A California man accused of murdering his wife hired spellcasters online to cast a spell on his spouse in hopes of making her stay in their troubled marriage days before she disappeared more than a year ago, investigators say.
A private sleuth enlisted by the family of missing Maya Millete, 39, days after her disappearance January 7, 2021, has revealed the woman’s husband, currently incarcerated Larry Millete, sent ‘hundreds’ of emails to various online companies that sell ‘spells’ days before she vanished from their Chula Vista home.
The report by Billy Littler, an ex-criminal defense investigator for the Navy, showed correspondence between Millete, 40, and a series of ‘spellcasters’ who billed themselves as ‘psychics, spirit-channeler, or white-light practitioners capable of energy work.’
According to Littler’s report, Millete purchased a slew of ‘spells’ from the self-proclaimed warlocks to stop his wife from leaving him – including one that would ‘incapacitate’ her so she couldn’t leave the house.
A shrine made my Larry Millete days before his wife Maya’s disappearance on January 7, 2021. The California man is accused of murdering his wife and hiring spellcasters online to cast a spell on her to get her to stay in their troubled marriage
Millete had disappeared from her Chula Vista home on January 7, the same day she met with her divorce attorney as she had been dealing with marital problems with husband Larry Millete
‘Please punish May (Maya) and incapacitate her enough so she can’t leave the house,’ Millete wrote to the spellcaster, before chillingly adding, ‘It’s time to take the gloves off.’
Another spell sought out after by Millete, according to Little, would ‘enhance a person’s love life, eliminate debt, or make a romantic partner remain faithful.’
On December 31, 2020, a week before Maya’s disappearance, he allegedly emailed another charmer asking for a spell that would cast physical harm on his wife, who was scheduled to meet with a divorce attorney the day she vanished.
‘Can you hex to have her hurt enough that she will have to depend on me or need my help?’ Millete wrote, Little’s report shows. ‘She’s only nice to me when she needs me or [is] sick. Thanks again. Maybe [an] accident or broken bone.’
Millete’s penultimate request to a spellcaster came in the early hours of January 8 – the day after Maya, who has four kids with her husband, was last seen.
The message, sent just before 1.30am according to Little, saw Millete begging an online wizard once again to save his marriage, an hour after Maya’s phone activity suddenly stopped, per Chula Vista police.
The next day, Millete abruptly asked for the hexes against his wife to be stopped, according to Little. No other messages came after.
Little, who also discovered a makeshift shrine made my Millete during his sprawling 1-month investigation into the mother-of-four’s disappearance says the messages show that the couple had reached a breaking point in a marriage, spurring Millete to resort to unusual measures.
Larry Millete, who was arrested and charged in his wife’s murder, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and illegal possession of an assault weapon on October 21
‘There are people on the internet that’ll sell you for five bucks, you know, how to make a spell that will get her to be attracted to you. … And that’s what he tried to do,’ Little said of his findings, revealing that Millete even left a glowing review for one of his hired hands.
‘And he writes of this spellcaster,’ Little told CBS 48 Hours’ Jonathan Vigliotti earlier this weed: ‘”She is kind, professional and courteous. My casting has not yet manifested, but I’m really hoping and counting on it.”‘
‘Leaving a review like one would leave on Yelp for a food order,’ Vigliotti remarked.
‘Like, it’s an Uber ride. … Like, ‘Oh, five stars. Good job spellcaster,’ said Little during the televised interview.
Police and FBI agents are seen outside the Millete family home in Chula Vista on October 19
An FBI agent is seen outside the garage of the Millete house. Larry Millete was alone when he was arrested on October 19; their three children are safe.
FBI agents were seen on Tuesday night taking away boxes of evidence for further analysis
Little then added: ‘So, he’s not quite as smart as he thinks he is. He doesn’t realize that all of that stuff is pointing the finger at him.’
Millete was arrested was arrested on charges related to the murder of his wife in October.
