Case by Case | Courtroom Gets Emotional During Larry Millete Murder Trial

0:03Hello and welcome to Case by Case. I'm 48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant and this week we're continuing our coverage of the riveting Larry Miliete murder trial. He is accused of murdering his wife and mother to their three children, Maya Miliete. Maya was last seen at their Chula Vista home in January of 2021. Her body has never been found. This week, big news out of the trial, with claims that Larry made reference to hiring a hitman to kill not his wife, but the man Maya was having an affair with, Jamie Laird. This was after testimony about Larry emailing spellcasters about Maya and then Jamie.

0:51Now, that's a first for me, mailing people who could cast spells. In these initial few weeks of trial, we have heard from a wide range of witnesses, from family to law enforcement. The prosecution has painted a portrait of an unraveling marriage, a controlling husband, a wife desperate to leave, and a trail of digital evidence that they say points to Larry's guilt. However, the defense claims this is a case of tunnel vision. They argue that police zeroed in on Larry from the start of their criminal investigation, making key oversights. They also have questioned why there hasn't been more of a focus on Jamie Laird.

1:37And with me to break down all of this testimony is CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman. Katrina, welcome. Thanks for having me. Now, I just wanted to start off by saying that we did cover the first week of this trial. So if you want to revisit that coverage, check out our case-by-case podcast feed and 48 Hours YouTube channel. This case has generated a lot of attention so far without even cameras being allowed in the courtroom. This is such a compelling story. It's about this young woman, a mother with a bright future, who just disappeared. And it has all of these intriguing elements. We have casting spells.

2:20There's an affair. There's this allegation of attempted murder for hire and the fact that no body was ever found here. So on a human level, it's such a tragic story. And legally speaking, it's quite complicated. This is one of those cases, Katrina, where we at 48 Hours often say it's like a screenwriter put this together. It really is like a movie, this case. And Katrina, could you give us just a brief recap before we get into what has been unfolding over these past two weeks? Maya and Larry Miliete, they both worked for the U.S. Navy. Maya, or she was known as May by her friends, she was 39 years old when she disappeared in January of 2021.

3:03In July, her husband Larry, that's when he became a person of interest in this case. And in October of that same year, he was arrested. But the reason it's taken so long to actually get to trial is that a lot happened. There were multiple attorneys. There was a mental competency evaluation for Larry. And that's something that they do to make sure that a defendant is actually mentally fit to stand trial. The defense, they also tried to remove the prosecutor from the case. And now, five years later, we are in court. Prosecution is arguing Larry killed her because of an obsession that grew during this deteriorating relationship.

3:44relationship. Exactly. And from opening statements, what the defense is trying to argue is that actually there's no evidence that Maya is dead. And even if she is dead, maybe someone else is responsible for that. So now let's get into new updates from the courtroom. So last week, we heard from Chula Vista PD detectives who investigated this case. First up was police officer Ryan Culver. Culver was among the officers who responded to the Miliete home in January 2021, right after Maya's sister, Mary Chris, called 911 to report her missing. What are the biggest takeaways from his testimony? Well, Culver was asked by the prosecution to recount his first search of the home, according to reports from local news outlets who were inside the courtroom that day.

4:37What he said he was looking for is any evidence that indicated Maya might have left on her own. So like a plane ticket, something that indicated that she departed on her own volition. How does the defense in their cross-examination challenge the prosecution's narrative? So what the defense attorneys highlighted is that Larry Miliete, when they wanted to do the search, he was fully cooperative. He didn't argue with the officers. He let them search throughout the house, and they really emphasized what the officers did not find during that search. They pointed out that the officers looked for a couple of hours.

5:16They went through every room, including the garage, and there were no signs of foul play. So nothing was broken. The curtains weren't torn down, and there weren't any signs of a struggle. This all goes towards casting doubt on the idea that Larry could have committed this crime. And we have to remember the burden is always on the prosecution here. They're the ones who have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Larry killed Maya. Next, the prosecution called to the stand forensic specialist David Garber. He talked about what he found in Larry's car. Tell us about that, Katrina. So this is a black Lexus, and it's the same car that Larry actually took for a long drive.

6:00This was on the day following Maya's disappearance. But what Garber talked about in court was they found spots of fluid in the car. Some were on a cargo mat. And when investigators tested those, they test with this formula. It's called Blue Star. And it can reveal if there are any bloodstains that have been cleaned up. What they determined is that there was a spot on the mat that could potentially be blood. But importantly, the defense argued that there needed to be further testing in order to confirm what the fluids were. Garber also talked about streaking he found on the sidewalls of the car.

