It has been more than four years since Maya Millete was last seen alive and her heartbroken family is still no closer to the truth.
The mom-of-three vanished during the afternoon of January 7, 2021, after arriving home from work in Chula Vista, California.
Surveillance footage from a neighbor captured the last movements of a 39-year-old woman known as Maya. The video showed her parking her truck in the driveway, but there was no evidence of her leaving the home again.
Only her husband, Larry Millete, is believed to know what happened next.
Before she disappeared, Maya had sought advice from two divorce lawyers. She had also told her sister, Maricris Drouaillet, that the divorce proceedings were expected to be difficult. In a chilling conversation, Maya hinted that if anything were to happen to her, her husband Larry would be involved.
Further investigation revealed that Larry had been buying voodoo spells online in the months leading up to his wife’s disappearance. These spells were reportedly aimed at saving his marriage while also seeking to harm and immobilize Maya to prevent her from leaving him.
Prosecutors alleged that Larry killed Maya in a violent rage and disposed of her remains the following day in a still undetermined location.
Larry was arrested in October 2021 for first-degree murder, but his trial has been repeatedly delayed, which Drouaillet told the Daily Mail has been incredibly ‘tough to take’.
Meanwhile, Larry continues to deny any involvement in his wife’s death and has pleaded not guilty.
Maya Millete (right) went missing in January 2021 after investigators say her husband Larry (left) had sent hundreds of emails to ‘spellcasters’ to ‘hex’ his wife prior to her disappearance
A shrine made by Larry days before his wife Maya’s disappearance. Larry contends that his wife left him to start a new life
Adding to the family’s anguish, the trial – which was most recently slated for July – was delayed for a seventh time at the request of the defense, pushing it back to January 2026.
Drouaillet called the decision ‘heartbreaking’ and said she just wants to know where her sister is.
‘By the time the trial comes, if it’s not delayed again, it’s going to have been five years, and we still don’t have any answers or any closure for my sister, which is upsetting and frustrating.
‘My ultimate goal has been to find my sister and bring her home. I’m hoping Larry will tell us where she is and we will finally know what happened to her.’
Through tears, Drouaillet added: ‘He’s already in jail [awaiting trial], and I know justice will prevail, but we need that closure.
‘That’s the ultimate goal for everyone, for me, my sister’s children, the rest of the family and the people in the local community who have been supporting us since the beginning.
‘We will only get closure once we’ve brought my sister home.’
Prolonged heartache
The most recent trial postponement is in response to a mid-April request to delay until next spring by Larry’s attorney, Liann Sabatini, who cited unspecified health circumstances.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Enrique Camarena called the request ‘excessive,’ granting a six month delay instead.
Camarena told the courtroom it seemed like ‘there’s little or no urgency to move forward’.
‘There does come a point where delay no longer serves justice, but begins to erode it.’
Considering the ‘defense counsel’s health circumstances’ and the amount of evidence Larry’s team has had to review, he set the trial for January 21.
Drouaillet said she hopes this is the last time her family has to contend with the disappointment of another delay.
Maya’s sister, Maricris Drouaillet, claimed she eerily warned her: ‘If anything happens to me, it was Larry,’ days before she was seen for the last time
The couple’s three children are now in the custody of Maya’s sister, Maricris Drouaillet
Drouaillet was the one who called the police on the evening of Jan. 8, after her sister did not return her calls
Larry’s trial is not the only legal battle that has been consuming Drouaillet’s time since Maya’s tragic disappearance.
In August, Drouaillet was awarded custody of her sister’s three children – now 8, 13 and 15 years old – by a judge, following a lengthy custody battle with Larry’s parents.
The three kids had been living with their paternal grandparents before the custody ruling.
Drouaillet said the adjustment has been difficult for all involved, though she said a silver lining of the trial being delayed again is that it gives her more time to bond with her nieces and nephew, and allows them to prepare as a collective for the inevitable emotional storm awaiting them in the courtroom.
