California authorities name Larry Millete a person of interest in his wife's disappearance six months ago

Larry Millete, the husband of missing mother of three Maya Millete, was named by police as a person of interest in his wife's disappearance for the first time this week, more than six months after she vanished from the family's Chula Vista home. 

"The Chula Vista Police Department is confirming that Larry Millete is a person of interest regarding the disappearance of May 'Maya' Millete," Chula Vista police said Thursday. "Due to the sensitivity of the case and to protect the integrity of the investigation, we will not be providing additional information at this time."

The development was originally revealed on Wednesday during a hearing requested by CBS8 to unseal records related to a gun violence restraining order filed against Larry Millete in May. 

"We agreed that we would not put up a fight for any of the information regarding Mr. Millete, his missing wife, that there is an investigation, that he is a person of interest," San Diego Deputy City Attorney Jeff Brooker said in court Wednesday. 

The Milletes' house in Chula Vista, California, has been searched multiple times in the months since Maya went missing, most recently on July 1 when Maya's black Jeep was towed away by authorities. 

Before that, their home was also searched on May 7, when a large team of Chula Vista Police Department officers and Border Patrol agents with K9 dogs could be seen at the house for hours. 

During that search, Larry Millete was served with a gun violence restraining order and had more than a dozen guns seized from his home. 

MISSING CALIFORNIA WOMAN'S HUSBAND CONTESTS GUN VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDER, CLAIMS HE WAS DETAINED ‘ILLEGALLY’

Hilary Nemchik, a spokesperson for the San Diego City Attorney's office, told Fox News that the gun violence restraining order will be unsealed, but a picture of Larry and Maya Millete's 4-year-old son surrounded by several guns on a table will be heavily redacted.

"Deputy City Attorney Brooker’s statement regarding Mr. Millete being a person of interest related to information contained in a declaration our Office agreed to have unsealed by the court," Nemchik said Thursday. "The City Attorney’s primary concern is the protection of the Millete children, which is why we opposed efforts to publicly release an image depicting a child. Our Office successfully argued that the image be heavily redacted so that children are not identified or exposed to harm."

The Millete home was also searched on Jan. 23. 

Maya Millete was last seen at her home around 5:00 p.m. on Jan. 7, the same day that she sought advice on divorce attorneys in a Facebook group for Chula Vista mothers and eventually made an appointment with one for the following week. 

She had been considering a divorce for most of 2020 and decided to go through with it on Jan. 7, her family members previously told Fox News. 

Larry Millete told San Diego's KGTV-TV in the days after Maya disappeared the couple had "ups and downs" over the past year and that they got into an argument the night before Maya disappeared.

Maya Millete's family members previously told Fox News that she warned those close to her in the weeks leading up to her disappearance, "If anything happened to me, it would be Larry."

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The Chula Vista Police Department has been working on the case since Jan. 11 and formed a working group with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, FBI, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service in April. 

They have written 52 search warrants so far, including for "residences, vehicles, cellular and electronic devices, call detail records, financial records, social media and cloud data."

Authorities have also interviewed more than 70 individuals and reviewed more than 70 tips in the case. 

Larry Millete and his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.