A Phone Call, Then Silence
On January 7th, 2021, Maya Millete picked up her phone and dialed a divorce attorney in Chula Vista, California. She was thirty-nine years old, a Navy veteran, a financial analyst, and a mother of three children who meant everything to her.
That phone call was the last known contact Maya had with the outside world. After she hung up, her phone went silent. Her social media stopped. She simply vanished.
Her body has never been found. But what investigators discovered in her husband's email account would become the centerpiece of one of the most unusual murder prosecutions in recent California history — and it involves eleven hundred dollars in payments to online spell casters.
From Love Spells to Requests for Cancer
Larry Millete and Maya married in 2003. By 2020, the marriage was crumbling. Maya had confided in friends and family that she wanted out. Larry, according to prosecutors, couldn't accept that.
In December 2020, Larry began sending money to online spell casters — services that advertise hexes, love spells, and curses for paying customers. Between December 2020 and January 7th, 2021, he spent exactly $1,154.05 on these services.
The early requests were desperate but not violent. He asked for what he described as "a powerful love spell to bind my wife, May T. Millete, to me forever."
But as the weeks passed, the requests darkened. He started asking for spells that would cause physical harm. In one email, prosecutors say he wrote: "Please punish May and incapacitate her enough so she can't leave the house. It's time to take the gloves off."
He requested spells to cause "an accident to cripple or cause bodily harm." He asked spell casters to give someone cancer.
The spell casters themselves were running scams. Their services don't work. But prosecutors argue that's beside the point. These emails document something far more damning than magic — they document Larry Millete's mindset in the weeks before his wife disappeared. They show escalation. From love to control to violence.
The Timing That Prosecutors Cannot Ignore
The spell purchases continued through December and into the first week of January. Then on January 7th, 2021, they stopped completely.
That same day — January 7th — Maya called the divorce attorney. After that call, she was never seen or heard from again.
Two days later, on January 9th, Larry made one more request to a spell caster. This time, he asked them to remove any hexes from Maya and transfer them to the man he believed she was having an affair with.
Prosecutors point to that timing as evidence of consciousness of guilt. For weeks, Larry paid for spells to harm his wife. Then she disappeared. Two days later, he wanted those curses redirected — as if there was no longer any point in harming her. As if she was already beyond any spell's reach.
Five Years of Silence From a Devoted Mother
The defense is expected to argue that Maya could have left voluntarily. Maybe she ran away. Maybe she started a new life somewhere. Maybe she's still alive.
But prosecutors counter with a question that cuts through speculation: if Maya is alive, why hasn't she contacted her three children in five years?
Maya wasn't a woman with a troubled relationship with her kids. Everyone who knew her described a devoted mother whose children were central to her life. Five years have passed. No birthday calls. No Christmas messages. No sign she's watching over them from anywhere.
In August 2024, Maya's sister was granted legal custody of the three children — a significant development as the trial approached.
Maya's family reported her missing within days of her disappearance. Her sisters organized search parties, hired private investigators, and went to the media. They refused to let Maya become another statistic. That sustained pressure kept investigators accountable and kept the public watching.
A No-Body Murder Case Goes to Trial
Larry Millete was arrested in October 2021, nine months after Maya vanished. He was charged with her murder despite the absence of physical evidence — no body, no confirmed crime scene, no forensic proof of how Maya died.
This is what prosecutors call a no-body murder case, among the most difficult to prove. The prosecution must convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt of two things: that Maya is actually dead, and that Larry killed her.
The murder trial is scheduled to begin on March 9th, 2026, and is expected to last approximately three months. When it begins, those spell caster emails will likely take center stage.
Larry Millete has pleaded not guilty. He is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
But the pattern remains. The escalating emails. The precise timing. The five years of silence from a devoted mother. The curses transferred away from her two days after she disappeared.
All of it circumstantial. None of it physical. But sometimes, the pattern tells the story louder than any fingerprint.
Somewhere, Maya Millete — a mother, a veteran, a woman who wanted to start her life over — remains missing. Her family lights candles every January 7th. They hold vigils. They refuse to forget.
And soon, they will sit in a San Diego courtroom, waiting for justice.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-799-7233.
