it.” Deputy district attorney Christy Bowles said that’s exactly what happened.
“They were never going to be divorced, and he made sure that that happened,” Bowles said.
Maya’s sister, Maricris Drouaillet, testified Maya expressed nervousness about the decision to separate from the father of her children.
“She said, ‘Get ready, I’m gonna file for divorce, and it’s gonna be messy,’” Maricris testified.
Alexis: “We heard days of testimony from your friends and family members saying this was a rocky marriage. You were fighting a lot. You had separated for some time. There’s infidelity on Maya’s part. Why didn’t you just let her go?”
Larry: “It’s just, you know. I don’t wanna … marriage is sacred. And you know I'm trying to keep our family together.”
The spellcasters
Larry resorted to sorcery in a last-ditch effort to block the divorce, according to prosecutors. They say the specific language in Larry’s requests to online spellcasters amounted to some of the most “compelling” and “unique state-of-mind evidence they’ve ever seen.”
At first, Larry’s spell requests centered around reigniting their marriage. Prosecutors presented them as exhibits. One from September of 2020 read, “Please help me. I want her to fall madly in love with me again.”
One day I was on the computer and say, 'Hey, you know, there's a spell for love, love spells,' so, you know, I tried it out, you know, I'm ... I believed in it.
Larry Millete
But by the end of December, Larry’s requests turned dark.
Gallery: Spellcasting requests
The night before Maya disappeared, prosecutors said, Larry typed this message to a spellcaster, “How much would it cost for a spell to get my wife to change her mind from divorcing me?”
The next morning, at 9 a.m., Larry reached out to another spellcaster, writing, “The divorce is going to happen whether I want it or not.”
Six hours later, at 3 p.m. the day Maya vanished, Larry wrote to yet another spellcaster, “I’m shaking inside ready to snap.”
Alexis: “We have to talk about spellcasters.”
Larry: “Yes, ma'am.”
Alexis: “You spent over a thousand dollars on spells in the months leading up to your wife's disappearance. And they increased not only in the number, they increased in requests for acts of violence, especially in the days leading up to what happened. Why would you ever ask a spellcaster to inflict harm on your wife?”
Larry: “No, ma'am, I’d rather not comment. It's, uh, not fully true.”
Alexis: “How did you even come to look for sorcery? Why did you turn to sorcery?”
Larry: “Initially it was, um, I was going through the internet, trying to go in any route to try to save my marriage, and, you know, I bought books. Love languages. Uh, even went to therapy, went to the pastor. Um, and then, one day I was on the computer and say, 'Hey, you know, there's a spell for love, love spells,' so, you know, I tried it out, you know. I'm, ... I believed in it, you know, like, OK or, 'Maybe I'll try it out, and that's when, you know, kind of started, but it was more about coping mechanism.”
In court, prosecutors highlighted a noticeable change in Larry’s spell requests. Two days after Maya disappeared, the day after Larry left the house for 12 hours, he asked a spellcaster, “Can you remove or stop hexing my wife may. Instead hex Jamey”
Alexis: “Can you see how that looks?
Larry: “Yes, I understand. But again, um, I have my reasons for, you know, doing that. You know, there's mixed emotions. And, uh, again they'll come out during the trial.”
A family torn apart
Jail has been Larry’s home for nearly two years.
“It’s easy to go insane in here,” Larry told NBC 7.
Larry: “It’s not just me in here. It’s actually our children, our family, our extended family.”
Alexis: “What’s your relationship with Maya’s family?”
Larry: “Right now, they’re estranged.”
Perhaps no one is more estranged than Maya’s sister, Maricris. She became the face of the family’s media campaign to find Maya.
“There’s ups and downs,” Maricris told reporters a month after the disappearance. “They break up, or you know, they have arguments and they try to reconcile for the sake of the kids.”
Initially, she told reporters Maya and Larry’s relationship wasn’t perfect, still, she couldn’t imagine Larry having anything to do with her sister’s disappearance. That changed after Larry’s arrest. And in court, she testified to chilling words from Maya.
“She said if something happens to me, it’s gonna be Larry,” Maricris said in court.
“If you noticed, I was actually very surprised,” Larry told us. “But Maricris was very hesitant. To even say it, she kind of paused and I knew why she was pausing because you know she was faced with a difficult decision to maybe make a false statement you know, committing perjury.”
Maricris was not alone. Maya’s sister-in-law, Genesis Tabalanza, also echoed Maricris’ words on the witness stand.
“She told me, stop answering Larry’s calls because anything that you say to him can be used against me,” Tabalanza said. “This is it. I’m going to file for divorce. And if something happens to me, it would be Larry.”
Larry: “I think, you know, a lot of [these] testimonies are coerced.”
Alexis: “Why would they coerce testimony? Why would they lie?”
Larry: “Because they already, basically, think in their minds they’re convinced that I had something to do with Maya’s disappearance or her being missing.”
Larry: “I'm thinking the day they all sit down together. And think of ways to hey…we all say this and we're [in] cahoots. You know, maybe we can get him on this or get him on that because I know I have I haven't done anything...If you get enough people to say something about you, then they can actually convince a juror or a judge to you know, put you away for the rest of your life.”
