Witness testimony wrapped up Wednesday in the murder trial of Larry Millete, the Chula Vista man accused of killing his wife, who vanished more than five years ago.
Jurors are expected to receive the case following closing arguments scheduled for next Tuesday.
Millete, 44, is charged with murdering his wife of 20 years, May “Maya” Millete, who has not been seen or heard from since Jan. 7, 2021. Her body has never been found, but police and prosecutors say there is no evidence to suggest she was alive after that date.
Millete did not take the stand on the final day of testimony, during which his defense team called its only three witnesses. The prosecution rested its case early Tuesday afternoon, capping off about five weeks of testimony by law enforcement, along with family members, co-workers and friends of the couple.
Stacy and Steve Agan, a husband and wife who volunteer as K9 handlers for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team, testified that they brought their dogs to the Millete home about two weeks after May’s disappearance to see if they could detect the presence of human remains.
Neither dog detected remains, but according to testimony, the dogs were not trained to detect residual odors left behind by a deceased person who has been removed from the scene.
The final witness was Riley Mallory, a private investigator who looked into ways someone could have exited the Millete residence without being detected by surveillance cameras posted throughout the neighborhood.
Mallory testified that it was possible for someone to climb over the back fence of the Millete residence, then exit the immediate neighborhood by walking along a drainage ditch that winds along the backyards of residences down the block.
Mallory said the ditch leads to trails, a park and a golf course outside of the immediate neighborhood.
Upon questioning from Deputy District Attorney Christy Bowles, Mallory conceded he did not walk that path at night. He also said he did not know what the exact camera placements and locations were in January of 2021, nor the condition of the foliage surrounding the ditch during the timeframe when May disappeared.
Surveillance footage captured May entering her home at around 4:45 p.m. Jan. 7, but no video footage captured her leaving.
Her last known contact with another person was in a text message with one of her sisters at around 8:15 p.m.
According to testimony from earlier in the trial, her phone’s cellular connections terminated at about 1:25 a.m. Jan. 8.
In the years since her disappearance, there have been no sightings of May and no cell phone or financial activity connected to her, according to testimony.
Larry Millete – whose phone also lost all cell connections on the morning of Jan. 8 – allegedly left the family’s home at about 6:45 a.m. and did not return for approximately 12 hours.
Investigators have been unable to pinpoint his whereabouts during that timeframe.
