Larry Millete Trial June 29Daily Digest: The minute by minute updates
I'm so sorry this formatting is terrible today, guys! The first time I took all my posts and put them in an email, I used an app that let me do this in 2 minutes. Today I spent 2 hours. I hope most of it is readable. I gotta get some rest!Good morning! I’m here at San Diego Superior Court where today the prosecution is expected to REST their case against Larry Millete.Assuming I get a seat in the courtroom, I’ll be your eyes and ears — so follow this thread for all the daily trial details!🗞️ALSO: sign up for my NEW newsletter to have all the day’s trial tweets sent straight to your inbox: https://t.co/VGhM7rIIJlLarry Millete is charged with the murder of his wife, Maya (May) Millete. She vanished in 2021...and has never been found.Fashion update: Ms Sabatini is in a brown suit today. Mr Ryan is in a blue plaid suit with brown pocket square. Larry Millete is in a dark grey sweater with a tiffany blue button up underneath.Fashion update, prosecution edition: Ms Bowles is in a gray suit - a dress with jacket. Mr Rhoades is still on the stand in a dark suit (I really can’t tell if it is navy blue or black.)Sabatini wants to put something on the record. She’s objecting to a couple of slides on a specific exhibit that will be coming up in Mr Rhoades’ testimony today.She says she doesn’t think they are “relevant, at all.” The first slide is a picture of a broadcast on TV about igloo coolers on TV because a little boy got stuck in one of- from 2019.Sabatini says the next one is a similar broadcast image. She says it would require speculation, to admit these. Bowles is saying that the video clip of the news story (about an Igloo cooler recall) - March 11th, 2019 is when it was first saved. But December 2020 it was viewed again.Bowles says that there is an argument to be made that viewing that article on dec 28th, 2020 is premediration - given the amount of coolers in the millete home. Sabatini says that no one has testified about coolers in the millete garage at all, let alone many.Sabatini is explaining that there has been zero testimony about the coolers in the house or testimony about loading a freezer into a car. Also, a freezer was tested for DNA and nothing came of it.Bowles says that her position is there is evidence of coolers in the garage - the millete family did a lot of outdoor activities And had coolers. It is the proximity of time, she says, that viewing a story where a human could fit in a cooler...Bowles says that this is a circumstantial case. Sabatini says that this is a family with a little boy, and she chuckles a little bit. She says this is grasping.The screenshots are from an iPad that both Maya and Larry used - so ”we have to speculate who took the screenshot”Judge is speaking - he sounds like he has a terrible cold! He says that this is minor and doesn’t add very much. He excludes the two slides.Sabatini begins speaking of a witness on the witness list - and that this witness would be cumulative because he would testify about the extensive widespread media coverage.The witness is Investigator Bostic (sp?) who would testify that this case was national news, that there were billboards, an open source document to help with search efforts, and even international coverage.Bowles says it is relevant to prove May Millete is deceased. Judge overrules objection by Sabatini for this witness: says the “it relates to the extent of the reach of the family and investigator requests for information and frankly, if she were alive, she would see that.”Since I was the first media person here, I got a seat. However, it is packed today and they are doing an overflow room. Bowles has to get her lapel mic.Judge C says he actually went to a concert last night and that’s why his voice is hoarse today!Bowles begins questioning Rhoades. Bowles shows the family tree of Larry’s family and friends on screen for the jury. They are taking a lot of notes.Bowles brings up the last purchase made - rubber ducks. speaking about exact locations, Bowles asks about Larry’s aunt’s address and area. She asks where larry got the car washed, which was national city car wash. A purchase at the next door business was also made.Bowles just wanted to recap those things and there aren’t a lot of questions regarding those facts. She‘s bringing up the hard drive now, which we also went through Friday.Rhoades says that in general, there was documentation of location, documentation of social media and more on the hard drive - related to May Millete. “Her demeanor in most of the selfie images saved was not a positive demeanor.”On screen we can see three images of May Millete - the selfie images Rhoades just mentioned. (Maggie opinion of Description: in the first Selfie image, Maya looks disinterested. In the second, she looks distracted. And in the third, she appears to be disinterested as well.)I can only report on the testimony but I wish that you could see these photos too. The jurors are glued to the screen right now and taking notes.The next exhibit is a photo of someone else’s phone and beside it, the metadata of this photo. The selfie images slide also included the metadata.The photo of a phone : It shows an email address and a password listed right below it. In the reflection of the phone, we can see what appears to be a man.Bowles asks if there were screenshots and social media conversations on the hard drive as well. There were 6 screenshots of Maya’s conversations with Jasmine Lucht. Bowles asks what the topic of conversation was.(Maggie note for clarity: This is the friend that also went through a tough time in her marriage that other friends encouraged Maya to talk to.)The topic of conversation, Rhoades confirms after an objection from Ryan, was Maya’s marriage problems.The next slide shows location screenshots for May 16, 2020 - on the find my phone app, the user whose location is found is maya Millete. On one screenshot, she “cannot be found”Jurors look really fresh and interested today.There are more slides to follow with “additional tracking images” Rhoades says. There are various dates through 2020 that the images are from.Bowles asks if there is anyway to tell if the person being tracked is moving, like in a car. Rhoades says that no, it is just the location at the time Of the screenshot.The next slide is Messages with Suzanne Shin. This is an image saved on the hard drive, as everything we’re going through right now Is.