Millete, who kept an extensive collection of rifles and guns in the couple’s Chula Vista home, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and illegal possession of an assault weapon on October 21. A scheduled January court date for the suspected killer has been pushed back to later this year.
Investigators in the case revealed in California state court that Millete, in addition to contracting the spellcasters, allegedly searched ‘poison hemlock’ and researched poisonous plants online days before Maya’s disappearance.
He also researched prescription strength sedatives, like Rohypnol, capable of quickly incapacitating those who ingest them.
A missing poster for Maya Millete
‘In December of 2020, Larry conducted a search entitled: ‘my wife doesn’t want me to touch her’ and then searched for ‘Flunitrazepan, Rohypnol, and diphenhydramine,'” cops wrote in Millete’s arrest affidavit.
‘These are central nervous system sedatives and depressants that could be used to incapacitate a person.’
Flunitrazepan is the generic name for Rohypnol – widely known as a ‘date rape’ drug that can quickly render a victim unconscious.
The couple had been having marital problems for the past year and Maya had indicated she wanted to leave the marriage.
Her friends had been aware of the ‘toxic’ problems facing the couple’s marriage which was reportedly abusive.
The use of a safe house had been organized by Millete’s friend for emergency use.
‘I gave her an address that if she needed to go to, she could go to. She had just told me she was going to need to use that address,’ her friend told Fox.
‘I had given it to her in person, but I told her, ‘You’re not taking the paper, you’re not writing it down, I’m not texting it to you.
‘This is where you can go if you need to go. Memorize this address, and this is the code to get in.’
Millete previously told a friend that her husband had choked her to the point of unconsciousness and said in a text that she had told him she was filing for a divorce.
Millete’s mother said in the weeks before her disappearance that her daughter needed access to the safety house. Other family members also noticed problems plaguing the couple’s relationship.
‘People get divorced all the time, and people have issues in their relationship all the time,’ Maya’s brother-in-law Richard Drouaillet said.
‘It’s kind of like, ‘you guys need a break from each other’, but I think Larry, he couldn’t imagine himself without her, so something snapped in his head.’
Millete was worried about leaving them behind if she needed to get away from him, he said.
‘She considered going somewhere and then having him served and even made a contingency plan to stay at a friend’s vacant condo, but Maya did not want to leave her kids,’ prosecutors said in a filing, according to CBS8.
Prosecutors also produced footage from a neighbor’s security camera appears to contain a series of gunshots, recorded at 10pm on the night Millete went missing.
Little, meanwhile claims there is audio recording of a ‘fight’ that occurred inside the Millete’s house on January 7 that was “so loud it could be heard outside.”
The fight was followed by ten gunshots, Little reported, though the CCTV recording only has eight audible gunshots.
‘After that fight, there are six gunshots. Bang, ten-second pause, bang, ten-second pause, bang, bang, bang, bang, four more shots,’ Little said.
The Millete couple shared three young children aged five, ten and 11
Authorities released this photo of Larry’s stash of weapons and four passports. They say the haul includes two illegally-owned AR-15 rifles
Police described Millete in a court filing as having ‘a frantic, desperate, unbalanced mindset coupled with violent and sometimes homicidal ideation’.
They said he was also suspected of trying to hire a hitman for $20,000 to kill a man he believed was having an affair with his wife. He also sent an email hours before his wife’s disappearance saying he was going to ‘snap’, police said.
‘I think she wants me to snap, and I’m shaking inside ready to snap,’ the email read, according to San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan.
According to the police department’s press release, investigators have interviewed 87 people, written 67 search warrants, and followed up on more than 130 tips about Maya’s possible location or reason for the disappearance.
Millete, meanwhile, contends his wife left him to start a new life.
The case has garnered national attention and coverage. Maya – who authorities say is dead – has yet to be found.
The FBI is currently overseeing a search, while family members continue to look as well.
