Show Notes
In January 2021, Maya Millete, a 39-year-old mother of three and Navy contracts negotiator, disappeared from her home in Chula Vista, California. Before she vanished, Maya had spent years navigating a marriage that, behind closed doors, had become increasingly frightening and controlling.
In this first part of a two-part series, She Goes By Jane examines Maya’s life, her devotion to her children, and the warning signs that emerged long before her disappearance. From journal entries documenting years of abuse to mounting fears for her safety that she recorded in a private Instagram account Maya documented her growing concerns over her safety.
As Maya began imagining a future outside her marriage, the question of how to leave safely became increasingly urgent. Her story raises difficult questions about the risks faced by women experiencing domestic violence and the barriers that can make leaving feel impossible.
Content warning: This episode discusses domestic violence, strangulation, sexual violence, pregnancy, and abortion.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
📍 Chula Vista, California | January 8, 2021
📖 Featuring an original poem written and read in her honor.
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More from She Goes by Jane: A True Crime Podcast
“If something happens to me, don’t give up until you find out what happened," Pamela Butler told her brother. He could never have guessed he would need to do just that.
For years, Steven Sherer had called his wife, Jami Hagel Sherer, over and over whenever she was away from him. It was a way for him to constantly monitor where she was, who she was with, and to control her actions. On September 30, 1990, he called Jami’s parents’ house twice. And then the phone stopped ringing.Jami had told her mother that morning that she was leaving Steven. Jami told her mother she just wanted to gather a few belongings, grab her favorite lunch, and then return to her parents’ house. It should have taken minutes.Jami never arrived.When Jami didn’t arrive and Steven didn’t call, her mother worried the two had reconciled. But when Steven showed up without Jami claiming he hadn’t seen her, her mother knew something was very wrong. Jami Hagel has been missing since that day in 1990. Listen to Part 2.📍 Redmond, Washington | September 30, 1990
In 1986, 22-year-old Jami Hagel met Steven Sherer at a bar in Redmond, Washington. He was charming, persistent, and was soon sending her a dozen roses. Within months, the relationship that started with romance would become something far more frightening.
On a June night in 1950, seventeen-year-old Barbara Kelley left home for a date with Henry Baird, a 28-year-old World War II veteran she had been seeing for several months. Barbara told her parents she would spend the night at a friend’s house in nearby Eureka. There was no reason for them to worry. The next morning, Henry was found nude on a remote beach along the Northern California coast. He had been shot to death. His companion, Barbara, was nowhere to be found.Henry had been shot in the back of the head. Nearby, his clothes were found neatly stacked. With them were Barbara’s clothes. But there was no sign of Barbara. Within hours, police began to investigate the theory the teenager had been involved in Henry’s death. In the years since the murder and disappearance, speculation has run rampant including false confessions, searches through the woods, and a connection to an eerily similar case in another county.But at the heart of it all is Barbara Kelley, a seventeen-year-old girl who went on a date and never came home.📍 Humboldt County, California | June 17, 1950
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