The Daily Beast
This mother from Cali disappeared 2 months ago. Her husband stopped cooperating.
Facebook / Help Find MayWhen Maya “May” Millete stopped responding to messages in a family group chat on January 7, her older sister was not immediately concerned. Millete, a defense contractor for the San Diego Naval Base, sometimes took time to answer her six brothers, but the family was planning a trip to a cabin in Big Bear for Millete’s daughter’s 11th birthday. Text messages and calls to make arrangements were unanswered. “The phones for May and her husband, Larry, were off and going straight to voicemail,” Maricris Drouaillet, 47, told The Daily Beast this week. “It was extremely unusual for my sister to be disconnected from the phone for so long – let alone disconnect it and not be in communication with us. Especially since we had a plan to travel that day for her daughter’s birthday. “” I just felt bad – like something wasn’t right, “added the registered nurse. It was only after Drouaillet’s older brother went to Millete Vista’s Chula at home that the family really started to worry. There, the 39-year-old’s husband said May locked himself in their room after an argument and did not speak to him or his three children all day. And although the explanation seemed bizarre, Drouaillet said that his brother ended up leaving the house. On Saturday, however, when May did not contact anyone, her family decided to resolve the problem on their own. They demanded that the husband open the bedroom door. “The room was empty. There was no sign that anyone had left the room through the window, ”said Drouaillet, adding that his sister’s car was still in the garage, but his license and credit card were missing. “My first thought was, ‘What the hell is going on? How could she not be home? ‘So we called 911.’ It has been two months since Millete’s family reported the disappearance of their California mother – and they are still desperately looking for answers. The case attracted national attention and prompted hundreds of people to volunteer to help look for it. But to make things more difficult, Millete’s husband hired a lawyer last month and stopped cooperating with the police, while completely excluding his wife’s family. It was a nightmare waiting helplessly and desperately for answers. It’s just unbelievable and surreal, ”said Drouaillet. “Two months have passed and it is a long time not to see your children. I can’t imagine how your kids are now … I think I’m coating my heart and putting [up] a wall to go through it. I am hopeful that she is still with us and we are keeping that little hope. Facebook / Help Find May Larry Millete, who was never named as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, said in a text message to The Daily Beast that the ordeal “has been difficult for everyone.” “My children and I are dealing with the best we can,” he wrote. “I keep them busy, which in turn keeps me busy.” However, he declined to say why he had stopped cooperating with the police. “Everything I say or do seems to be misinterpreted or transmitted differently,” he wrote, adding that some media coverage “manipulated public opinion.” The Milletes moved to Paseos Los Gatos, a small enclave in the San Diego area next to Mount San Miguel Park in 2013. Millete enjoyed hiking, camping and other outdoor activities with her family and three children – 11, 9 and 4 years old – and chose the house for its proximity to nature. The Chula Vista Police Department said Millete was last seen by her family members at around 5 pm at her home on January 7. Later that night, the Milletes, who met in high school and had been married for 21 years, had a fight. “We had problems this year, ups and downs,” Larry Millete told ABC 10News on January 12. He said he believed his wife may have gone out for some time alone the next day, when he was at work, before returning to the bedroom. Drouaillet, however, said the couple took Friday off work to go to Big Bear. “We had plans and she was looking forward to the trip,” she added, saying that days earlier May had asked everyone to ask for her snowboard lift pass so they would be ready when they arrived in the tourist city of California. At 11:18 pm on January 9, Drouaillet called the Chula Vista police to report his sister’s disappearance. It took the police about two hours to get to Millete’s house to investigate – at which point they discovered that she had been missing for at least three days. “Knowing that we were late days was, at the very least, painful,” said Drouaillet. Provided to The Daily Beast A police spokesman from Chula Vista told The Daily Beast that investigators executed a search warrant at Millete’s home on January 23 to “get any evidence and clues to his current whereabouts.” The details of the warrant were unclear and did not appear to produce any response, but neighbors told The Daily Beast that several white vans and K-9s stayed at home for hours. “They stayed at home for hours and had forensic lights,” a neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous out of respect for his family, told The Daily Beast. “I didn’t see them taking anything away, but they stayed there for so long that I’m confident they searched every inch of that house in May.” For weeks, while Millete’s family and friends organized virtual searches and vigils, the police say Larry Millete was cooperative. After a few interviews on local TV, however, he stopped talking about his wife’s disappearance. Then he stopped joining search groups or events held for his wife. “I am still very hopeful that [with] with all this media coverage, she’ll come up and say, ‘Hey, I’m fine, “Larry Millete told Fox5 on January 13.” I love you, honey, come home. ”Then, on February 3, he stopped talking to the police or his wife’s family. Authorities confirmed to The Daily Beast that he hired a lawyer and no longer answers questions about May’s disappearance. “We haven’t spoken to him since he hired a lawyer,” said Drouaillet. “With this type of situation, the family can fall apart. But this is his decision and we respect that, but we hope he can come and talk to us and the rest of his family. ”To make matters worse the suffering of being excluded by his brother-in-law, Drouaillet said: it is the fact that his sister’s case has not progressed in two months. The Chula Vista Police Department classified Millete’s disappearance as a case of “missing persons” and told The Daily Beast that there are no further updates to the investigation. “It has been the same since January. No information about where my sister is, ”she said. “The police are keeping us updated on the case, but there’s not much to update, you know? We’re all just waiting for someone to show up. ”His family, however, continued his effort to ensure that“ May stays on the news ”. On Sunday, they are holding a “march for May” near the Chula Vista community park to honor the mother of three before having a candlelight vigil. They also created a GoFundMe to help fund booklet and poster search and distribution events. “We are fortunate to have a lot of support from the community,” said Drouaillet. “There are a lot of volunteers out there who continue to help us look for my sister. In a way, we are blessed that there are so many people in the community who want to help ”. Drouaillet believes that Larry Millete’s silence is the result of “people pointing their fingers at him”. She did not want to speculate about what could have happened to her younger sister, who was dedicated to charity and a “beautiful person in every way”. “It was dedicated to family, children and work. No way was she just going to get out of her life. She loved it, ”said Drouaillet. “I’m not sure what happened. I don’t want to stipulate because there are so many possibilities. All I know is that it is moving that we are not all working together to find my sister. ”Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top news in your inbox every day. Subscribe now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. To know more.