Friends and family gather Saturday for May ‘Maya' Millete memorial hike
Friends, family, and supporters of May “Maya” Millete gathered on Saturday for a memorial hike in honor of the Chula Vista mother of three who disappeared Jan. 7, 2021.
Her husband, Larry Millette was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife October 19, 2021, about nine months after she disappeared. He has remained in jail facing charges of murder and illegal possession of an assault weapon, though her body has never been found.
A few hundred people gathered at Mount San Miguel Park to mark this week’s fifth anniversary of the disappearance.
For the first time, the couple’s children publicly joined the search for their mother. Lara Mae, 16, Maylani, 14, and Lazarus, 9, performed during a memorial service in the park after the prayer hike. The children sang songs their mother had once performed on her YouTube channel.
The Maya Millete Case
“When I asked them to sing, to perform for their Mom, they didn’t say no,” Maricris Drouaillet told NBC 7 at the event. She and her husband, Richard, are the aunt and uncle most recently raising the Millete children. Over the years, the couple has led their entire extended family and the hundreds of friends and volunteers who first came together at Mount San Miguel Park just a couple of days after Maya disappeared.
“Surrounding us there are these angels that God has brought together to search for our sister. So, we’re truly blessed, and we can not give up on that,” Richard Drouaillet said.
In an in-depth conversation before the anniversary date, Maya’s sister Maricris, and her niece Rica Casino told NBC 7’s Mark Mullen that not knowing what happened to her and the five-year wait for justice have made these the hardest years of their lives.
Surrounding us there are these angels that God has brought together to search for our sister. So, we’re truly blessed, and we can not give up on that. Richard Drouaille, Maya Millete’s Brother-In-Law
I couldn’t imagine my family going through what we have been through for the last five years, Maricris said. “Not knowing — that’s the thing, not knowing anything,” adding, “it’s almost every day we think of her, what could have been, what happened to her.”
“For us, Jan. 7 is probably the worst day of our family’s lives,” Rica said. “But it also gives us a chance to, I guess, remember her again, just to remember how much we love her, and, obviously, we do love her so much, still to be coming to San Diego every year and celebrating her.”
Saturday’s event was an intentional effort to keep the missing persons case in the public eye. Organizers said it’s a very important message, especially for the three children now growing up without their mother.
“We are really going to show her children that we are still honoring her,” said Norma Toothman, one of the event organizers, adding “that her mom is not forgotten, that her mom meant something.”
The prayer hike was held at Mount San Miguel, where Maya often hiked and where many of the first searches took place.
