July 13, 2026

Larry Millete Convicted in Maya Millete's Murder, the "Ghost" Sword-Murder Trial of Isaac Apodaca in Grace Jennings's Killing, and a Verdict

Larry Millete Convicted in Maya Millete's Murder, the "Ghost" Sword-Murder Trial of Isaac Apodaca in Grace Jennings's Killing, and a Verdict

A three-case roundup. In San Diego, a jury convicted Larry Millete, 44, of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Maya Millete, a Chula Vista mother who vanished in January 2021 and whose body has never been found; prosecutors built the case partly on messages Millete allegedly sent to online spellcasters before she disappeared, and jurors convicted in under a day without agreeing on the method of killing. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the first-degree murder trial of Isaac Apodaca, 30, is underway in the 2022 sword killing of 21-year-old Grace Jennings; prosecutors say Apodaca never held the weapon but spent months manipulating his girlfriend, Kiara McCulley — who pleaded guilty and is testifying — into the killing by convincing her she was part of a vigilante group. Apodaca has pleaded not guilty and says he was the one manipulated. And in Lompoc, California, Ashlee Buzzard, 40, charged with murder in the death of her nine-year-old daughter Melodee Buzzard — whose remains were found in Utah in December after she was reported missing in October 2025 — was back in court; she has pleaded not guilty, and her preliminary hearing is set for September. This episode discusses the killing of a young woman and the death of a child; the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-422-4453) and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline are available 24/7.

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Kalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, you're listening to Daily Crime Injustice.

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I'm Garrett Fisher and it is Monday, July thirteenth, twenty

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twenty six. Before we start, a word of caution. Today's

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episode deals with the killing of a young woman and

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the death of a child. Nothing gratuitous, but if that

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is not where you are today, take care of yourself

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and if any of it hits close to home. I

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will have some resources for you at the end of

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the show. Here is where things stand. In Santa Fe,

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New Mexico, thirty year old Isaac Appadaca is on trial

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for the first degree murder of twenty one year old

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Grace Jennings, who was stabbed to death with a sword

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in twenty twenty two. Appadaca has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors

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say he never held the weapon that his girlfriend did,

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and that he talked her into it. That trial is ongoing.

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In San Diego, a jury has convicted forty four year

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old Larry Millet a first degree murder in the death

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of his wife, Maya Millet, who vanished in twenty twenty

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one and has never been found. And in Lompoc, California,

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forty year old Ashley Buzzard, charged with murdering her nine

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year old daughter Melody, was back in court this week.

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She has pleaded not guilty. Let me start with the

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case that is actually unfolding in a courtroom right now,

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because it asks a question the law has always struggled with.

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If you never touch the weapon, if you're not even

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in the room when the killing happens, can you still

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be a murderer. Prosecutors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, say

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the answer is yes, and they say the man who

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proves it is named Isaac Appadeka. But I want to

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start with the victim because she is the reason we

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are doing this at all. Grace Jennings twenty one years

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old in October of twenty twenty two. Grace needed a

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place to stay. That is it, That is the whole tragedy.

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In one sentence, she needed somewhere to go, and someone

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she knew offered her a spot for the night, and

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she brought her cats and her belongings, and she walked

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in the door. She never walked out. Grace was found

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in a detached garage on a property in Santa Fe.

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She had been stabbed over and over with a sword,

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a thirty six inch double handed broadsword, the kind of

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thing you would see in a museum or a movie.

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This one came off Amazon, delivered two days before Grace died.

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Sit with that for a second. Somebody ordered the weapon

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that would kill her with two day shipping, and it

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showed up on the doorstep like a phone case or

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a pair of shoes. The woman who swung that sword

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is Kiara McCully, Appudeka's girlfriend, and she is not the

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one on trial this week, because she already pleaded guilty.

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She admitted she killed Grace. As part of her deal,

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she will serve thirty years, and in exchange, she is

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testifying against the man prosecutors say is the real author

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of this whole thing, because here is the state's theory,

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and it is genuinely one of the darker things I

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have covered. Prosecutors say Apodaca did not need to hold

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the sword. He spent months, they say, building a world

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inside Kiera mccully's head, convincing her that he was part

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of a secret vigilante group called Ghost, an organization that

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supposedly existed to hunt down sex traffickers, convincing her that

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Grace was on a kill list, that if she killed Grace,

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she would move up the ranks. Unlocked perks matter more.

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Prosecutors even say he convinced her she had dissociative identity disorder,

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helped her name the personalities and then played into them. Look,

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I'm gonna be honest with you. When you hear a

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defense say someone was manipulated, you brace for a stretch.

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But here it is the prosecution making that argument. They

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are the ones saying this was a person who got

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worked on methodically until she would do a thing she

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never would have done on her own. And then in

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the hours before Grace died, prosecutors say Appadaca sent texts

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I will read you the cleaner ones quote, I am

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just saying swing and don't regret the aim quote, I

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am not playing games. I am wanting to see you

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do this. That is not a man losing his temper.

