Larry Millete's murder trial ends in guilty conviction, but Maya's family continues search for her r

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: While today's verdict is significant May is still missing. We continue to hope that one day she will be found so her family can lay her to rest with the [00:00:29] Speaker 2: dignity she deserves. That breaking news out of Chula Vista where more than five years after Maya Miliete was last seen alive, a jury has found her husband, Larry, guilty of her murder. Good evening and thank you for joining us. I'm Carlo Cicchetto. I'm Stephanie [00:00:44] Speaker 3: Simmons in tonight for Marcella Lee. The verdict came down about two and a half hours ago following nearly eight weeks of trial. We have team coverage from outside the South Bay Courthouse for you. News 8 Abby Black and Jenny Day are standing by with what prosecutors and some jurors are saying about [00:01:00] Speaker 2: the case. But we start with Kelly Hesedal who was there today as the verdict was revealed. Kelly. [00:01:06] Speaker 4: That's right, you know, and it has been a stunning day here at the courthouse. This trial nearly eight weeks long and it took the jury around six hours to reach a verdict. So when that when it was announced that the jury had reached a verdict, everybody rushed inside of the courtroom. It was kind of madness for a little while. People packed inside the courtroom, people packed inside an overflow room. There was like 60 or some people inside there, many of them wearing green, which is Maya's favorite color. So people were just holding their breaths almost waiting for that verdict to come down. And when it was announced that Larry Miliete has been found guilty of first degree murder, it was like everybody exhaled this sigh and people were just hugging each other. They were crying. Everyone ran upstairs to the main courtroom where Maya's family, Mary Chris and her husband were and they waited outside. When they exited the courtroom, everyone just started hugging again, cheering. I was told that Mary Chris, when she heard that verdict, she kind of leaned over and she was sobbing. She was kind of hunched over and her husband Richard was rubbing her back. So this has been just an unbelievable day here at the courthouse. You can just imagine the flood of emotions that are going through Mary Chris's family right now. But we did hear from Mary Chris shortly after that verdict came down. Take a listen to some of what she [00:02:25] Speaker 5: said. Justice probably have been served today, but we still have my sister out there. We still have the second second step to go through. We still have to bring my sister home to bring her to her three children. That's been waiting for her for five years and we still ask the public for help. Maybe, you know, one of these days we can bring her home. [00:02:57] Speaker 4: And you just feel for her and her family and just really what they've gone through this past five years has certainly been a nightmare. We do have some video, though, of Mary Chris and Richard leaving the courthouse. So they were surrounded by a crowd of people, several cameras. The bailiffs were there, kind of trying to maintain the crowd and make sure that traffic didn't get involved or anything like that. But yeah, such an emotional day here at court. They've been here, though, every step of the legal proceedings. They've been here in the courtroom every day for this nearly eight-week trial sitting there in the front row. Typically, Mary Chris is sitting in the middle with Richard sitting there with his arm around here. And they've had to listen to some pretty painful testimony. They've had to listen and relive all of, you know, the heartbreak that they've had over the past five years, all the searches for Maya, all of the testimony just about what was going on in her life at the time, those journal entries. And I imagine some of the testimony they had heard were things that they had never heard before. So you just feel for this family and what they've been going through. And you know, as Mary Chris mentioned there in that soundbite, they want to find Maya's body. That is the second part of this chapter. Like, they have to find Maya's body and bring her home to help give her family some closure and certainly for her children's sake. The children now live with Mary Chris's family. It's tough to think about what today would be like for them. I know the oldest is 15 years old, so she's been on social media and has seen some of the things that have been said. But you just feel for this family and you just think about the tough conversations that they're going to be having going forward. Now, as for Larry, if anyone's wondering, you know, what his reaction was in the courtroom when this verdict came down, I'm told he kind of had this expression on his face, like his eyebrows were kind of raised, like he was holding back tears, perhaps. And I was told at one point it looked like his face had gotten very red and he kind of turned to the side and someone said that they did see a tear rolling down his cheek. So certainly a tough day for his family as well today. But definitely all the supporters of Maya, Maya's family here, [00:04:57] Speaker 2: it's been such a big day for them. The story is not completely finished, but this chapter is [00:05:03] Speaker 3: certainly closed. Yes. All right. News 8's Jenny Day also spent time in court throughout the week's [00:05:08] Speaker 2: long trial. She continues our coverage now sharing what jurors are telling her about that case. Jenny. [00:05:12] Speaker 6: Yeah, so no doubt emotional for Maya's family, even Larry's family, if you will, and certainly the jurors as well. We spoke to several of them and they said that it was just heavy. Their hearts were beating out of their chest, but they also felt really confident. They chose a jury foreman just yesterday following closing arguments. And