Maya Millete: Sister of missing California woman slams police for five-month delay in asking for help with investigation

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

The sister of missing California mom Maya Millete is outraged that police are now asking the family for helps five months after Ms Millete went missing amid marriage issues.

The 39-year-old was last seen on 7 January at her home in Chula Vista, south of San Diego in southern California. She was reported missing three days later.

Maricris Drouaillet, the sister of Ms Millete, and her husband Richard Drouaillet have left their home in Riverside, east of Los Angeles, to try to find Ms Millete, Fox 5 reported.

Detectives contacted the family of Ms Millete, who has three children, last week. Ms Drouaillet said they were angered by the delay.

“It does feel frustrating to the family that they are just now starting to do that after five or six months of her missing. They could have done that at the beginning,” the sister told Fox 5. “Now they want to go search these areas that we told them to go search back in January, that those are important areas to search.”

Ms Millete is 5 foot 2, about 105lbs [48kg], has brown hair, and has tattoos of musical notes on her clavicle and a hummingbird on her back.

Investigators have served more than 30 search warrants and interviewed more than 60 people.

Her husband, Larry Millete, was scrutinized after it came out that his wife was set to meet with a divorce lawyer on the last day she was seen.

“I think she was ready in December, and then she finally decided to file that divorce that day,” Ms Drouaillet told Fox, adding that her sister had been thinking about filing for a divorce over the last year.

Police performed the first search warrant at Ms Millete’s home on 23 January, 13 days after the home was visited by her family who spoke to her husband and then reported her missing.

While all of her vehicles were outside the home, she hadn’t answered a text since 7 January.

Larry Millete was served with a temporary gun violence restraining order on 5 May after police found his stash of 22 weapons, including seven assault rifles and three shotguns. Only eight of them were legally registered to Mr Millete. Police searched the home again two days later.

When police searched the home in January, Mr Millete told police that he knew they were coming for his guns and that he had given several of the weapons to friends and then refused to name them.

Since she disappeared, family members have spoken publically several times about how her marriage was not going well and a divorce could be imminent.

Ms Drouaillet told NBC7 she was surprised when she learned that Mr Millete had hired a lawyer and wasn’t cooperating with the investigation.

“It’s tough because he is our family,” she said. “We can’t imagine him doing anything to our sister.”