In the idyllic suburbs of Chula Vista, California, May “Maya” Millete and her husband, Larry, seemed to have it all. They were high school sweethearts with a 20-year marriage, three beautiful children, and stable, successful careers. Their social media was a gallery of happy family moments: hiking, camping, and trips to the Philippines to give back to their community.

But this picture-perfect facade concealed a dark and toxic reality of domestic abuse and obsession that would culminate in Maya’s mysterious disappearance and a murder charge against her husband, built on a bizarre trail of evidence involving online spellcasters.

The couple’s seemingly perfect life began to publicly unravel in late 2020. Maya discovered that Larry was having an affair. The emotional turmoil that followed led her to a painful but resolute decision. On January 7, 2021, she made a phone call to a divorce attorney, taking the first concrete step to end her marriage.

She planned to finalize the separation with Larry after their eldest daughter’s birthday celebration that weekend. It was a weekend she would never see.

On that same day, Maya Millete vanished. Her family’s frantic calls and texts went unanswered. When they contacted Larry, his story was a confusing and contradictory mess. First, he claimed she had locked herself in her room all day and wouldn’t come out. He later changed his story, saying they had gone to the beach with their son.

To others, he claimed he hadn’t seen her at all because he was at work. Knowing that Maya, a deeply devoted mother, would never voluntarily miss her daughter’s birthday or abandon her children, her family reported her missing on January 9.

What followed was a nine-month investigation by the Chula Vista Police Department and the FBI, which slowly pieced together a disturbing puzzle of circumstantial evidence. They discovered that on the afternoon Maya disappeared, Larry had taken their family’s black SUV and was gone for a staggering eleven hours.

Crucially, he had left his cellphone at home, making his movements completely untraceable. A neighbor’s security camera provided another grim clue: the sound of a possible gunshot was recorded near the Millete home around 10:00 PM that night.

The most bizarre and damning evidence, however, came from a world of witchcraft and black magic. Investigators uncovered thousands of emails and text messages between Larry and various online “spellcasters.” As his marriage was failing, his requests grew increasingly desperate and sinister.

Initially, he paid for spells to make Maya fall back in love with him. When that didn’t work, he asked for a hex to be placed on her to “have her hurt enough that she will have to depend on me.”

Just a week before she vanished, his requests escalated to a horrifying new level. He allegedly began asking the spellcasters if they could kill the man he suspected Maya was having an affair with.

On the very night she disappeared, he sent a chilling email: “I think she wants me to snap and I’m shaking inside ready to snap.” The next morning, he sent another message, asking the spellcaster to stop the hexes, a move prosecutors believe was a sign that he knew his wife was already gone.

Despite the fact that Maya’s body has never been found, the District Attorney made the bold decision to charge Larry Millete with her murder in October 2021. The case against him is built entirely on the overwhelming weight of these circumstantial clues: her plan to divorce him provided the motive; the gunshot sound and his 11-hour absence provided the opportunity; and his unhinged communication with the spellcasters provided a clear window into his violent state of mind.

Larry Millete has pleaded not guilty and is currently in jail awaiting trial, which has been delayed by his lawyers’ claims that he is suffering from severe depression. Meanwhile, his three children are in the custody of his parents, separated from Maya’s grieving family, who continue to organize searches and hold vigils, clinging to the hope of one day finding her and bringing her home.

The story of May Millete is a tragic and cautionary tale of the dark secrets a perfect family photo can hide, and a legal battle that seeks to prove a murder without the most crucial piece of evidence.