‘It’s been really tough, particularly at the beginning,’ admitted Drouaillet.
‘They had been told a lot of negative stuff about our side of the family, so it was really hard and very heartbreaking to see them so far away and distant with us in their emotions; they didn’t want to mingle or speak with us.
‘But we’ve overcome that now. They’ve been with us for eight months, and we have made a lot of progress. They’re mingling with the family, they’re telling us stories, and we’ve found stable footing.’
Since his arrest, Larry has had only limited contact with the children.
While the custody battle between Drouaillet and his parents was being settled, Larry was permitted to exchange letters with the kids, but only if those letters had first been reviewed by a court-appointed person.
After Drouaillet won custody last summer, Larry’s right to exchange letters was revoked.
However, it was discovered in March that Larry’s aunt had sent him a letter with secret messages from his children.
Maya was seen returning home on a neighbor’s surveillance camera just before 5pm. No footage exists of her ever leaving the home alive
Police and FBI agents are seen outside the Millete family home in Chula Vista
The couple’s home went up for sale in December 2024, nearly four years after Maya vanished, and later sold for $1.2 million
Larry and his aunt were then reprimanded in a March court hearing, and the judge modified the criminal protective order in place: Larry was no longer allowed to communicate with his children in any capacity, but would be allowed to speak with other family members via phone and video call.
Violating the terms of his modified protective order would result in further punishment against him and any willing accomplices, the judge said.
With Larry no longer able to access the children, Drouaillet said she can focus on creating a family environment that resembles some semblance of normalcy.
She added that they haven’t spent much time discussing the forthcoming trial, nor the heinous crimes their father is accused of.
‘They’re slowly bringing their walls down,’ said Drouaillet. ‘But I really don’t talk to them about the trial, because I feel I’m not the right person for that. They have a therapist who keeps them up to date on that.
‘When the time comes, and the time feels right, I will initiate that conversation, but I want to make sure I’m fully emotionally prepared, so I can be strong for them too.’
A tragic mystery
Drouaillet said it is ‘very heavy’ to realize her sister has been gone for more than four years with no trial, and that they still haven’t been able to lay Maya to rest.
It was Drouaillet who first reported her sister missing to police on January 9, 2017, after Maya failed to show up at her daughter’s birthday party.
Maya’s car was still parked in the driveway of her five-bedroom Chula Vista home, but all calls to her phone rang through to voicemail and all texts went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Drouaillet claimed, a relaxed Larry assured family members she would be home soon and offered myriad theories as to where she might be.
Drouaillet did not share her brother-in-law’s optimism that day.
She began organizing community searches in the Chula Vista neighborhood, but there was no trace of Maya.
Drouaillet’s concern was heightened by a conversation she had shared with Maya during a New Year’s Eve camping trip, a week before she disappeared.
She told the Daily Mail Maya had said her relationship with Larry, whom she’d been dating since high school, had reached a breaking point, and she could not bear to be with him any longer.
She also said Maya told her she was having an affair with one of her coworkers.
Maya allegedly warned Drouaillet her divorce was going to be contentious, adding: ‘If something happens to me, it’s going to be Larry.’
Police raided the Millete home on January 23 and seized an arsenal of weapons belonging to Larry, including two illegally-owned AR-15 rifles.
During their initial search, detectives found no evidence that Maya had left the home alive after returning from work on January 7.
Larry and Maya had been together since high school. Her sister said Maya had previously considered divorcing Larry but stayed with him for their children
Maya was romantically involved with a coworker at the time of her disappearance
An image is seen inside the Millete home, where prosecutors believe Maya was killed
The last activity from her cellphone came around 8.15pm., when Maya’s Facebook account contacted someone on Marketplace.
Surveillance footage captured by a neighboring home showed her children playing in the backyard at around 10pm.
Detectives said it seemed unusual for the children to be playing outside at that time as it was late and cold.