“In your investigation, did you review evidence related to the Lexus SUV location?” Bowles asks. Rhoades says that he did. He began by looking at surveillance footage, as well as reviewing mileage.Bowles hands Rhoades a binder. “Lexus Missing mileage/ searches“ is the name of the next exhibit on screen. “To determine missing mileage I needed a reference point...we obtained an image of the odometer...we obtained service records from Decemer 2020 that had the mileagRhoades testifies there were: 1,371 miles between dec 17, 2020 and Jan 23 2021.Rhoades said that he needed to go day by day to determine where to search for May. He was able to eventually, through many records, get May and Larry’s mileages for each day, he says.SANDAG expressway SR 125 is shown on the map. It has a purple line following the 125. This is the most used route on the records for the Millete vehicles, Rhoades says.There is a transponder toll number and also a license plate tracker on the road - which made it possible for Rhoades to track the millete vehicles. He’s explaining the route to the MIllete home from the 125.(Maggie note: I used part of this road to get to the courthouse this morning as well.)The next exhibit is regarding the JEEP infotainment system. “It is essentially your cars computer,” Rhoades explains for the jury.Judge C is watching Bowles and the witness care fully, with his poker face.Rhoades said the infotainment system was another way to cross reference with all of the other records he had, like call detail records.Bowles asks if the JEEP went to Anza Borrego other than in December and Rhoades says that those were the only occasions.A google map route is the next exhibit. It shows 2 hours and 7 minutes east to the desert, though i can’t read the exact location. There is another exhibit that has more slides like this, Rhoades says.The google map slide is part of the the larger exhibit. Rhoades says that walks the reader through, day by day, the travel routes of the Millete’s.Larry Millete is looking at the map on screen. The route demonstated is the most likely route, that google thinks one would take, Rhoades says.Call detail records are the next slides. Rhoades agrees with Bowles’ question that he relied heavily on these records for his investigation.Rhoades has triangulated, in a map on screen, May’s location on December 23, 2020. He used her financial records (a purchase at Play it Again Sports) and call detail records.Rhoades says that if there was any question in his investigation, for mileage, as to who (Larry or May) used which vehicle each day - he would go with the higher mileage in his analysis.Bowles asks why he would do that. “I’m trying to figure out the potential mileage that could have been traveled on Jan 8th, when I don’t have those call detail records.”Unaccounted for mileage: 444 miles, only on 6 Am - 6 PM Jan 8.(This is for the Lexus.)The Lexus infotainment system is the next slide: Rhoades wasn’t able to get everything from the infotainment system in the download, but he did see the turn off/ turn on records.The entire time Larry has been completely still and staring straight ahead to the screen in front of him.Sabatini is taking notes. So are some members of the jury. On screen, we can now see some of the location data in the lexus infotainment download. There is nothing significant; it is mostly work and home.The power on events are on screen now. Some jurors are watching Larry intermittently. Rhoades is showing an exhibit that he made for clarity on this data.I can’t really see this exhibit but it uses some nice colors and fonts.Bowles asks Rhoades to walk us through the timeline on Jan 8th: There are power on events at 6 AM as seen on video, 10:58 AM ,11:11 AM and 11:13 AM, and there is no other power on events afather one at 1: 41 PM, and then the vehicle returns home (seen on surveillance)On screen we can now see a route for a trip to the Grand Canyon area - and a route back that loops around to Quartzsite, AZ. Sabatini is twirling her hair. Larry Millete stares forward.Bowles asks why this is significant. Rhoades says the the cross section of the two routs was relevant, and shows some familiarity to the area.There are trips to Lake Havasu in the data, and on screen we see a route form June 28th. There is some overlap with the routes to the Grand Canyon and proximity.There are red dots on this map to the right of lake Havasu as cell tower activations. - still for summer trips that the family took.Rhoades explains that he found the nearby Colorado River Reservation area to be of significance to him.There are cell phone tower hits that lead Rhoades to this. On the right side of the colorado river is Arizona, Rhoades highlights.Bowles asks if Rhoades took into consideration any other facts in his analysis: in June 27 timeframe was of course when Larry found May and Jamey in the parking lot.Rhoades is now going through an exhibit on phone records - on June 27, there were many calls to Patricia Laird. Many. The calls came from Larry and Maya’s daughter’s phone.a new photo on screen depicts the millete extended family and others at lake Havasu July 2, 2020.We can see a potential route to Lake Havasu from the Millete home on screen. About half of the missing miles, 222 miles, would then reach the Colorado river reservation.Bowles asks if the public can access the reservation land, and Rhoades explains that one Would need permission to dig on the vast land.Bowles asks what the terrain is like out there. Rhoades: it’s pretty wide open...it’s a desert like environment, a lot of sand...some bushes...a farm, but pretty much open desert.Rhoades says he took a drive from Chula Vista to the Colorado river reservation area. Bowles suggests it was a remote area. Rhoades says that it’s vast and no one would know he was out there.Being out there, there were too many possibilities for searches...it’s rural...there were vast amounts of area i did not search,” Rhoades says.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·9hIt’s 10:32 and Judge C says we need to break!Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hFashion update: Rhoades actually is in a dark grey suit, and i want to note that sabatini has a baby blue shirt underneath her brown suit. Mr Ryan is also in light blue and brown today. I love this. Not the first time they’ve coordinated.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hBack to Bowles’ exhibit: Lexus infotainment system power on events. “Based on my drive to the location...driving out from Chula vista with a stop for gas, to the colorado river area...I was able to travel to that area...Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hRhoades says the timing is consistent with the power on times in Larry’s Lexus infotainment system. Based on his drive, the mileage was not consistent with getting all the way to lake Havasu.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hBowles: “The amount of time that’s missing from when the lexus leaves and then returns... is it consistent with the amount of time to be able to drive out there and dispose of a body?” Witness says yes.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hRyan is not happy with these questions. Has shaken his head. Is slightly smiling. He keeps objecting and getting overruled on what he thinks is speculation - a question about scratches on the Lexus makes him chuckle when overruled. He asks for sidebar.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hSome on the jury are using this time to catch up on note taking.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hLarry Millete turns around and asks the deputy for something but I can’t make out what he said - I think he needs a pencil. He is writing a lot down right now. He seems to be in good spirits.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hWhen Larry millete needs something from the bailiffs, he is always very polite. That is just a courtroom observation. He is not an ornery detainee.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hBack from sidebar. Testimony regarding the scratches on the Lexus - which Rhoades was beginning to answer - is stricken from the record.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hBowles asks if there is lots of bushes in the terrain of the route to Colorado river reservation and Rhoades says yes, and its very sandy.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hLarry Millete wrote a lot during early January to many different spellcasters, asking for urgent spellcasting, purchasing “triple boosts” and “last chance spells.” He told these spellcasters he needed help immediately because Maya was adamant about leaving him.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hRhoades has already read about 20 messages from Larry Millete to different spellcasters asking for spells and hexes and help to save his marriage - he sometimes mentions that it is for the family as well. He did not want May to leave.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hSpellcasters tell Larry to wait for the spells to work. “I called the affair partner’s wife and told her...may said it’s unforgiveable that i embarassed her and ruined her reputation...” Larry writes in response.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“I know when she’s serious and sticking to her mindset.” -Larry to spellcasterMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hSome jurors listen to the messages and observe Larry Millete. He is sitting stoic as ever.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“Why can’t you understand that i have nothing left?” Maya texted Larry, as revealed in spell casters message from Jan 6.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“She wants me to let her go...please, the situation is critical” more messages from Larry:“may is not changing her mind, if anything, its’ getting worse...regardless of my pleas to reconcile”Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“It’s not anger anymore...one year of being stuck in limbo...I can’t keep living like this...i can’t keep track of whether your words can be trusted of not...i’m not going to look back...i’m so hurt.” - Maya texted to Larry, then sent toShow moreMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hLarry Millete: “ms malone, please let me know if it is too late to salvage our relationship...”Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“She finds every excuse for divorce...ive tried so many spells...” Larry Millete to spellcasterMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“I’m sorry to keep asking like this but you know you have the power to change things,” Larry says to one of many spellcastersMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hAll of these messages, and more, have been from Jan 6, 2021.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hA new spellcaster is introduced:“how much would it cost for a spell to get my wife to change her mind about divorcing me? we have been together 23 years...i’ve already casted over 20 spells this year with no results...we have three young children i don’t want toShow moreMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·8hJan 7 is next. Messages start in the morning. Jurors taking notes.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·8h“She took her ring off” to many different spellcastersMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hThis afternoon has been all cross examination of Rhoades by Mr Ryan. I’m told that the vibe, unfortunately, is dull.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hI’m told that Ryan went over the details of direct, as usual. But nothing is really landing as far as challenging the investigation. The detail that stuck out to my courtroom sources about cross was that Larry continued to pay he and maya’s life insurance policiesMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hIf I hear anything else, I’ll let you know. Right now we are waiting to go back in after the afternoon break. I’ll be reporting the remainder of cross LIVE momentarily.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hOne more thing: jurors seemed bored during this afternoon’s cross.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRyan hops up to continue cross. We’re talking about a Chevron transaction - actually, Mr Ryan gives his laptop to Rhoades to COUNT how many chevron transactions there were.