A San Diego jury took just five hours to convict Larry Millete of first-degree murder in the death of his wife Maya — a verdict that took five years to arrive and nine months just to produce an arrest, exposing every step of a justice system that failed a mother of three who had already documented her own worst fears in writing.

Maya Millete, a 39-year-old civilian contract specialist at the Naval Information Warfare Center, vanished from the family's Chula Vista home on January 7, 2021. She has never been found. Her body has never been recovered. The conviction rests entirely on circumstantial evidence — but that evidence was overwhelming, according to juror Beverly Feldman, who told reporters outside the courthouse: "Larry did it. We believe he murdered her and he knows where (her body) is."

The evidence included Maya's own journal, where she wrote in chilling detail about the abuse she endured. "He abuses me physically… I want to be strong, so he never puts his hands on me again," she wrote. In another entry: "I'm literally afraid of your dad sometimes. He's capable of hurting me." She also accused Larry of marital rape: "Nothing stops him from forcing himself on me."

She told Larry directly that their 20-year marriage was over. "Let me find my peace… I cannot find it with you," she wrote, calling the relationship "unhealthy" and "toxic." She made an appointment with a divorce lawyer. That appointment was scheduled for January 7, 2021 — the day she disappeared. Deputy District Attorney Christy Bowles told jurors that for Larry, "divorce was not an option."

Instead of letting her go, Larry Millete searched online for hemlock poison — a vial of liquid from the highly poisonous plant was found inside the home. He Googled "how to mentally torture someone with words" and "psychological torture." He sent hundreds of emails to online "spellcasters" asking if they could hex his wife, writing: "Can you hex to have her hurt enough that she will have to depend on me or need my help?" He followed up: "She's only nice to me when she needs me or [is] sick. Thanks again. Maybe [an] accident or broken bone." The day after Maya vanished, Larry powered down his phone and left for more than 11 hours to an unknown location.

And yet it took police until October 2021 — nine full months — to arrest him.

Maya's sister, Maricris Drouaillet, stood outside the courtroom after the verdict and named the cost of that delay. "Justice… (has) been served today," she said. "But we still have my sister out there… We still have to bring my sister home, to bring her to her three children that's been waiting for her for five years."

Bowles acknowledged the limits of the verdict. "No verdict can erase the pain of losing May or the years of uncertainty that they have endured."

A woman documented her own murder in real time — the abuse, the fear, the poison, the spells, the torture searches — and the machinery of justice still needed nine months to make an arrest and five years to reach a verdict. Larry Millete faces 25 years to life. The question that remains is how many other women are writing those same journal entries tonight, waiting for a system that moves this slowly.