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That is a man giving instructions. And on the day

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it happened, prosecutors concede Apadaca was not even in the garage.

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He had gone into the main house, which is exactly

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the point of the whole case. He built the machine,

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they say, and then he stepped out of the room

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and let it run. Now he is pleaded not guilty,

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and his defense is telling the jury a very different story.

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They say Appadaka is the gullible one, that it was

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Kiara who raged, who planned this, who wanted Grace dead

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out of jealousy, and that Appadaca got swept along. His

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lawyer has acknowledged some of Apadaca's own statements where and

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I am quoting the defense here not the best, but

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argues he was cooperative, did not run and called for help.

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Two people who were both in that orbit, each now

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pointing at the other as the one who really did this.

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The jury has to decide who was steering. The trial

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has been moving fast. Kiara's own mother took the stand.

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She owned the property, She watched that relationship curdle. She

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once had to take her daughter to the emergency room

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bruised head to toe with a broken thumb. And she

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is the one who testified the sword came from Amazon.

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She said she used to do medieval reenactments, so she

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knew exactly how dangerous that blade was. Her worry, she said,

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was that a pet might get hurt. It never crossed

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her mind it would be used on a person. Then

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the medical examiner testified, and I am going to stay

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on the right side of gravity here because Grace deserves that.

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Doctor Emily Helmrich ruled Grace's death a homicide by sharp

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force injuries twelve stab wounds, at least eight more in

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size wounds wounds to her hands, which tells you Grace

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fought that she knew what was happening. And the examiner

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testified that none of those wounds would have killed her instantly.

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It would have taken minutes. That is the detail I

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cannot shake. This was not fast for Grace. The trial

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continues this week. Apodaca is presumed innocent and a jury,

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not me, will decide whether the state has proven he

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is the architect they say he is. But whatever that

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verdict turns out to be, I do not want us

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to lose the person at the center of it. Grace

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Jennings needed a couch for the night. Nobody was paying

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attention to how much danger she was walking into. Somebody

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should have been welcome back. If you have been with

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us a few weeks, you already know this next name,

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because back in June we brought you one of the

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strangest pieces of testimony I have ever described. On this

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show a San Diego murder trial where the prosecution called

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spellcap to the stand, actual paid online spellcasters. That was

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the Larry Millet case, and this week it reached the

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end of the road. Let me bring you back up

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to speed and then I will tell you what the

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jury did. Maya Millet thirty nine years old, a mother

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in Chula Vista, California. She was last seen alive on

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January seventh, twenty twenty one. In the weeks before she disappeared,

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Maya had been telling the people closest to her that

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she was unhappy, that she wanted out of her marriage,

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that she was afraid of how her husband might react

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if she asked to leave. Her sister said, Maya told

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her directly that if anything ever happened to her, look

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at the husband. Think about how much fear it takes

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to say that sentence out loud to your own sister.

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Maya said it, and then she was gone. Her body

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has never been found, not in five years. And that

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is what made this case so hard to prosecute, because

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in most murder trials, the body is the beginning. Here

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there was not one. So what did the prosecution have.

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They had Larry Milite's own behavior, and they had the spellcasters.

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This is the part we covered in June. Prosecutors showed

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the jury messages Larry allegedly sent to online spellcasters before

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Maya vanished. He was not asking for love or luck.

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According to the evidence, He was paying people to cast

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spells to make Maya quote, get sick and stay sick

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until she supposedly realized she loved him again, to banish

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everyone from her life except family. He was trying to

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trap her by magic before prosecutors say he made sure

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she could not leave any other way. Larry Millett denied

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all of it. His defense floated the idea that Maya

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could still be alive out there, somewhere in hiding. The

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jury did not buy it. They deliberated for less than

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a day and they came back with a conviction first

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degree murder. One of the jurors talked afterward, and what

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she said stuck with me. She said, the prosecution was impressive,

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the evidence was overwhelming, and quote, we could see what

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Larry did. Nobody five years and twelve people still saw

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it clearly. I will give you the honest, unresolved part,

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because we do not paper over the gaps on this show.

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The jury did not all agree on exactly how Maya

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was killed. Prosecutors suggested she may have been poisoned, possibly

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with hemlock. Some jurors thought poison, some thought strangulation. They

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could not say which. But here is the thing, and

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it matters. The law did not require them to. They

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did not have to know the method. They had to

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know the man, and they did. No sentencing date has

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been set yet. There is still a separate weapons charged

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to clean up. Before this is fully closed. Larry Millett

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is looking at a potential life sentence. But I want

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to end where this always should end, on Maya, because

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a verdict is a legal event and it is not

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the same thing as closure. The police chief in Chula

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Vista said it plainly. After the verdict, Maya is still

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out there. She is still missing, and they are going

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to keep looking until they can bring her home to

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her family. Maya Millett warned the people who loved her.

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She told them exactly where to look if she disappeared.

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The least we can do is remember she was right.

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Welcome back, and this last one is the one I

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have been carrying since last fall. If you have listened

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to this show for a while. You remember Melody Buzzard.

