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'A Scary Temper': Maya Millete Told Friend Husband Might Hurt Kids If She Left Him, Prosecutors Say

Maya "May" Milette had expressed concern that Larry Milette may hurt their kids as a form of retribution is she pursued a divorce, according to prosecutors.

By Gina Tron
Mom Goes Missing Days Before Daughter's 11th Birthday

Missing California mother of three Maya “May” Millete apparently told a friend that she thought her husband, now a suspect in her presumed murder, would hurt their children if she left him.

In court paperwork filed last month, prosecutors allege that Millete told a friend in December that “I don’t think he would hurt me, but I think he would hurt the kids to get back at me,” San Diego outlet KSWB reports.

Her husband Larry Millete was arrested in October for her murder, nine months after she disappeared. She had vanished in January the very same day that she scheduled an appointment with a divorce lawyer. Her body has yet to be found.

Last week’s court filing part of an effort by the district attorney’s office to argue against Larry’s bail — also revealed that Maya, 29, expressed fear over her husband’s temper.

“Larry does have a scary temper,” she allegedly texted a friend in June. “Nothing the people outside of the family have seen.”

She especially appeared to fear how Larry would react to a request for divorce. Prosecutors detailed in the paperwork that she had “strategized how she might serve [Larry] with divorce papers because she was concerned about his reaction.”

“She considered going somewhere and then having him served, and even made a contingency plan to stay at a friend’s vacant condo, but May did not want to leave her kids,” they wrote. “She didn’t want the kids to be with the defendant when he found out she was seeking a divorce.”

Last month, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said at a press conference that Maya's divorce lawyer appointment served the catalyst for her alleged murder. 

She said that Maya wanted to co-parent with Larry, while separating from their “toxic relationship.”

“But Larry would not have it,” Stephen alleged at the presser.

The newly filed paperwork also points to allegedly controlling behavior on Larry's part.

“Witnesses reported to police that on at least one occasion, the defendant used one of his children’s cell phones to track May’s location,” the filing reads.

Larry is also being charged with the illegal possession of an assault weapon. Police had filed a gun violence restraining order request against him back in May, claiming that he was in possession of "illegal assault weapons and unregistered firearms," posing an "extreme danger to the public in both the cities of Chula Vista and San Diego.” Guns were seized from Larry's home as a result of that request.

Larry pleaded not guilty to murder and in September claimed that Maya “voluntarily” left him and their three children. He alleged in a petition, intended to keep their three kids away from her side of the family, that she had been acting “erratically” before her disappearance. He stopped cooperating with police soon after his wife’s disappearance, a public information officer for the Chula Vista department told Oxygen.com back in February.