then within less than six hours, we have a verdict. Again, first degree murder, premeditated. They all believe that Larry planned Maya's death back in January, January 7th of 2021. Larry, by the way, has been in custody since October and is now facing 25 years to life. The jury consisted of seven women and five men. They tell me that they started by going around the room. They timed each other three minutes saying, all right, what stood out to you the most? You know, what, what can you not argue here? And then they said they took a vote privately on paper. And just like that, and unanimously, almost immediately, all of them were in favor of the stiffest, the stiffest charge in this case. They all agree that Maya would have never left her family, a beautiful mom of three. The prosecution went on and on about her plans for the future and the life that she wanted. So much has been centered around her having a divorce. In this case, the jurors said that they thought nothing of that. It was Maya, just her last effort to get out of her marriage. They'd been together 20 years. So again, both of these families together in court has been tense. But they said that there was just too much circumstantial evidence, one after the other 12 hours being gone the day after Maya disappeared, Larry turning his cell phone off when it was still at more than 80% battery, 444 miles on the car that could not be accounted for. And the prosecution, they even admit they do not know how Maya died. They've pointed to loud bangs heard on neighborhood surveillance video pointing to possibly gunshots. There was no blood found in the home, though. And so maybe she was strangled. They also say that there was a small vial of hemlock. It's a poisonous plant that is found here in San Diego County, and they found that in the Millete home. This is Larry had also done searches on this plant. The defense tried to say, well, maybe one of the kids just innocently put it in a jar. But again, jurors said that there was just too, too much circumstantial evidence in this case. Here's what one juror had to say. [00:07:55] Speaker 7: I think he's a master manipulator. I think he's very good at what he does. And I think that he may have thought that he could get away with this, too. If Larry had been at work on the 8th, and he said he was, but he wasn't. If Larry hadn't disappeared for almost 12 hours, which he was unaccounted for. If his phone would have been on, those are the things. If he hadn't repositioned the vehicle and left it around 6:30 in the morning. And so those were things that just couldn't get around the means, the motive and the opportunity. And I understand. Again, it is a rare nobody case, [00:08:35] Speaker 6: but prosecutors actually pointed to that being a reason to convict him of first degree murder because they say he planned it so well and should not be rewarded for successfully burying a body. Now the jurors did not have to agree. Again, they could have thought different things happened to Maya, but they did all agree that Larry was responsible and they do believe that that video surveillance that we have of him moving the car, repositioning the car around six o'clock the next morning after she disappeared again, being gone 12 hours, they do believe that Larry is loading Maya's body into the car, either in a suitcase, a cooler, and that they believe her body was dumped in the desert. Their family had been familiar with the Glamis kind of Blythe court site area near Yuma and the Colorado River. And they sadly do believe that is where Maya's body is buried. Again, just too much circumstantial evidence. The jurors actually were able to consider lesser charges, second degree murder, even involuntary manslaughter, or maybe he accidentally gave her that poison. And no, we have a unanimous decision. Again, just less than six hours of jury deliberations. They were given the definition of reasonable doubt, told to stick to the facts, not bring emotion or personal bias into this. The defense also really driving home the point that you are being asked to make a permanent decision about a stranger's life. You cannot have any regrets in this. And again, that juror who we spoke to say that they all felt confident. This is a case that has just gripped our community. So a lot of emotion today. And again, we do finally have a verdict five years and six months [00:10:14] Speaker 2: after Maya went missing. Jenny Day reporting for us. Great recap there. Thanks, Jenny. And the verdict is, of course, a big win for prosecutors who had an uphill battle in proving [00:10:25] Speaker 3: murder without a body. News 8's Abby Black joins us now with what the prosecution team is saying about [00:10:30] Speaker 8: this tonight. Abby. Stephanie and Carlo, you know, when you talk to the prosecutor, they've been laying out this case over the last eight weeks, but they've been working on this case for years because Larry Miliete was arrested in October of 2021. And that's how long they've been working on this case. And when you talk to these jurors, I was the first to talk to juror number three and then juror number four as well. And they share the same sentiments of why they convicted Larry Miliete of first degree murder despite nobody being found. They tell us that there is this overwhelming evidence that a lot of it is a circumstantial. So the prosecution had an uphill battle, but they said it was crystal clear. They deliberated for a full day or about six and a half hours per se. And they said that they only took one vote and each juror agreed. They agreed they voted unanimously to convict Larry Miliete of first degree murder. And this is the case that the prosecution had to lay out over the last eight weeks. They say that Larry Miliete killed Maya, his wife, after learning that she planned to leave their marriage. And they described this relationship as abusive, controlling and toxic. They also relied heavily