6:38He said it appeared a liquid had been used to wipe the cargo area of the SUV. Later in the trial, a former Chula Vista police officer called the car exceptionally clean, leading her to believe the vehicle was cleaned recently. Is that significant, Katrina? I mean, it does raise questions. Why was this car so clean? But Garber noted that it wasn't enough to constitute a crime scene. But what he did say that I found so striking was he talked about a search history that officers found on one of the devices that was in the Miliette's house. And, Peter, the searches included, quote, how to mentally torture someone and, quote, psychological torture.

7:23And digital evidence in this case has been significant from text to search history and Larry's emails to these spellcasters. Absolutely. And those emails to spellcasters were so notable. But what investigators talked about is that Larry was closely tracking Maya's whereabouts. He tracked when she went to Walmart. He tracked when she had lunch with friends. and he was especially always trying to keep track of where she was when he was not able to reach her. So while Larry was writing these emails about his wife's comings and goings and keeping this log, it appears that Maya was also writing something for Larry, a physical letter that, according to local news reports, was found in a notebook in the master bedroom.

8:13And Katrina, I have a copy of this emotional letter. I just wanted to read a portion of it and get your thoughts. It says, I've been gone mentally and emotionally for a very long time, which you failed to notice until I found the strength to initiate physically leaving. I read this and I thought, maybe you'd consider it. The ego says, once everything falls into place, I'll find peace. The Spirit says, find peace and everything will fall into place. Let me find my peace. I cannot find it with you. Maya. What do you think, Katrina? It's so moving to hear these words that she left behind. And legally speaking, it gives us a window into her state of mind in the months before she disappeared.

9:05We hear her in that letter talking about how she wasn't happy in her marriage, how she knew she had to leave. And also, if Larry actually saw this letter, it could point towards motive for him. We know that he went as far as commissioning people to cast spells to try to keep their relationship together.

9:30Now we have heard from law enforcement and forensic experts, but we also heard from two more of Maya's family members. When 48 Hours talked to one of Maya's sisters a few years ago, she described her family as very close and loving. And this was a big family. Maya had five brothers and sisters. Earlier in the trial, Sister Mary Chris testified along with Maya's father. More recently, Brother JP took the stand and another sister did as well named Jane. Hearing from Maya's family is so powerful for the jury. These are the people who loved Maya. They're the ones who also watched this marriage fall apart.

10:13So it gives real insight into Maya, Larry, who they were, and what might have happened here. Let's start with Maya's older brother, JP. This testimony stood out to me more than anything. It goes back to Christmas of 2020 in a timeline that's two weeks before Maya disappeared. appeared according to JP's testimony Larry reached out to him he was upset about Maya's affair and what Larry asked him is if he knew anyone who could quote get the other guy and at a preliminary hearing for this case JP said that Larry was asking him if he knew someone who could kill the man that Maya was having an affair with so he wasn't going after Maya but this man she was having an affair with.

10:56And he offered to pay JP$4 ,000 and then another$20 ,000 to the person that did this. JP says that he told Larry he didn't want to get involved. And this wasn't a one-time conversation either, right? Exactly. And that is what makes this so significant for the prosecution. According to JP, Larry brought it up again on New Year's Day in 2021. Now, that's one week before Maya disappeared. What happened during cross-examination? JP told the defense that he never thought Larry would hurt his sister. He said that he trusted Larry, according to reports from inside that courtroom. In addition to JP, Maya's sister Jane also testified.

11:41Now, what did she say about the final weeks before Maya's disappearance? Jane said that Maya had confided in her siblings back in November of 2020. So this is about two months before she was last seen. What Maya said is that she wanted to divorce Larry and to co-parent their children. Jane testified that the family, though, at first they encouraged her to try to work out the marriage. They said family is important. You should keep your marriage together. However, as the weeks went on, they started to change their minds. They began to see this situation differently. Jane also said that just three days before Maya was last seen, Maya actually reached out to both of her sisters, and she was asking to borrow money to hire a divorce attorney.

12:27She also talked about pawning some of her purses. These were Louis Vuitton purses to raise money so that she could bring that divorce attorney on. She was taking concrete steps to end the marriage. And then there was Maya's last text message to her family. Tell us about that one. So this is the last message that Maya's family ever received from her. And it came on January 7th, 2021, around 8 p.m. What she sent them was a picture of a trailer that was for sale. And her sister Jane explained that the reason they would have wanted that trailer is they had been planning this family road trip. They all wanted to travel across the country together.

13:07And on the stand, Jane got really emotional. This was according to CBS 8 reporters in the courtroom. Jane was asked, would Maya ever leave her children? Jane said never. It's really haunting. It is. And we also will learn more about what Maya was like from Jane. She described her as this proud mother. She always thought about her kids. She was someone who liked to dress in matching outfits with them. So, you know, these are all little details. But for the jury, they make her more of a human in a way that all of these police evidence and forensic tests, they just can't. And according to reporters in the courtroom, people were in tears when Jane was testifying.

