Jurors within the homicide trial of Larry Millete heard dramatic testimony Monday from the lead investigator who helped piece collectively the disappearance of Maya Millete, the San Diego-area mom who vanished from her dwelling in January 2021.
Jesse Vicente, who spent 18 years with the Chula Vista Police Division earlier than later becoming a member of the San Diego County District Legal professional’s Workplace, walked the jury by surveillance footage, cellphone proof and key moments investigators imagine mark vital breaks within the case.
One piece of footage confirmed a freezer being wheeled out of her Chula go to dwelling and loaded right into a car earlier than it departed, Fox 5 San Diego reported.
In line with Vicente, Maya was final seen on video on Jan. 7, 2021, the day she disappeared.
Surveillance footage confirmed her arriving dwelling round 4:44 p.m. and finishing up routine actions round the home.
One clip performed in court docket confirmed Maya close to her car whereas her younger son repeatedly requested, “Mommy, can I come to the automotive wash? Can I come to the automotive wash, mommy?”
After reviewing tons of of hours of surveillance recordings from neighborhood cameras and Ring cams, investigators concluded there was no video exhibiting Maya leaving the household dwelling after she went again inside at roughly 4:45 p.m., Vicente testified.
The detective then detailed a timeline of exercise captured all through the night.
A tutor arrived on the residence round 5:12 p.m. and left shortly after 6 p.m.
Varied actions had been recorded close to Maya’s Jeep and across the dwelling in the course of the hours that adopted.
Later that night time, surveillance audio picked up a sequence of unexplained noises.
At about 8:45 p.m., a loud bang was recorded.
Extra startling sounds had been heard round 9:57 p.m., when a number of loud bangs echoed by the neighborhood, inflicting canines to bark.
Vicente testified that investigators couldn’t decide the supply of the sounds.
The audio was additionally analyzed by the FBI, which additionally couldn’t determine what prompted the noises.
The next morning, cameras recorded exercise involving the household’s Lexus.
Vicente stated footage confirmed motion across the car earlier than it left the residence at roughly 6:45 a.m. on Jan. 8 and returned later that night.
Prosecutors highlighted video exhibiting somebody making repeated journeys between the home and the car in the course of the early-morning hours.
Nevertheless, underneath cross-examination, protection legal professional Liann Sabatini emphasised that the footage doesn’t reveal precisely what the particular person was doing.
Vicente acknowledged investigators couldn’t decide whether or not something was being loaded into the car, faraway from it or just reorganized.
The surveillance timeline continued into Jan. 9, when Maya’s family started arriving on the dwelling after turning into involved about her whereabouts.
One sequence proven to jurors centered on a white SUV belonging to Larry Millete’s aunt, Katherine Fredericks.
Footage captured a freezer being taken out of the property and loaded into the car earlier than it departed.
The identical day, cameras confirmed Larry repositioning Maya’s Jeep twice inside a brief interval.
Vicente instructed jurors the habits stood out to him, saying, “I assumed it was odd.”
As concern over Maya’s disappearance grew, relations continued arriving on the residence all through the night.
Her sister, Maricris, finally contacted authorities to report her lacking, prompting patrol officers to reach shortly after midnight and start an investigation.
The testimony comes as prosecutors proceed presenting proof they argue factors to mounting marital issues earlier than Maya vanished.
Jurors beforehand discovered of a letter Maya allegedly wrote to Larry in August 2020 containing the message, “Let me discover my peace…I can’t discover it with you.”
Prosecutors have additionally pointed to proof that investigators say hyperlinks Larry to on-line searches involving hemlock, a extremely poisonous plant, in addition to searches associated to poisons able to killing shortly.
One other uncommon ingredient of the case entails alleged communications between Larry and on-line spellcasters.
In line with investigators, he exchanged tons of of messages in search of supernatural help to affect or hurt Maya.
In a single alleged message, he wrote: “Are you able to hex to have her damage sufficient that she should depend upon me or want my assist?”
He later allegedly added: “She’s solely good to me when she wants me or [is] sick. Thanks once more. Possibly [an] accident or damaged bone.”
Monday’s proceedings additionally featured a heated dialogue outdoors the presence of jurors as Sabatini challenged the thoroughness of Vicente’s investigation.
The protection argued that investigators did not sufficiently look at different leads, although pretrial rulings stop the protection from presenting a third-party culpability argument to the jury.
The protection famous that the Millete case was Vicente’s first murder investigation.
