[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to another case of USA Unsolved, a series covering disappearances and unsolved murders within the Asian community in the United States.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today we are back in California and we will be taking a look at a woman who vanished during the height of COVID, though I can positively say that COVID was not responsible for her disappearance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her name is Maia Milete.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've probably heard multiple different ways during the course of my research, including meete, meiliete, or even melete.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her disappearance is pretty suspicious, and while there is a suspect in custody, and it is apparently going to trial in the near future, it is still worth discussing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's begin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya Tala Bansa was born on May 1st, 1981 in the Philippines, and her whole family immigrated to Hawaii when she was around 15 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya was a student at Admiral Arthur W. Radford High School, and upon graduating, she went on to study at the University of Hawaii.
[SPEAKER_00]: She met her future husband,
[SPEAKER_00]: Larry Millette, while in high school, working at a fast food restaurant, and the two dated for a few years, then got married at a young age.
[SPEAKER_00]: Larry and his family had moved to Hawaii from California back in 1997, after a gang related assault arrest.
[SPEAKER_00]: According to sources from CBS, Larry had been arrested at the age of 15 for our stabbing incident.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since he was a juvenile, his records were sealed.
[SPEAKER_00]: After the two got married, Maya took his last name and they moved back to Larry's hometown where they settled down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Larry went on to serve in the U.S.
[SPEAKER_00]: Navy for about five years, while Maya worked as a contract specialist at Naval Base and Diego.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a couple got married at a young age, they waited around 10 years to have kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to establish a life together, and their careers before expanding the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: Life and marriage as we know it can get difficult, and it can add more layers of hardship when you add children to the mix.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, we also have COVID.
[SPEAKER_00]: After nearly two decades of marriage, Larry and Maya began to see cracks in their marriage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Allegedly, Larry had become emotionally abusive, constantly accusing Maya of cheating on him, trying to control her, and just being very paranoid about what she's up to, or where she's at.
[SPEAKER_00]: He demanded access to her social media accounts, her bills, anything that we would consider private.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya had also allegedly told a friend that Larry was becoming physically abusive, as well, and that caused her to worry about the kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: This may have been an ongoing issue in their marriage.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say for sure, but either way, the year 2020 proved to be too difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Maya decided that she wanted to get a divorce.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was not a marriage she wanted to stay in, and it was probably best for the whole family that they separate.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we know, the most dangerous time for a victim to leave an abusive relationship is when they actually leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya had taken her time towards the end of 2020 to get her ducks in a row and a friend of hers had even offered her condo for her to stay at for a bit as she worked on her eventual divorce.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when and how did Maya disappear and most importantly, what happened to her?
[SPEAKER_00]: She was last seen on January 7, 2021, at around 5pm at her residence in Chula Vista.
[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, she had not yet moved out, but had already contacted a divorce lawyer and was on the move.
[SPEAKER_00]: After deciding, she was never seen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you may have already guessed, suspicion fell on her husband, Larry.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only had he committed a violent assault at the age of 15, he was also allegedly abusive towards Maya.
[SPEAKER_00]: If she was ready to leave and told him of her plans, could he have done something to prevent her from leaving him?
[SPEAKER_00]: Not unlikely.
[SPEAKER_00]: The day after Maya was last seen, camera footage managed to catch Larry, backing his Lexus GX and SUV with the vanity plate Melani into a dead zone at around 6am, where the camera would not be able to see what he was up to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Afterwards, he supposedly drove out to the beach with one of the kids and did not return home until almost 6pm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Luckily from Maya, she did have family nearby, and assuming Maya was a type to keep in constant communication with her family.
[SPEAKER_00]: They began to find it odd that she was not, well, keeping in touch.
[SPEAKER_00]: So on January 8th, Maya's brother stopped by asking to see Maya, and Larry, being the last-a-seener, told the brother that Maya had locked herself in a room after an argument, and was unwilling to see anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya's brother didn't want to intrude, so after not getting a response after knocking on her door, he decided to leave it as is, for now.
[SPEAKER_00]: The following day on January 9th, Maya's sister, Marie-Cris, and her husband, stopped by, and to their shock, the house was in a complete mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mary told Marie-Cris that Maya had actually left to go hiking.
[SPEAKER_00]: While this wasn't necessarily out of character, Marie-Cris had her doubts, so she went ahead and filed a missing person's report with the Chulavista Police Department.
[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, friends and family of Maya also began posting missing persons wires and online posts hoping to raise awareness of Maya's disappearance.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not think it was like Maya to just walk away, especially since she had been planning her daughters up coming birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: She loves her kids, how was it possible for her to just leave?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's difficult to not assume something terrible happened to Maya at the hands of her soon to be ex-husband.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty quickly, words spread around the community about Maya's disappearance, and law enforcement began to look into Larry.
[SPEAKER_00]: A former criminal defense investigator for the U.S.
[SPEAKER_00]: Navy, Billy Little,
[SPEAKER_00]: Offered his services to the family to look around Maya and Larry's home.
[SPEAKER_00]: His wife was Maya's coworker, so he felt a sense of duty to assist.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although nothing incriminating really stood out, he did find out some interesting things about Larry.
