LA PRESA, Calif. — Family and friends of Maya Millete, 39, searched a trail in La Presa for clues Sunday afternoon. The mother of three children was last seen Jan. 7 at her Chula Vista home.
“The more eyes on this case the better. Hopefully, we’ll find something,” said Maricris Drouaillet, Millete’s sister. “We’ll do what we can and will continue searching until we can find her.”
Maricris has organized many searches in canyons and trails near her sister’s home but so far, they have come up empty.
Millete was not known to hike in the area searched Sunday, but another volunteer visited the trail just south of the Spring Valley Swap Meet off Quarry Rd. that runs parallel to CA-54 last weekend and suggested they look further.
“People don’t come out to this location a lot. There’s not a lot of foot traffic. If you’re going to hide a body or do some sort of criminal activity, do it where there might not be a heavy presence of people,” said volunteer Lauren Ireland. “There’s some slopes that go down the embankment and quite a bit of water and a pond six feet deep. We want to do more intensive searching in the embankments, not just on the trail itself. We want to go down to potentially where there could be a body missing or hiding.”
Maricris said the Chula Vista Police Department recently consulted with the FBI about the case, but there are no new leads. Investigators said Millete’s husband, Larry, retained an attorney and stopped cooperating earlier this month. He previously told News 8 he appreciated the work of the police and needed to care for his family.
Maricris and her husband, Robert, pledged to continue organizing searches and raising awareness about the case until Millete is found.
“We feel like sometimes we are alone and then we show up and all these people show up. It’s cool. It’s a relief for the family,” said Richard. “We’re so thankful from the bottom of our hearts were thankful for all these people that show up.”