Lester Holt

They organized searches and vigils, but there was no trace of her.

Then nine months after she went missing, even though her body has never been found, Maya's husband, Larry, was arrested and charged with her murder.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Recently, a jury screening got underway in preparation for Larry's trial next month.

Here to break it all down for us is NBC7 investigative producer Mike Dorfman.

Mike, we appreciate you being here.

Absolutely, sir.

Let's start with Maya.

Who was she?

When did her family start to think that something had actually happened to her?

This case actually landed on Dateline's radar just a few days after Maya disappeared.

We featured it in our Missing in America series and reached out to Larry.

He told us he hoped our coverage would help bring Maya home.

What we didn't know is that behind the scenes, investigators were already building a case.

Mike, how did this investigation turn into a case against him?

Do investigators think that Larry knew about her plans to split?

And investigators say Larry took some unusual steps in response to his suspicions that Maya might be leaving, including reaching out to so-called spellcasters.

So allegedly lots of tension building up before Maya disappeared.

But what do investigators think actually happened that night?

To be clear, we don't know for sure what those bangs were.