on digital evidence, including searches for date rape drugs and wife training messages. Larry's communication with online spell casters, phone records and surveillance showing that Maya went into the home and never came out. And one major part of the state's case was the timing. And that's what one juror tells me. You know, she explains that she is exhausted and ready to go home. But they knew exactly that it was Marilyn Miller, Larry Miliete who killed his wife. And I said, but there was no body found. How were you guys able to come to this agreement? And she explains why. [00:12:15] Speaker 9: That that he was gone that those 11 hours, 20 minutes that nobody knew where he was. That was part of it. The hemlock. There was a lot, a lot of evidence. [00:12:39] Speaker 8: And as you can imagine how heavy and deep this is for the family and for the prosecutors, the jury as well. They've sat on this jury for eight weeks now. They say they are exhausted, they're ready to go home, but they know that they did the right thing here. And the prosecutor, I talked to Christie Bowles, the deputy DA, and we interviewed her after this trial. And you could just see that she, you know, is so relieved, but relieved for the family. And although today may be victorious and finding a guilty plea, she knows that the family is still hurting, that Maya's body still needs to be found. But she says that justice was served today. [00:13:17] Speaker 3: All right, Abby, thank you. And we've been following this case since the very first week of [00:13:21] Speaker 2: Maya's disappearance. Former News 8 investigative reporter David Goffin was our first reporter on the case only days after Maya was last seen. Joining us now for more on how we got here. And David, you wanted to talk about the defense and the case they presented to jurors that didn't really take root. [00:13:38] Speaker 10: They basically told the jurors that there was no body, no weapon, and you can't prove she's dead. But there was other questions like, how did she get out of the house? And they suggested she could have jumped over a wrought iron fence in the backyard and left the house, left her kids. And it wasn't, just wasn't reasonable in the eyes of the jury because her Jeep was parked out front. So why would she try to avoid surveillance cameras, maybe jump out the back fence and not get in her car and never see her kids again and never use her credit cards again. So then the other theory was that she was having an affair. We learned that in the trial and that maybe the lover Jamie Laird had something to do with it. Well, Jamie Laird's wife was giving birth on the day that Maya Milete disappeared and he had an alibi. He was in the hospital watching his child be born. So maybe that's not a very good, you know, thing to pitch to the jury. They just didn't believe it. There's a number of other things that the prosecution pointed out. When he first got back from this 12-hour trip from the, you know, from the desert, he initially told one of Maya's brothers that he just got back from work and then he changed his story to, oh, I went to the beach with my four-year-old son and there was also searches on his computer for hemlock, fatal amount of sleeping pills, carbon monoxide, rohypnol, a lot of circumstantial evidence. So yeah, there was no body, but the circumstantial evidence only pointed to one reasonable thing and [00:15:23] Speaker 3: that was first degree murder by Larry. Yeah, the digital trail played a huge factor in all of this. Now, leading up to the verdict, you had spoken with Larry several times. Do you personally think his behavior was odd in your mind now that we have this verdict? Well, when I spoke to him, [00:15:41] Speaker 10: I don't think his behavior was odd. He was very even keeled, never got upset, never talked about the facts of the case. But I did pitch to him, is this case going to settle and not go to trial? Because if it settles and maybe, you know, you show them where the body is, you could get 10 years off your sentence. And I've confirmed this with legal experts, that that was a possibility. If they lowered it to second degree murder, he could have gotten 10 years off of his sentence. But now that he's been convicted, he's locked in at 25 years to life. But what was his reaction to you telling him he could get those ears off? He wouldn't talk about facts of the case. And he was just stoic and silent and just looked at me. We were talking between a piece of glass at jail and talking on the phone. [00:16:36] Speaker 3: Okay, you retired before this trial started, but you were following it the whole way. So in your mind, who was the most compelling witness? [00:16:46] Speaker 10: It's hard to say. I think some of the witness testimony about him turning off his phone and the missing miles on the vehicle, 440 missing miles on the vehicle and him turning off the phone. And at one point he told one of the family members that his phone had died when he when he when he came back. But he had 87% charge on his phone when it turned off. And so 440 missing miles on his Lexus. It kind of points, according to the prosecution, to the Blythe, California area. But it's anybody's guess, really, where the body is. And the family is still really desperate, of course, to find her body. [00:17:31] Speaker 2: And jurors found a couple of defense witnesses not to be particularly credible. David Gofferson, thanks for joining us. You were on this less than a week after Maya disappeared. Has to be an interesting feeling to see it come to this date. [00:17:43] Speaker 10: It does seem like justice has been served. Thanks, David. [00:17:47] Speaker 2: Our coverage continues in our next half hour with a breakdown of the case with legal experts. [00:17:51] Speaker 3: We'll also have extended coverage for you tonight at 7:00. And we're going to take a quick break right now and be right back with your microclimate forecast.