Then, at 5.59am the next day, Larry was seen on surveillance footage walking out of the home and backing his car into the garage.
He left the home 45 minutes later with his youngest child, then just four years old. He allegedly switched his cellphone off.
Larry didn’t return home until after 6 p.m.
He later told police he’d backed his car into the garage to load ice chests he’d prepared for a beach trip into the trunk.
Larry admitted he and Maya fought on the evening of Jan. 7, but denied harming her.
He also claimed his wife had gone ‘crazy’ and he had been trying to take care of her. Larry said he believed Maya had simply run off and abandoned her family, according to court records.
The theory never sat right with Drouaillet, who said her sister was a dedicated and doting mother who did everything for her children, including staying with Larry longer than she’d wanted to.
‘It was a complete lie,’ Drouaillet said during a previous interview. ‘Her family means the world to her, and her kids were her No. 1 priority.
‘She had tried to separate from Larry way before, but she decided to stay with him because of the children.’
Larry Millete was arrested in October 2021 and charged with first degree murder and illegal possession of an assault weapon
Authorities released this photo of Larry’s stash of weapons and four passports. They reported the haul included two illegally-owned AR-15 rifles
Voodoo spells and plot holes
Larry was arrested on Oct. 19, 2021, more than nine months after Maya’s disappearance.
Investigators reported discovering signs of foul play and believe she was murdered.
During pre-trial hearings in 2023, Larry denied knowing that Maya was planning to divorce him. But text messages from his phone along with recorded requests from spellcasters paint a different picture.
Prosecutors alleged that Larry had been purchasing spells online in the summer of 2020 while the couple was experiencing marital issues.
In one such transaction that September, Larry wrote to a ‘spellcaster’ online, asking for them to ‘Please help me. I want her to fall madly in love with me again.’
But as the fractures in their marriage allegedly deepened, Larry’s spell requests grew more sinister in nature, court documents state.
‘How much would it cost for a spell to get my wife to change her mind from divorcing me?’ he wrote to one spellcaster the night before she vanished.
The following morning, he wrote to another, saying, ‘The divorce is going to happen whether I want it or not.’
He then requested a spell, wishing harm on Maya: ‘Please punish Maya and incapacitate her enough so she can’t leave the house. It’s time to take the gloves off.’
In one exchange with a spellcaster, Larry texted an image of a shrine featuring a photo of him and Maya surrounded by candles and seemingly covered in blood. The texted photo was reviewed by authorities.
The search for Maya’s remains continues. Larry is convinced his wife is still alive
One of the spells requested by Larry Millete is seen above, asking for a hex that would dominate her
In a message to his boss on Jan. 5, 2021, Larry wrote, ‘She’s asking for divorce again.’
Two days later, on the day Maya is believed to have been killed, he wrote, ‘I’m about to lose it.’
Records show that Maya spoke with two divorce attorneys on the day of her disappearance.
In a 2023 jailhouse interview with NBC7, Larry admitted to turning to witchcraft to save his marriage, but he denied harming Maya.
‘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,’ he said.
‘Then, one day I was on the computer and said, “Hey, you know, there’s a spell for love, love spells,” so, you know, I tried it out.
‘I believed in it… [I thought] “Maybe I’ll try it out,”‘ But, he said, ‘it was more about a coping mechanism.’
Larry told NBC7 he believed his wife was still alive, but declined to specify where he thought she was.
Drouaillet, meanwhile, has accepted that something awful has happened to her sister, though she hasn’t given up hope of finding her.
She and members of the Find Maya Facebook page still hold virtual prayers for her return and conduct frequent searches, hoping the truth will soon be revealed.
Not a day goes by that she doesn’t think of her sister, Drouaillet said.
‘Every day, that’s our prayer: that she will be found and that we can bring her home.
‘I just hope someone, somewhere, somehow stumbles upon her, or that Larry finally tells us where she is.
‘I hope we don’t have to wait until January to find her, but I’m hopeful we will.’