Alexis: “That's why perjury is a crime. It's a serious crime.”
NBC 7 Investigates reached out to Maricris to give her and Maya's family a chance to respond. She sent us this statement:
"I stand by what I have testified in court. John 8:32: 'Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' My parents, my siblings and I just want to bring Maya home. Please continue supporting us in our efforts in finding Maya! Also, we want to thank the community for the love and support they’ve shown and continue to give us. We truly appreciate everyone! God bless!"
We also spoke with Genesis Tabalanza, but she did not want to comment due to the pending legal case.
Maya and Larry’s three children have been under the care of Larry’s parents since his arrest. A custody trial is pending to determine whether they will stay with their grandparents, or move in with Maricris, who wants custody.
Every time we met with Larry, he talked at length about how much he misses his children. But we couldn’t help but notice that he hardly ever said Maya’s name.
“Because I never called her by that name,” Larry said. “I called her Mahal, which is, you know, my love. Only the special people in our life, like her father, her mother, siblings, a whole family. My mother, my father, my brother, my extended, some of my extended, only called her Maya.”
Larry never used the name “Mahal” during any of our interviews or in-person visits, with the exception of his response to our question about why he only ever referenced Maya as “wife” or “she.”
The murder trial ahead
As soon as this January, 12 San Diego County jurors must decide if Larry is guilty of murder in the first degree.
Alexis: “Will you take the stand in your own defense?”
Larry: “If I'm advised to. I'm not even sure if that's advisable, but I'm just going off what the, um, you know, the advice of counsel, because they're the professionals.”
Larry also faces a felony charge for illegal possession of an assault weapon. If convicted on all charges, he will spend 25 years to life in prison.
Alexis: “Would you take a plea deal?”
Larry: “I don't even know if any has been offered. To this point, whatever gets me to our family, you know, to ... so I can take care of our children again. You know, what's the quickest route for me to get back to taking care of our family?”
Alexis: “Even if that means pleading guilty?
Larry: “Guilty to what?”
Alexis: “To murder in the first degree.”
Larry: “I mean, that's, to me, that’s astonishing. It's like falsifying. Being coerced or falsifying admission, you know? Like admitting guilt falsely.”
On Monday, Oct. 2, Bonita Martinez told NBC 7 she no longer wishes to represent Larry Millete. Next week, a judge will determine next steps. Martinez cited money as the primary reason behind the end of their attorney-client relationship. In a July hearing, Larry told the judge he had run out of money to pay for his defense.
A judge recently approved the sale of the Milletes’ $1.3 million house in Chula Vista, but as of this report, the home is still off the market.
“Being in here takes a toll on you, especially mentally,” Larry told NBC 7. “It's difficult, being isolated.”
Larry is being held in what’s called administrative separation, which means he’s not with the general population. Deputies said this is common with high-profile inmates, for their safety.
The hardest part, said Larry, is not having phone or video visit privileges.
“I should have been used to it by now, but it's the main coping mechanism for inmates here,” Larry said.
Larry lost those privileges when a judge banned him from communicating with his children about a month after his arrest. The judge said Larry’s calls with his kids were inappropriate. For example, prosecutors say Larry asked two of them to watch a violent, R-rated film purportedly to understand what their father was experiencing in custody.
About a year ago, a judge granted Larry permission to communicate with his children through handwritten letters, which a court-appointed guardian reviews before they are delivered.
The lengthy delays in the legal process have also been hard on Maya's family.
“It's been too long, and it’s really, it’s very frustrating and heartbreaking,” Maricris said.
During a preliminary hearing full of incriminating and at times salacious testimony, Larry rarely seemed to express any emotion. It didn’t help that a face mask and headphones hid most of his face.
Alexis: “I think there is a perception of you, that is you’re cold, you're stoic, you're quite indifferent. What was running through your mind when you're sitting there and listening to people and police portray you as a murderer?”
Larry: “That's just how I was trained. Now, you know, in the service, we have this um, thing called the DRB, Disciplinary Review Board. And, basically you're taught to stand there at attention. With a thousand yards stare, just stand still during a professional proceedings…. It's difficult to keep your composure into professionalism, especially under these circumstances, but, um there were times actually, you know, I shed a little some tears but I moved away.…I also didn't want, you know, my children to be embarrassed or humiliated with a video of their father being weak.”
The house where his children grew up, and where prosecutors say he murdered his wife, will soon be sold. Proceeds will be divided up by a court-appointed conservator.
Alexis: “A lot of people paying a lot of attention to this case believe, without a doubt, you murdered your wife.”
Larry: “It’s just disheartening that people think that, because never, never, the narrative has been set a long time ago. Even from Day 1.”
Larry Millete's jailhouse notes for NBC 7 Investigates
Larry showed up to the first interview with several pages of notes. He said he couldn’t sleep the night before and spent his waking hours writing them. He allowed us to take photos of them to share his thoughts with the public.
As Larry counts down the days to his trial, Maya’s family counts the questions still unanswered. What really happened inside the Millete house the night of Jan. 7, 2021? And more than two and a half years later, why can’t anyone find Maya?
