When spellcasters couldn’t make her stay, he made her disappear

**Ana Garcia** (0:00)
A word of warning. This podcast explores graphic and disturbing stories and includes some strong language. It therefore may not be suitable for our young listeners or other folks who may find it disturbing. Hello and welcome to True Crime News The Podcast covering high profile and under the radar cases from across the country every week. I'm your host, Ana Garcia. Our case this week, when nothing else works, try paying someone to put a spell on your wife so she won't leave you.
The spells didn't work and the wife's body was never found, meaning she went missing and her husband has just been convicted of first degree murder.
But a guilty verdict in this murder case of a missing mom is not enough. Her family says that there can't be justice until they locate their loved one. Five years ago, the family went to the media when the mom went missing and now they need your help to locate her remains so she can be laid to rest. We are recording this on Friday, July 17th of 2026 Our guest today is Neema Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, president and co-founder of the West Coast Trial Lawyers, a legal analyst that you can see on multiple media outlets. Neema, it is such a pleasure to have you on the podcast. Welcome.

**Neema Rahmani** (1:20)
Ana, so excited to be on with you. What a case.

**Ana Garcia** (1:23)
What a case indeed. Now, this is a case that we really have heard of for the last five years. It made massive headlines not only in California, but across the country. When you have a mother of three who's young, who's missing, and the last time she was seen was going into her house, and then she's never seen coming out, you know, you got to wonder, well, where did she go?

**Neema Rahmani** (1:47)
No question. I remember this case distinctively. It was during the pandemic. We were all home.
And, you know, I'm sitting here on Los Angeles, but I was a prosecutor for many years in San Diego, and this was Chulo Vista, mom, who was missing. And then slowly, you know, more evidence came out and the family members sort of talk into the media.
And then it became pretty clear that, you know, we may be dealing with foul play. And the question was, you know, what's law enforcement doing? Where is she? Where is the body? And ultimately, as you said, Ana, we never found the body. But that doesn't mean that we didn't get justice in this case.

**Ana Garcia** (2:30)
Right. And from the family's perspective, of course, you know, justice is always imperfect. But the final part for them will be to find their Maya. Like until they find her, you know, they they cannot rest either. And I really, I really appreciate this family tremendously because not only is it obvious how close they all are and how much they love each other, they really were faced with something, no family's ever prepared for someone to go missing. And then all of a sudden you find yourself, you know, negotiating with reporters in the media and press conferences and the police, and you're not an expert in any of these things, but the one thing you do know is that you're never going to get justice or find your loved one unless you scream, you know, and you are constantly pushing this to the forefront. And they really kept the pressure up.
I don't, I'm not, this isn't a knock against law enforcement by any means, but I just don't know if things would have progressed as quickly as they did, even though it seems like forever, had the family not pushed so hard.

**Neema Rahmani** (3:33)
I think that's really important, Ana, you raised two important points. The first is the public pressure campaign. And look, and we've seen it time and time again, how, you know, something like a dateline or 48 hours or a documentary can really change the course of a legal case, right?
You know, Britney Spears, R. Kelly, right? I mean, there's so many cases, the Menendez brothers, right? So the political reality is, and look, I'm not saying the San Diego DA did anything wrong, but every prosecutor in this country is elected or appointed by someone who is. So that pressure can make a big difference when there's a mom missing and law enforcement haven't seemingly done much, you know, there's an outcry. I mean, it happened here in LA in the David case, right? Celeste Rivas was missing for some period of time. She was found in the front of his Tesla allegedly, right? And there was a real sort of outcry here in LA, like there's a young girl missing. So you're right. So I think the public pressure does make a difference and it's important. And the other thing that you mentioned is sort of the negotiation. I want to talk about another type of negotiation. Now that he's been convicted, the question always is, do you, and he hasn't been sentenced, right?