{"id":394319,"date":"2026-07-11T03:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394319\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T03:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:23:20","slug":"larry-millete-guilty-of-murdering-wife-maya-millete-in-2021-nbc-7-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394319\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Millete guilty of murdering wife Maya Millete in 2021 \u2013 NBC 7 San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s Note: Recap updates on the verdict in the Larry Millete murder trial here.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Chula Vista jurors needed just five hours to find Larry Millete guilty on Thursday of murdering his wife, Maya, in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMaya Millete’s sister Maricris Drouaillet spoke at a news conference after jurors found Larry Millete guilty of the murder of his wife, Maya.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The first-degree murder verdict comes more than five years after the mother of three walked into her San Miguel Ranch home and was never seen or heard from again.<\/p>\n

As the verdict was read, bursts of sniffles and tears could be heard coming from Maya’s family, followed by many hugs. Maya’s family exited the courtroom first to cheers in the hallway. Meanwhile, Larry’s family sat still and in silence. Following the reading of the verdict, he leaned over to his attorneys and appeared to thank them. His eyes were red.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDeputy District Attorney Christy Bowles and Maya Millete’s sister Maricris Drouaillet speak at a news conference just after jurors found Larry Millete guilty of the murder of his wife, Maya.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Jurors had several options to choose from to find him guilty, which also included second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter. They opted for the most severe conviction, indicating that they believed that Maya\u2019s killing was premeditated.<\/p>\n

Judge Enrique Camarena will hand down a prison sentence that will lock Larry Millete up for a minimum of 25 years \u2013 though he very well could die behind bars if he\u2019s never granted parole. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled, though likely appeals in the cause could push that date back.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter five long years since Maya Millete went missing, her husband, Larry, was found guilty of 1st-degree murder.\u00a0NBC 7’s Jackie Crea was live from outside the courtroom with reaction from Maya’s friends and family.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A case based solely on circumstantial evidence<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJurors in the trial of Larry Millete needed only five hours of deliberation and one vote to find him guilty of first-degree murder.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Over the course of 25 days of testimony, the prosecution worked hard to leave no doubt in the minds of jurors that Maya was murdered by her husband, Larry. That case, based wholly on circumstantial evidence, didn’t provide verified information about when Maya died, how she died, or what happened to her body.<\/p>\n

Instead, deputy district attorney Christy Bowles laid out a roadmap of digital evidence and testimony that revealed Larry\u2019s desperation to save his marriage. Bowles said when he was no longer able to control Maya, he turned to online spellcasters, subliminal messages, and digital tracking.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said another key component of Larry\u2019s spiralling behaviors was an affair between Maya and a coworker. Many of those sordid details were revealed for the first time during the trial, including evidence that Maya opted to terminate a pregnancy that resulted from that affair.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNot long after the jury\u2019s swift guilty verdict in the Larry Millete murder trial, NBC 7\u2019s Alexis Rivas spoke outside the courtroom with one of the jurors about the decision.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bowles said Larry\u2019s desperation reached its limit on January 7, 2021, when Maya told him in no uncertain terms that she would be filing for divorce. Jurors were shown emails and text messages in Larry\u2019s own words from that day where he said, \u201cI\u2019m shaking inside and ready to snap,\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m about to lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though neighborhood surveillance cameras recorded Maya entering her home that evening, none left evidence of her leaving. In their only testimony offering an answer to that puzzle, Larry\u2019s defense attorneys said that was because Maya left the home of her own accord, taking a route that avoided being captured on more than a half dozen cameras.<\/p>\n

They said that route involved scaling the family\u2019s backyard fence, navigating down a drainage ditch, then hiking along a mountain trail to any number of neighborhood exits. The defense didn\u2019t provide any testimony for Larry\u2019s whereabouts the day after Maya was seen alive.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors highlighted evidence of a 12-hour gap for Larry on January 8, 2021. They said his phone went dark for that span of time and his SUV had more than 400 unaccounted-for miles.<\/p>\n

They said those numbers led them to believe he\u2019d traveled to a desert area he was familiar with along the California-Arizona border. In a still-unknown spot, they said he disposed of Maya\u2019s body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Larry opted not to take the stand in his own defense. That\u2019s despite two jailhouse interviews with NBC 7 Investigates where he repeatedly dodged questions about his whereabouts, telling us he couldn\u2019t wait to share his story during the trial.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNot long after a guilty verdict had been reached in the Larry Millete murder trial, NBC 7’s Mark Mullen and Monica Dean spoke to defense attorney Marc Carlos for insight on the case. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLoved ones of Maya Millete shared their thoughts after the jury’s guilty verdict. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada has their reaction.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor’s Note: Recap updates on the verdict in the Larry Millete murder trial here. Chula Vista jurors needed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64525,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-394319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-maya-millete","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}