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The husband of missing mother-of-three May Millete contacted a 'spell caster' to try and put a hex on her and stop her leaving him, it emerged, as prosecutors detailed the evidence that caused them to charge Larry Millete with her murder. 

Larry was taken into custody at the family home on Tuesday morning around 11am, after murder charges were filed by the San Diego district attorney on Monday. Their three children are safe, but May's body has never been found. 

On Tuesday afternoon Summer Stephan, the district attorney, said that Larry had tried to put a curse on his wife as the relationship deteriorated and she began talking about wanting a divorce.  

'Extensive search warrants uncovered a trail of things that were happening, that were of great concern,' Stephan told a press conference outside the Chula Vista Police Department.

'Larry was trying to hold on to May.

'He resorted to contacting spell casters, who would be asked to make May stay in the relationship.

'In December he was asking for May to become incapacitated, to be in an accident and have broken bones so she could stay at home.'

Police in Chula Vista, California, on Tuesday arrested Larry Millete (left) for the murder of his missing wife, May (right), who was last seen alive on January 7

Summer Stephan, the San Diego County district attorney, on Tuesday afternoon addressed a press conference and detailed the evidence they used to charge Larry Millete with his wife's murder

Stephan said that May's last phone call was made on January 7, when she spoke to a divorce lawyer and set a date for an appointment on January 12.

The last message that May sent was at 8:15pm on January 7, when she used Facebook Messenger to contact her family.

A few hours earlier, in the afternoon of January 7, Larry had sent a text message which read: 'I think she wants me to snap and I am shaking inside ready to snap.'

May's phone activity stopped at 1:25am on January 8.  

'Larry's messages to the spell caster turned from wanting to keep May to wanting to punish a man he blamed for the failed relationship,' said Stephan. 

Larry has been charged with one count of murder, on or around January 7, and one count of possession of an illegal weapon.

Larry was a known gun fanatic, who had been ordered to give up his guns.

'He had not turned over one of those weapons, a .40 calibre gun, and it remains outstanding today,' said Stephan.

She said investigators were still actively seeking the body, and May's sister Maricris, who raised the initial alarm, made a tearful appeal on Tuesday afternoon for help. 

'I still want to see my sister,' she said, sobbing at the press conference.

'I still want her to come home to us.

'Please, if you know anything at all. Please help us, I'm pleading.

'I still want her to come home.

'We made a promise to her 11-year-old daughter we will bring her home. Please.

'Let the kids know where their mommy is at. Let them know the truth.'

Maricris's husband Richard added: 'That she didn't abandon them. She didn't get up and leave.'  

Police and Feds swarmed the Millete family's home in Chula Vista on Tuesday 

An overhead shot shows police vehicles lined up outside the Millete home 

May, 39, was last seen alive at her family's home in Chula Vista on January 7.  

In late July, after searching the Millete home three separate times, police named Larry a person of interest in his wife's disappearance.

According to the police department's press release, investigators have interviewed 87 people, written 67 search warrants and followed up on more than 130 tips about Maya's possible location or reason for the disappearance.

'Today, the Chula Vista Police Department is announcing the arrest of Larry Millete for the murder of his wife May,' police stated. 

Footage shot by ABC10 at the scene showed a large contingent of police officers and FBI agents swarming the Millete family's home in Chula Vista. 

When police searched the Millete residence in January 2021 in connection with Maya's disappearance, Larry was said to have told officers he knew they were coming for his guns and gave multiple firearms to friends. 

He then refused to name those in possession of his guns. 

In July, police issued Larry with a gun restraining order after officers discovered a photo on his phone which showed '16 firearms, four U.S. passports, several high capacity magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his possession,' according to documents. 

The restraining order stated that authorities were concerned that Larry 'may flee the state or country with his three young minor children or... shoot it out with police due to photographs showing several unregistered and/or illegal assault rifles'. 

Larry and May share three children together, aged four, 10 and 11. 

Another photo, also purportedly found on Larry's phone, showed the couple's four-year-old son standing on a kitchen table surrounded by the weapons.   

Officials claimed that Larry owned a total of 22 weapons -  of which only eight were legally registered to him.  

By the time the restraining order was issued, police had recovered only two semi-automatic weapons belonging to Larry. 

Authorities released this photo of Larry's stash of weapons and four passports. They say the haul includes two illegally-owned AR-15 rifles 

FBI agents were on the scene at the time of Larry Millete's arrest for murder 

The couple are pictured with their three children before May's disappearance 

May, 39, (pictured) vanished on January 7 from the home in Chula Vista that she shared with her husband and their three children aged 4, 10 and 11

In the months since May had gone missing, her relatives have spoken out several times about how her marriage to Larry was unraveling and she was preparing to file for divorce.

In April, it emerged that May had shared a post in a Facebook group for mothers on the same day she vanished, claiming she was seeking advice on a local family law firm on behalf of 'a friend'. 

'Asking for a friend - Has anyone used or have gone through the services of collaborative practice San Diego for divorce? Looking for insights? Positive/negative aspect?' she wrote, according to Fox News.  

She eventually made an appointment with divorce lawyer Marisa Nahale for the following week, but went missing before they could meet.  

In May, May's older sister Maricris told Fox News her sibling had been considering leaving her husband over the last year. 

'I think she was ready in December, and then she finally decided to file that divorce that day,' she said. 

Maricris' husband Richard had previously said that the last time he and his wife saw Maya was on a camping trip shortly before she vanished, during which she warned them: 'If anything happened to me, it would be Larry.'  

In a new interview with Fox News, Richard explained that Larry and Maya's marriage began falling apart months earlier, and claimed that Larry repeatedly reached out to his wife's family about their problems. 

'He was more of an aggressor, trying to get us involved,' Richard said of Larry. 

'He was trying to get us on his side, when we felt like it was a lot of lies that he was telling us.' 

May's family have claimed she confided in them days before she vanished that 'if anything happened to me, it would be Larry.' Larry and Maya together

Richard recalled how Larry had called him asking for advice about his marriage last summer. 

'He just sounded desperate, you know, 'You gotta listen to me. It's her fault, it's her fault,'' Richard said.

He said that Larry began sending increasingly bizarre messages to his in-laws in the months that followed. 

In September he allegedly sent May's relatives a photo that showed a picture of the couple covered in what appeared to be drops of blood and four candles.  

'He did some extreme s**t,' Richard said.

May's relatives also told Fox News that they've been cautious about speaking out because they're afraid of Larry.  

An anonymous source claimed to Fox News in April that Larry suspected his wife of having an affair, and that he offered to pay a hit man $20,000 to kill the man last summer. 

The source said Larry was still talking about it in January, in the days before May went missing, and that he seemed 'pretty serious' about it.    

Investigators have searched the family home multiple times since May disappeared and dozens of searches have been held in the local community.

At least 52 search warrants have been issued and more than 70 people interviewed as part of the investigation to date. 

The most recent search of the family home was carried out on July 1 where May's black Jeep was seen being towed away by authorities. 

Police also carried out a search on the home with K-9 units in May.  

The same month, investigators spent a week scouring the site of a golf course that shut down in 2018 and sits around a mile from May's home. 

Police did not specify what lead them to search the golf course. 

Aerial images show the area includes a small body of water, sand traps from the old course and a large empty parking lot. 

It is flanked by hills with hiking trails to the north, a neighborhood to the south and empty fields on either side.  

Police executed their first search warrant at the Millete home on January 23, 13 days after Maya's family visited her home, spoke to her husband and reported her missing. 

All of May's vehicles were outside her home, but they noted that she had not responded to a text since January 7.