Authorities Thursday officially confirmed that the husband of a Chula Vista woman who vanished more than six months ago is a “person of interest” in her disappearance.
Larry Millete, who reported his wife, May, missing Jan. 10, was served with a gun violence restraining order four months later, and detectives have executed three search warrants at the couple’s home near Mount San Miguel Park.
While finally acknowledging their particular investigative focus on the spouse of the suspiciously absent mother of three young children, police declined to provide further details about their reasons for it.
“Due to the sensitivity of the case and to protect the integrity of the investigation, we will not be providing additional information at this time,” Chula Vista Police Lt. Dan Peak said Thursday afternoon.
Authorities searched the couple’s Paseo Los Gatos house two weeks after her disappearance, again in early May and once more July 1.
They also have executed about four dozen other warrants allowing them to seek evidence in various residences and vehicles, and from cellular and electronic devices, financial records, social-media accounts and other online data, according to Peak.
Additionally, detectives have reviewed scores of tips from the public regarding the missing woman’s possible whereabouts and potential reasons for her disappearance.
Police, assisted by volunteers, have also conducted searches in the area of 500 Hunte Parkway, south of Sweetwater Reservoir in the eastern reaches of Chula Vista, for reasons they have declined to disclose.
Aiding in the investigation is a multi-agency “working group” that includes personnel with the FBI, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a contingent “with the primary goal of bringing May home to her family or bringing justice to May’s family regarding her disappearance,” according to the CVPD.
Larry Millete has largely declined to address the news media about the case, though he did speak briefly to 10News San Diego by phone a few days after his wife was reported missing.
During the roughly 10-minute interview, he acknowledged that his marriage had been troubled for about a year, stated that he had no idea where his spouse was, expressed hope that she had simply gone away temporarily for some “alone time” and described himself as “really worried and shaken” by her disappearance.
On May 1, Millete’s loved ones celebrated her 40th birthday in her absence.