CHULA VISTA, Calif. — An attorney working with the family of a missing Chula Vista mother is speaking out about a walk-through he conducted of Maya Millete’s house.
Maya has been missing for nearly three months and her family confirmed that, early on, they asked attorney Billy Little, Jr. help find her.
Little said he knocked on the door on January 11 of the Millete home in the 2400 block of Paseo Los Gatos in Chula vista, four days after Maya went missing. Her husband, Larry Millete, opened the door and let him in after Little showed him his identification, the attorney said.
“I immediately noticed the windows all open, the fans on full blast. It was chilly in the house,” Little said. “I was mostly, at that point, seeing if I could smell anything, smell any bleach, or smell the smell of a dead body. And, of course, there was absolutely no smell.”
The mother of three reportedly had argued with her husband on Thursday, January 7. She spoke with friends in a video call around 5:30 p.m. and that was the last time anyone has heard from her.
“When I went to the bedroom, I immediately noticed a hole – probably 10 inches long by about 6 to 8 inches tall – rectangular shaped; that had been freshly repaired. It was right by the handle. There was a lock on the inside of the door,” recalled Little.
“Let’s say the door is locked and you wanted to break in the door or get through the door. You could punch through that hole, reach through the other side, and unlock the door from the other side,” he said.
Inside the garage, Little said he discovered a freezer was missing.
“I called Chula Vista Police and I said, ‘Hey, there's a freezer missing from the garage,’” said Little. “Then there was no action, so I found the freezer myself. I went over and found it from one of Larry's relatives.”
The relative claimed he had planned on picking up the freezer for some time, according to Little. The attorney said he snapped a photo of the freezer in the relative’s home.
For months, Little said he has been collecting evidence in the case, including hundreds of text messages sent in 2020 by Maya’s husband to friends and family.
“He started by complaining to family members. He started by accusing his wife, May, of having an affair; going to her supervisor insisting that male co-workers be moved, with absolutely no evidence there was an affair going on,” Little said.
Some of the text messages included photos. One looks like an alter or shrine with a photo of Maya and her husband surrounded by candles.
Other messages contained biblical quotes about adulterous women, like one from June 28 that read, in part, "...her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave."
“The text messages that he [Larry] sent numbered sometimes in the hundreds per day,” said Little.
“It started ramping up as 2020 went on and as May started moving more and more towards a divorce, he became more and more desperate," the attorney said.
The day Maya scheduled an appointment with a divorce attorney, Little said, is the last day anybody saw her.
“She filled out the intake form on the Thursday she went missing, the appointment was scheduled for the next Tuesday,” but she never made to that appointment, Little said.
Chula Vista police will not talk about evidence in the case but Captain Eric Thunberg with the investigations unit confirmed detectives have been in contact with Little.
“There are a number of bits of information that are circumstantial in nature about this,” said Captain Thunberg. “We are aware of the instances [Little’s] described and he may not be aware of what our detectives have done, but we have, in fact, followed up and conducted follow up and continue to conduct follow up.”
News 8 reached out to the husband, Larry Millete, and he texted us the following messages regarding Little’s walk-through of his house on January 11 and other claims made by Little:
“He lied and presented himself as NCIS to gain access into my home. He misrepresented himself to gain access to my family’s home as well. Claiming to be NCIS. He lies and misrepresents himself. Posing to be law enforcement
Also I am not quite sure if impersonating NCIS is a crime, but it should be.
More lies, implications and speculations. I do not hate anyone, and just hope people can stop spreading lies and making our lives into entertainment in the media. We are already going through difficult times.
He’s been untruthful from the start and seems to be willing to do anything including manipulating the situation.
My wife is a good woman and she’s missing. Everything else is just noise.”
Little, the attorney, denied that he posed as a law enforcement officer or NCIS to gain access to the Millete home.
Every weekend, community members continue to organize searches for the missing mother.
Maya’s sister, Maricris Drouaillet, told News 8 the family is asking for guidance from Chula Vista Police to suggest general areas where teams should be searching.
“If we knew where to go and had an idea of where to search that is consistent with the route that was traveled, yeah, we would share the information. But at this point we are still working to determine where those areas may be,” said Captain Thunberg.
“If and when we have information that we can provide that gives us specific areas... we would absolutely use the public's help," Thunberg said.
WATCH: Extended interview with attorney Billy Little, Jr. about the Maya Millete missing woman case
CVPD is urging anyone with any information about the Maya Millete case to contact them.