[Music]
Hello, and welcome to Case by Case.
“I'm 48 hours correspondent, Peter Vansat,”
and this week we're continuing our coverage of the riveting Larry Milliette, Murder Trial. He is accused of murdering his wife and mother to their three children, Maya Milliette. Maya was last seen at their chulavista 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 E. Milliette's spellcasters
about Maya and then Jamie. Now, that's a first for me, mainly in people who could cast spells, and 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. And 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. There's an affair. There's this allegation of attempted murder for hire, and the fact that nobody 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 Miliatte, they both worked for the US Navy. Maya, or she was known as May by her friends, she was 39 years old when she disappeared in January of 2021. In 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 the thing 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. The grew during this deteriorating relationship. 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 court room. So last week, we heard from Chulavis to PD detectives who investigated this case.
First up was police officer Ryan Culver.
Culver was among the officers who responded to the Milliette 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.
What 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 attorney's highlighted is that Larry Milliette,
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. They 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 for rent's 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. This 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 blood stains 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 side walls of the car.
He 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 Milliatay's house. And Peter, the search is included, quote, how to mentally torture someone and quote, psychological
torture and 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 Cummins and Goins 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. And 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. We 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.
Now 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 J.P. 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.
into Maya, Larry, who they were, and what might have happened here. Let's start with Maya's
“older brother J.P. This testimony stood out to me more than anything. It goes back to Christmas of 2020,”
of a timeline that's two weeks before Maya disappeared. According to J.P.'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, J.P. 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.
And he offered to pay J.P. $4,000, and then another $20,000 to the person that did this. J.P. 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 J.P. 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?
J.P. 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 J.P. Maya's sister, Jane also testified. Now what did she say about the final weeks before Maya's disappearance? J.P. 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. J.P. 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. She 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 7, 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. And 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 and matching outfits with them. So 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 that they just can't. And according to reporters in the courtroom, people were in tears when Jane was testifying.
A 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 of 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. So the circumstantial evidence in a case where the body was never found, it's extremely relevant and so important for the prosecutions case. And a 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 Stolver 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.
Katrina, 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 millia taste home and there 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.
“This 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. Here is correspondent Jonathan Vigliati from that 48 hours episode. The neighbors do they say, oh yeah, we heard gunshots. Yeah, 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.”
Little 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 where 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? And 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. They seemed 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. Vicente 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 9, around 445 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. He 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.
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. So 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 Vensat. 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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