Larry Millete

Introduction

Larry Millete, 45, a former Navy optician from Chula Vista, California, was sentenced on Monday, November 2, 2026, to 25 years to life in state prison for the first-degree murder of his wife, May “Maya” Millete, 39, who disappeared from the family’s home in January 2021 and whose body has never been found. Superior Court Judge Enrique Camarena also imposed a consecutive two-year term on an assault-weapon possession count and a ten-year protective order forbidding Millete from contacting his three children, and credited him with 1,841 days already served. A jury convicted Millete of first-degree murder in July 2026 after roughly five hours of deliberation, despite the absence of his wife’s remains.

Background Information

Maya Millete was last seen at the family’s San Miguel Ranch home at around 4:45 PM on January 7, 2021, and no video ever captured her leaving; her last known contact was a text to one of her sisters at about 8:15 PM, and her cellphone terminated all connections at roughly 1:25 AM on January 8. Prosecutors allege Millete killed her in their home because she had sought a divorce, then loaded her body into an SUV and disposed of it during a window of roughly 12 hours in which his whereabouts remain unknown — his own phone also went dark that morning, and he left the house in the SUV at about 6:45 AM, returning around 6 that evening. Police and prosecutors say there is no evidence Maya was alive after January 8, 2021, and her body has never been recovered. At trial, evidence included journal entries in which Maya wrote of her fears of her husband, including “He abuses me physically. … I want to be strong, so he never puts his hands on me again,” alongside testimony describing domestic abuse, infidelity, and what coverage described as a campaign of fear against the mother of three.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. A jury found Millete guilty of first-degree murder in July 2026, and Judge Enrique Camarena sentenced him on November 2, 2026, to 25 years to life plus a consecutive two-year weapons term. His new-trial motion was denied, and he maintains his innocence.

Monday’s hearing began with Millete’s defense attorneys asking Camarena to vacate the murder conviction and grant a new trial, arguing the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient, that there was jury misconduct, and that the jury was improperly instructed; the judge rejected each argument, saying the “evidence was sufficient and robust,” after the defense had also sought a reduction of the charge to manslaughter. The hearing then twice descended into chaos. First, Millete’s father, Benito, was caught live on camera alleging his implanted “pacemaker” was attacking him while he defended his son and disparaged Maya — “I’m sorry, Your Honor, I’ve got the pacemaker” — before grimacing, stumbling, and being guided out by sheriff’s deputies and lifted into an ambulance; per the American College of Cardiology as cited in coverage, a pacemaker does not deliver shocks, though an internal defibrillator does. Then, as Millete addressed the court — “My only regret is that I wasn’t able to protect my wife … she wasn’t just my wife, she was my best friend,” and “I’m not a monster; I’m not a bad person … I consider myself a good father” — Maya’s family shouted back, with a niece, Rica Casino, rushing toward him screaming “Then why did you (expletive) kill her?” until deputies removed hecklers from the courtroom. Camarena pronounced sentence anyway, finding Millete had maintained a “posture of denial and defiance,” shown “callousness in the immediate aftermath” of his wife’s disappearance and a “complete lack of genuine interest in finding” her: “Frankly, the court finds the conduct abhorrent.” The judge also urged him to finally reveal where Maya’s body is, saying it “might constitute a measure of some accountability.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The sentencing capped more than five years of public anguish over one of San Diego County’s most followed missing-person cases, which had kept searchers at area trailheads and the case in national coverage since 2021. Maya’s family delivered emotional impact statements in court, including her two teenage daughters, and relatives openly confronted the defendant, shouting “Where’s Maya?” as deputies cleared the gallery; Benito Millete, who told reporters he had repeatedly asked his son whether he harmed Maya and believed his denials — “I would not be here at this very moment if I did not believe my son” — drew gasps from onlookers when he suggested the family had been told not to disturb Maya when she had a headache or appeared “drunk.” Prosecutors had sought the maximum 25-years-to-life term on the murder count plus a consecutive two years on the weapon count, to which Millete pleaded guilty after the trial.

Current Status

Millete, 45, is serving 25 years to life for first-degree murder, plus two years consecutive on the assault-weapon count, with 1,841 days of custody credit, meaning he has been in jail for more than five years since his arrest. Camarena imposed a ten-year protective order barring contact with the couple’s three children, who may petition to modify it once they are adults, and rejected the defense’s new-trial motion, leaving the conviction standing; the judge told Millete that revealing the location of Maya’s remains would not change his guilt or his law-required sentence but “might constitute a measure of some accountability.” Maya Millete’s body has still never been found.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A onetime Navy optician now spends the rest of his eligible life in state prison for a murder with no body — a conviction built on journals, phone records, and a twelve-hour unexplained drive rather than remains, and sustained through a defense strategy that was barred from accusing Maya’s co-worker and affair partner, James “Jamey” Laird, whom the judge excluded as third-party-culpability evidence. For Maya’s family, the sentence delivered a legal ending that the case itself still refuses to provide: the mother of three’s location remains unknown after five years, her daughters addressed their father’s sentencing as teenagers, and the judge’s parting plea was that Millete finally say where she is. The case stands as one of California’s most prominent no-body homicide prosecutions, and the Chula Vista courtroom scenes — a father’s medical emergency, a screaming gallery — closed it as chaotically as the marriage’s end began it.

Sources

NY Post, “Larry Millete’s dad’s ‘pacemaker’ jolts him while defending son in court” — source
San Diego Union-Tribune, “Larry Millete sentenced to 25 years to life for killing wife who remains missing” — source
Court TV, “‘I’m not a monster’: Killer husband interrupted by shouts from gallery after medical emergency in courtroom” — source
10News, “Larry Millete set to be sentenced to prison for murder of missing wife Maya” — source
CBS 8, “Larry Millete’s defense team asked judge to reduce murder charge to manslaughter” — source
KOGO, “Husband of Maya Millete Sentenced to 25 Years to Life for Her Murder” — source