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We covered her disappearance a lot back when she was

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still a missing child, back when there was still a

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version of this where she came home a nine year

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old girl from Lompoc, California, last scene in October of

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twenty twenty five, after her mother took her on a

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road trip across the country and came back without her.

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I have to update you now, and I wish I

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did not. Melody is not missing anymore. In December, two

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people taking photographs in a remote part of Wayne County, Utah,

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found her remains. Investigators say Melody was killed by multiple

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gunshot wounds to the head. She was nine years old,

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and her mother, Ashley Buzzard, is now charged with her murder,

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specifically murder by lying in wait and discharge of a

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firearm causing death. Ashley has pleaded not guilty, and I

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want to be careful and clear here. She is presumed

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innocent and this case has not gone to trial. But

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I also owe you the facts prosecutors have laid out

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because you followed this from the beginning. Here is what

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they say happened on October seventh of last year, Ashley

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and Melody left California in a rented Chevrolet Malibu. On

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that trip, investigators say the two of them wore whigs

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to disguise their appearances, and the license plate on that

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rental car got illegally swapped out at least once. They

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believe the pair traveled through Kansas and into Nebraska before

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turning around, and on October tenth, Ashley came home alone

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without Melody. It took the school district reporting the girl

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missing for anyone to start asking where she was. You

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put those pieces next to a nine year old with

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gunshot wounds to the head, found hundreds of miles from home,

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and you understand why this went from a welfare check

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to a murder charge. Now. The reason Ashley Buzzard is

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back in the headlines this specific week is honestly a

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strange and small thing, and I have gone back and

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forth on how to talk about it. A judge has

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granted her the use of a stress ball in court.

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That is it. Her defense filed a sealed request for accommodations.

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The reasoning was redacted, and the judge signed off on

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letting her hold a stress ball during proceedings under some

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pretty tight rules, the bailiff holds it before and after

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it never leaves the courtroom. Her hands have to stay

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visible at all times. I will be honest with you

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about why a detail that's small makes headlines. It is

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because Ashley Buzzard has mostly not been in court at all.

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She has missed several of her own hearings, her lawyer's

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citing illness with no further explanation. So a woman who

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will not show up to face the charge that she

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murdered her own daughter gets a news cycle over a

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stress ball. I understand the instinct to be angry at

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that image. I would just gently point us back to

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where the anger belongs, not at a foam ball, at

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the fact that melody is not here. A couple more

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things you should know. Prosecutors have said they will not

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seek the death penalty in this case, and Ashley Buzzard

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is scheduled to be back in court for her preliminary

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hearing in September. That is the next real beat, the

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hearing where a judge decides whether there is enough evidence

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to send this to trial. We will be there for it.

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No motive has been offered, not one, and maybe that

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is the hardest part. Of a case like this, we

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want the why, because the why would let us file

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it away, tell ourselves it was something specific, something that

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could not touch our own lives. There is no why here.

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There is just a nine year old girl named Melody

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Buzzard who should be finishing fourth grade right now and

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instead was found in the Utah Desert. Nobody was paying

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attention to her for weeks. The school had to be

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the one to ask. Somebody should have been asking sooner,

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do better. Closing, that is the show for today, before

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we go, because today was a heavy one. If the

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Melody Buzzard story, or anything about a child in danger

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is something you are dealing with in your own life

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or your own community, you can reach the Child Help

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National Child Abuse Hotline anytime twenty four to seven at

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one eight hundred four two two four four five three.

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And if you are struggling yourself, the nine eight eight

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Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is there day or night. Just

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dial nine eight eight. If today's episode meant something to you,

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the single best thing you can do is share it.

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Send it to one person who follows these cases. The

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way you do that, word of mouth is how this

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show grows, and it means the world. And if you

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are listening on Spotify, drop us a comment, tell me

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what you think. Tell me which of these you want

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us to stay on. I read them on YouTube. Hit

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subscribe so you do not miss a day. We will

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be back tomorrow. Until then, take care of each other.

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I am Garrett Fischer, and this is Daily Crime and Justice.

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Legal note spoken. Isaac Appadaca has pleaded not guilty and

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his trial is ongoing. Everything attributed to prosecutors, to the defense,

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or to witnesses reflects testimony and arguments made in court,

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not proven fact, and a jury has not reached a verdict.

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Both sides in that case accuse the other party of

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being the true manipulator, and we have presented both. Some

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accounts have described a prior relationship between Race Jennings and

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the defendant, but Grace's mother disputes that any such relationship existed,

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and we have left unproven claims about the victim out

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of our reporting. Trial details are current as of Friday,

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July tenth, and the trial continues this week. Larry Millet

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has been convicted of first degree murder. No sentencing date

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has been set, and jurors did not agree on the

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exact method by which Maya Millett was killed. Ashley Buzzard

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has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. Her case

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has not gone to trial, and details of the road

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trip have been characterized differently across reporting. Our sources include

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Court TV, along with local and wire reporting. This has

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been Daily Crime and Justice