[SPEAKER_00]: He found out that when Maya's sister wanted to report Maya missing, Larry had actively tried to discourage her from doing so.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Little went around inspecting the house, he found all the windows wide open, as if Larry was trying to air the house out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Little also found several holes in the house, as if someone punched the walls or doors.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he asked Larry about these, Larry said that Maya punched the holes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although Little was rightfully suspicious of Larry, there was no solid proof that he had done anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also didn't want to voice his suspicions to the family yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: quote, I'm still hoping he doesn't have anything to do with my sister's disappearance, unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: Marie-Crease had said in reference to Larry, quote, I still in a way I want to believe a story, but it's tough for the family to really believe him, unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the media contacted Larry,
[SPEAKER_00]: He did as any grieving partner would do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He begged his wife to quote, just come back home, unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: It took a few weeks, but a search warrant was eventually issued, and law enforcement was able to thoroughly search the home, seizing some of Larry's firearms in the meantime.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps helping to find out if any of them had been used recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: Press conferences were held, the family pleaded with the public, for any information.
[SPEAKER_00]: Visuals were held, a $50,000 reward was posted, volunteers helped search the surrounding area and some of Maya's favorite spots, hoping to find any trace of her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite everybody's dedication, nothing turned up.
[SPEAKER_00]: After nine months of nothing, an arrest warrant was issued for Larry in October of 2021, stating that he was being arrested for murdering his wife Maya.
[SPEAKER_00]: While this arrest was not exactly a surprise to anyone, it was still surprising in the sense that there seemed to be no concrete proof of him actually doing anything to her, only circumstantial evidence.
[SPEAKER_00]: A neighbor's outdoor camera managed to pick up several loud bangs in their audio recording from the night Maya disappeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya was last seen at around 5 p.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: and these loud bangs supposedly gunshots came in at around 830 p.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: A forensic expert was also brought in to weigh in on these bangs and they confirmed that in their professional opinion, these were indeed gunshots.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it is starting to seem pretty likely that Larry, the owner of multiple firearms, may have killed his wife as she was preparing to leave him.
[SPEAKER_00]: The neighbor's camera also happened to cash the three kids playing out in their yard at 1030 p.m., the same night their mother disappeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: This did not seem like something that they ever did as it was so late, so it almost seemed like the kids were ordered to get out of the house for some reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what did Larry have to say regarding all this?
[SPEAKER_00]: When Maya first disappeared, he did admit in various interviews that he and Maya were having marital issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: Seeing as how admitting this could harm him, he quickly hired a lawyer and stopped giving interviews or corresponding with the police.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is understandable and is not necessarily a sign of guilt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lawyering up should be your right.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we know that anything you say can be used against you.
[SPEAKER_00]: But despite Larry's wish to remain silent, many rumors started to circulate about their marriage.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember I mentioned how Larry was constantly accusing Maya of cheating on him?
[SPEAKER_00]: He had allegedly tried to hire a hitman to take out the man he believed was seeing Maya.
[SPEAKER_00]: As if this wasn't wild enough, Larry also allegedly tried to put a spell or curse on
[SPEAKER_00]: Initially the spell was to get Maya to fall back in love with him, but when he realized that his online purchase somehow wasn't working, he decided to curse her instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quote, please punish Maya and incapacitate her enough so she cannot leave the house, unquote.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether the curse worked or he took matters into his own hands, I can't say for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: After Larry's arrest, he pled not guilty, insisting that his wife had simply walked out of the house and could return at any time.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one believes that Maya would ever willingly walk out on her kids, so that is highly suspicious.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was denied bail as he had made previous threats on others and proved to be a danger to others.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few months later in July of 2022, Larry's lawyers basically told the court that their client was not competent to stand trial, so a psychiatric evaluation was granted for Larry.
[SPEAKER_00]: After a thorough examination, he was found to actually be competent to stand trial.
[SPEAKER_00]: The trial date was initially set for July 7, 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the lawyers made a plea on Larry's behalf to postpone the trial due to financial hardship.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has now been rescheduled in January of 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: As for the three kids he shares with Maya, there were initially taken in by the grandparents from both sides.
[SPEAKER_00]: While Larry was allowed to communicate with his kids, he was only allowed to do so via writing, so no in-person visits and no telephone calls.
[SPEAKER_00]: In August of 2024, Maya sister, Marie-Crease, one custody, and took the three children with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: While it might seem pretty clear as to what happened to Maya, I still wanted to file this episode under unsolved.
[SPEAKER_00]: For one thing, Larry has continued to deny any involvement in his wife's disappearance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, Maya's body has never even been recovered, assuming she was indeed murdered and dumped somewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's important for me that I don't junk to conclusions, even though Larry is a huge walking red flag.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you or anyone you know resides in the Chulavista area and happened to have information on this case, please reach out to the number listed in the show notes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maya has children, family, and friends that love her, and I'm sure they would want to know what happened to her.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will be checking back on this one's Larry does go to trial, but in the meantime, we can help spread awareness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for taking a time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please take care and, till next time.