13:49A very powerful moment. So this is what's called a no body case, which could make it more difficult to prosecute. The defense has leaned on that from the very beginning, arguing that there's no evidence a murder even occurred. That's exactly right. And that's what makes those cases so complicated. You don't have the body and all of the forensic evidence that goes with that. So this family testimony, it's crucial. Each text message, this plan that we learned about to borrow money for a divorce attorney, the photo of a trailer for this dream road trip. It all points to someone who was looking forward in their life.

14:30So the circumstantial evidence in a case where the body was never found, it's extremely relevant and so important for the prosecution's case. And the thing about no body cases is sometimes even without a body, there can be a clear indication of a killing. I covered the case of a famous dog trainer named Mark Stover in the Pacific Northwest. He was missing, but there was evidence he must have been shot in his home. There was blood and bullet shell casings and a wounded dog. There was little doubt someone had been shot there. There doesn't seem to be that level of evidence here, though, and that could be a problem for the prosecution.

15:19Katrina, let's get into what happened during the trial this week. What were some of the major moments? So this week we heard from more law enforcement, including Jesse Vicente. He was the lead detective on the case until about two years ago when he took a new job with the San Diego County DA's office. What he did is he walked the jury through several pieces of surveillance footage. These came from around the Miliete's home, and they're from the day Maya was last seen and the days following. What Vicente said was the most significant finding, though, was a video. So, Peter, you can see Maya entering the house, but there's no evidence that she ever went out.

16:02This is so crucial to the prosecution's case. And while the defense has repeatedly told jurors that we don't know if Maya is dead, the prosecution, they keep trying to lead them back to the evidence. And then the court also heard audio, which came from one of the neighbor's surveillance systems. And on it, you can hear multiple loud bangs. This is from The Evening of Maya's Disappearance. This actually came up in the original 48 Hours episode that aired in 2022. Attorney and former criminal defense investigator for the U.S. Navy, Billy Little, took it upon himself to investigate the case after finding out about Maya's disappearance.

16:44Here is correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti from that 48 Hours episode. The neighbors, do they say, oh, yeah, we heard gunshots? shots. Yet not only did they tell me that they've got gunshots, but they've got the audio. A home surveillance system from the neighbor captured these loud bangs around 10 p.m. that night.

17:08Little also believes they are gunshots. It's coming from Larry and Maya's house. So this went through an FBI analysis. They were trying to figure out, were those bangs actually gunshots? But it was inconclusive ultimately. And we also heard some testimony from that same neighbor that was interesting. It was about a video where you can hear the sound of what could be kids playing outside and it's late at night. And it raises all of these questions. Why were they out there?

17:58And that was something that Billy Little talked about as well to 48 Hours in the same episode, saying it was 10.30 p.m., the night Maya was last heard from. According to Little, it was a cooler night and pretty late for kids to be outside. The sights and sounds of this evidence must have intrigued those jurors. How does the defense attempt to minimize its impact? What the defense did to try to poke some holes in this is they pointed to a gap in the surveillance footage. And you have to remember, this was collected from multiple neighbors. It's not just one continuous video stream. The defense pointed out that there were no cameras that caught the back of the house.

18:42They seem to suggest that it's possible someone could have entered the home from the rear or that maybe Maya went out the back herself. In addition, they tried to question some of the accuracy of the timestamps, and they pointed to the fact that it was this detective's first homicide investigation. So they questioned him about his training. Did he really know how to preserve a crime scene? All of this is a strategy to create doubt for the jury. Was there anything else from the Vicente testimony that stood out to you? There was. There was some new information we learned about, which was intriguing.

19:19Vicente said that in some of the surveillance footage, he saw that a freezer was wheeled out on a dolly from the house to a car that belonged to Larry's aunt. This happened on January 9th, 2021. And do we know at what time this occurred or what may have been in that freezer or why it was even being moved? Well, according to reporting from the trial, it happened on January 9th around 4.45 p.m. We didn't hear any more details about what was in the freezer, what might have happened to it. But another thing that Vicente noted is that you see Larry on this footage and he keeps moving Maya's car around.

19:59He moves her Jeep multiple times in the days after she disappeared. So moving forward in this dramatic trial, what should we be expecting? So some of the most anticipated testimony could come from Jamie Laird. This is the man that Maya was having an affair with. And we are also expecting to hear from Jamie Laird's wife at that time. We don't know yet when that's going to be. The prosecution, they're keeping this witness list close. So they haven't shared a complete list of witnesses or when they'll take the stand. You also have to remember this trial, it's expected to last over two more months.

20:35So we're going to hear from many more people. There is much more to come in this really wild and intriguing case. And of course, there's always that big question of whether the defendant, whether Larry will decide to take the stand himself. Well, we will continue to track this case as the trial unfolds. Katrina, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. I'm Peter Van Sant. This is Case by Case from 48 Hours. We will be back next week and make sure to let us know which cases you are following in your podcast reviews and comments.

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