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A missing poster of May \u201cMaya\u201d Millete at the Mother Miguel Mountain Trailhead. She was last seen in January 2021.\u00a0(Kristian Carreon \/ U-T file)<\/p>\nAfter seven weeks of trial testimony from more than 60 witnesses, a Chula Vista Superior Court jury heard a prosecutor\u2019s closing argument Tuesday in the murder trial of Larry Millete, who stands accused of killing his wife, May \u201cMaya\u201d\u00a0Millete, who has been missing since January 2021.<\/p>\n
Millete\u2019s defense team is scheduled to give its closing argument to the jury Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
Deputy District Attorney Christy Bowles reminded the jury Tuesday that May\u00a0had big plans for 2021 and showed no signs of wanting to abandon her family, especially her three children.<\/p>\n
A missing poster of May \u201cMaya\u201d Millete at the Mother Miguel Mountain Trailhead. She was last seen in January 2021.\u00a0(Kristian Carreon \/ U-T file)<\/p>\n
\u201cMay Millete would not, could not, and did not leave her children,\u201d Bowles began her argument Tuesday in a packed courtroom.<\/p>\n
It was the same line she\u2019d used during opening statements in May, but Bowles said this time, jurors could reach the same conclusion since now they had heard all of the evidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have all the pieces you need,\u201d the prosecutor told the jurors. \u201cHe is guilty. The evidence is overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n
May, 39 at the time, was last seen in a neighbor\u2019s surveillance footage arriving at her Chula Vista home the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2021. Phone records showed she was messaging friends and searching the internet until later that evening, according to prosecutors. Bowles said her phone \u201cterminated\u201d \u2014 it was either shut down for good or destroyed \u2014 around 1:25 a.m. the next morning.<\/p>\n
She has not been seen or heard from since.<\/p>\n
Bowles told the jury that the reason May\u2019s body has not been found is because Millete disposed of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBodies do not hide themselves,\u201d Bowles told the jury, arguing the very fact that her body hasn\u2019t been found is more evidence that the killing was premeditated.<\/p>\n
Before the jury heard closing arguments Tuesday, Judge Enrique Camarena denied a defense motion to issue an order of acquittal. Defense attorneys Colby Ryan and Liann Sabatini argued outside the presence of the jury that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to secure a guilty verdict for any crime, much less first-degree murder.<\/p>\n
Camarena later instructed jurors that they could potentially convict Millete on lesser murder or manslaughter charges. He also instructed the jurors that in order to convict Millete on a first-degree murder charge, they didn\u2019t have to agree on a singular theory of how he carried out the murder.<\/p>\n
That could be key for the prosecutor, who must convince the jury of Millete\u2019s guilt without direct evidence of his wife\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
California law allows prosecutors to charge a person with murder when the victim is presumed dead and no body has been recovered. The county District Attorney\u2019s Office has prosecuted at least eight such cases dating back to 1997, according to an office spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Bowles ended her argument Tuesday telling the jury that there was a mountain of circumstantial evidence that all pointed to Millete as his wife\u2019s killer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what he did. You know why he did it. You just don\u2019t know how,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cBut the law does not reward a murderer just for successfully hiding a body.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her methodical closing argument, Bowles spent hours going over the circumstantial evidence that jurors heard during the trial, such as Millete\u2019s messages with \u201cspell-casters.\u201d<\/p>\n