Larry Millete trial opens in Maya Millete disappearance case

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said a South Bay jury found Larry Millete guilty of first-degree murder on July 9, 2026, after a seven-week trial and one day of deliberation. The conviction came in a no-body murder case built around the disappearance of his wife, Maya Millete, whose remains were never found.

Maya Millete, 39, was last seen on Jan. 7, 2021, at the family’s Chula Vista home. Larry Millete was arrested on Oct. 19, 2021, after a nine-month investigation, and CBS 8 later reported that he had been incarcerated since October 2021 while awaiting trial. The case quickly grew into one of San Diego County’s most closely watched disappearances because prosecutors had to prove homicide without a recovered body.

The evidence at trial centered on the state of the marriage and the digital trail left behind. FOX 5 San Diego reported that Larry Millete sent an email to a spellcaster saying he had caught Maya cheating on him and suggesting she had not filed for divorce because of his suspicions. Local trial coverage also described messages showing Larry paid for spellcasting services against his wife, along with testimony about alleged control and marital conflict.

Prosecutors also presented references to poison hemlock and other digital evidence that helped reconstruct the months before Maya vanished. Those details mattered because the case depended on circumstantial proof, not a body or a traditional crime-scene recovery. Investigators focused on communications, payments and relationship history to show what happened inside the marriage before Maya disappeared.

The verdict closed a case that had drawn sustained attention from local San Diego stations and national true-crime programs over several years. For prosecutors, the Millete trial showed how a homicide case can be built from phones, emails and pattern evidence when a missing-person report starts inside a home and never leads to a recovery.