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRhoades said “you want me to count how many transactions there were for both May and Larry? This is probably going to take me a significant amount of time....”Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRyan says to make things easier, why don’t you look at the keyword search, it says 108 right?. Rhoades:“These are your PDF’s? I don’t believe the records came back differentiated between 2020 and 2021. They came back all together. What you’ve presented to me is differentiated.”Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRhoades answers that there were 108 transactions and 30 transactions (not sure which goes with which year.) Ryan is done.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hBowles asks on redirect if there was an updated financial search done. Rhoades answers that he said he did perform a search - Navy Federal records that went up to 2023. That’s the most recent search.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hSome jurors look annoyed, some look bored, some looks sleepy, and some are taking notes.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hBowles asks about the mileage on the “amended” report including the SANDAG records (from the 125 expressway) Rhoades says that those records allowed him to “refine” his search and give him more prescise vehicle movementMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hOnly on Jan 8th did Rhoades not have enough data to confirm mileage.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRecross: Ryan: you identified 6 different occasions that there was only one way trips on identified on the SANDAG records? Rhoades agrees. That’s it. But Bowles wants to reredirectThat number is confirmed by the report. Rhoades is released and subject to recall by the defense.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hRhoades takes his place at the prosecution table. The next witness is Peter Villaver - and his suit is incredibly similar to the one Mr Ryan is wearing today, the blue plaid. Villaver’s is darker.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hBowles hands Villaver a binder of exhibit slides - its cell site data for a trip to the Grand Canyon and also Lake Havasu. It is part of Villaver’s analysis - an excerpt.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hJan 29, 2021 2:20 PM to Jan 31, 2021 at 9:51 Pm: Larry Millete’s Grand Canyon trip. We’ll be looking at cell site mapping in these slides.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hSome jurors are very interested by this first slide with those times.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·4hThe next slide is a Map of Area. It’s a potential Grand Canyon route, Villaver explains. Then we switch to a blue dot showing the first cell site hit.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hVillaver says this first cell site activation is in El Centro. “As we move through the slides, more cell site activations were found along the route to the Grand Canyon.” Villaver saysMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hLARAMAE is the license plate for the vehicle in question for this grand canyon trip. It’s a Toyota Sienna. This is also a Millete vehicle.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hJanuary 30th was a Saturday, and that’s when the trip was made. Moving into January 31, Sunday, there were cell site activations/hits that were moving back to Chula Vista, where the Millete’s lived. Villaver is explaining each slide.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hVillaver points to the cell site activations on each slide. The highways for the route is SR8, then towards interstate 10, then onto SR 78Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hEvery Juror is looking closely at the map of the routes and cell site hits being shown.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hNext slide shows the route in AZ. Villaver says this map has the highlighted route going back. The way Villaver is describing it is a little hard to follow, but the map helps. Sorry you can’t see the map. It’s about an 11 hour drive.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hBowles asks if in addition to this “turn around” trip to the Grand Canyon, Villaver analyzed trips to Lake Havasu/Parker. We can see on screen that these occurred in June and July 2020.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hVillaver used multiple Millete family phones to get the data for these trips, including the children’s phones.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3h“I apologize, it’s blurry on this particular diagram...” Villaver laments as he points out the May Millete cell phone tower hits For June 28th, 2020. It is admittedly hard to see.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hMojave road is parallel to the colorado river. There is a cell phone activation on Mojave road. Bowles asks if Villaver has been there, and what the terrain is like. Villaver has been to Lake Havasu, he says.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hThe terrain in that area is desert and small shrubbery, Villaver says.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hThe cell phone activations of all the phones together paint a pretty good picture of the route the Millete family took to Lake Havasu. There was also a trip up towards Quartzsite, AZ.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3h“Odds and ends questions” Bowles begins. She brings up Murrieta’s Mexican restaurant (maggie note: can recommend!) and earlier testimony about a transaction there. Bowles asks if Villaver found that locationMaggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hVillaver says that he did and describes the area it is in, which is Bonita. May Millete did have a cell phone activation near there on Dec 27th. Bowles says that it is time to Break because the next exhibit is long.Maggie Winterton@milletetrial·3hThe judge agrees with Bowles that it is a good to break. He says, “I’m told they have one more witness after this.” We still have the rest of this testimony, cross examination of Villaver and the last witness. So, the prosecution did NOT rest today after all!l I’m heading home, and plan to be back at it early tomorrow morning!
