06-14-2011, 10:19 PM
San Mateo Patch
A Fremont judge today ordered the continuation of a restraining order against a “person of interest” in the disappearance of Michelle Le.
Giselle Esteban, a former friend of Le’s, was barred from coming within 100 feet of her ex-boyfriend or his immediate family after the court granted a temporary restraining order against Esteban on May 24 – three days before Le went missing from Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center.
The ex-boyfriend, Scott Marasigan, requested the stay-away order because, he says, Esteban, who is the mother of his child, has been threatening and stalking him and his family.
Marasigan arrived on Tuesday morning at the Fremont Hall of Justice to discuss the case before a judge with Esteban’s attorney, Marsanne Weese, who spoke on behalf of her client. The two sides agreed that the restraining order would be continued until Aug. 2, when both parties are due back in court.
The request for a continuance came from Weese, who said she was recently hired by Esteban and wanted some time to research the alleged incidents in question.
Judge Richard Keller said that because the alleged conduct of Esteban is “quasi-criminal in nature,” she is required to be present at the next hearing.
Weese would not discuss her client’s case, except to say that she is “with her family” at this time.
In Esteban’s only interview with the media to date, shortly after Hayward police first searched her Union City apartment on May 28, she said she “openly hates” Le and blamed her for ruining her relationship with Marasigan, with whom she has a 5-year-old daughter. But she also said she had nothing to do with Le’s disappearance.
Marasigan said Tuesday that he has been a friend of Le’s for nine years, up until the time of her disappearance. He declined to comment on his relationship with Esteban.
But in his request for a restraining order, Marasigan has alleged bizarre and threatening behavior from Esteban.
According to court records filed by Marasigan, Esteban threatened to shoot herself last December if he did not speak to her on the phone. He called the police at that time and she was arrested; officers found live rounds of ammunition but no gun, Marasigan wrote – but he indicated that he believes she possesses a firearm.
He also said that in February and March, she sent him text messages at least once a day “telling me to put a bullet in my brain,” and that she also told him repeatedly that she was having him followed and “has at times accurately informed me of what I had done the previous evening.”
Marasigan also said he believed she had hacked into his email account, deleting emails and referencing saved chats he had with other individuals.
Then on May 22, Marasigan alleges, Esteban went to their child’s school and caused a scene with Marasigan’s mother, who was there to pick the girl up. Marasigan has been granted 80 percent custody of the child, and says that at the time of the incident Esteban was not permitted in the visitation schedule.
The next day, May 23, Marasigan said he found Esteban outside his workplace “and (she) appeared to be stalking me.” He wrote that three days prior, she had “been stalking my mom” but the document does not describe details of that incident.
On the morning of May 24, the day he filed the restraining order, Marasigan wrote that his mother found Esteban inside their Fremont home uninvited, standing outside their daughter’s room. When the mother asked what she was doing there, Esteban said, “I’m messing with your son,” and then ran away, the report states.
“My mother, brother and I are very concerned that she is trying to take our daughter. We are also very worried because this is an increased level of harassment,” wrote Marasigan.
Esteban has not been charged in Le’s case, and police believe she is back in San Diego, where the child custody hearing for her daughter took place.
She and Le went to school together at Mt. Carmel High School, in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Penasquitos.
Hayward police say they believe Le, 26, was murdered by someone who is “not a stranger,” based on forensic evidence collected from Le’s car and from the Kaiser parking structure where it was originally parked. Police also cite information collected during interviews, examination of evidence gathered via search warrants, review of video footage from the garage and other locations, and examination of Le’s cell phone records.
“Every interview, every piece of evidence, every statement, every analysis, every evaluation we have before us, causes us to make different turns in the road,” Hayward police Sgt. Steve Brown told Patch last week. “It’s a really, really complex investigation.”
Le, a San Mateo resident, was last seen on May 27 about 7 p.m. at the Kaiser facility, where she was conducting clinical rounds while attending nursing school at Samuel Merritt University.
She had planned to meet a friend and drive to Reno after finishing her rotation at the medical facility, but left during a break and did not return, according to Hayward police.
Although police are treating the case as a homicide, Le’s family has not given up looking for her. Le has black hair, brown eyes, is 5-foot-6 and was last seen wearing white nurse’s scrubs. Anyone with information about Le’s disappearance is asked to call Hayward Police at (510) 293-7000.
A Fremont judge today ordered the continuation of a restraining order against a “person of interest” in the disappearance of Michelle Le.
Giselle Esteban, a former friend of Le’s, was barred from coming within 100 feet of her ex-boyfriend or his immediate family after the court granted a temporary restraining order against Esteban on May 24 – three days before Le went missing from Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center.
The ex-boyfriend, Scott Marasigan, requested the stay-away order because, he says, Esteban, who is the mother of his child, has been threatening and stalking him and his family.
Marasigan arrived on Tuesday morning at the Fremont Hall of Justice to discuss the case before a judge with Esteban’s attorney, Marsanne Weese, who spoke on behalf of her client. The two sides agreed that the restraining order would be continued until Aug. 2, when both parties are due back in court.
The request for a continuance came from Weese, who said she was recently hired by Esteban and wanted some time to research the alleged incidents in question.
Judge Richard Keller said that because the alleged conduct of Esteban is “quasi-criminal in nature,” she is required to be present at the next hearing.
Weese would not discuss her client’s case, except to say that she is “with her family” at this time.
In Esteban’s only interview with the media to date, shortly after Hayward police first searched her Union City apartment on May 28, she said she “openly hates” Le and blamed her for ruining her relationship with Marasigan, with whom she has a 5-year-old daughter. But she also said she had nothing to do with Le’s disappearance.
Marasigan said Tuesday that he has been a friend of Le’s for nine years, up until the time of her disappearance. He declined to comment on his relationship with Esteban.
But in his request for a restraining order, Marasigan has alleged bizarre and threatening behavior from Esteban.
According to court records filed by Marasigan, Esteban threatened to shoot herself last December if he did not speak to her on the phone. He called the police at that time and she was arrested; officers found live rounds of ammunition but no gun, Marasigan wrote – but he indicated that he believes she possesses a firearm.
He also said that in February and March, she sent him text messages at least once a day “telling me to put a bullet in my brain,” and that she also told him repeatedly that she was having him followed and “has at times accurately informed me of what I had done the previous evening.”
Marasigan also said he believed she had hacked into his email account, deleting emails and referencing saved chats he had with other individuals.
Then on May 22, Marasigan alleges, Esteban went to their child’s school and caused a scene with Marasigan’s mother, who was there to pick the girl up. Marasigan has been granted 80 percent custody of the child, and says that at the time of the incident Esteban was not permitted in the visitation schedule.
The next day, May 23, Marasigan said he found Esteban outside his workplace “and (she) appeared to be stalking me.” He wrote that three days prior, she had “been stalking my mom” but the document does not describe details of that incident.
On the morning of May 24, the day he filed the restraining order, Marasigan wrote that his mother found Esteban inside their Fremont home uninvited, standing outside their daughter’s room. When the mother asked what she was doing there, Esteban said, “I’m messing with your son,” and then ran away, the report states.
“My mother, brother and I are very concerned that she is trying to take our daughter. We are also very worried because this is an increased level of harassment,” wrote Marasigan.
Esteban has not been charged in Le’s case, and police believe she is back in San Diego, where the child custody hearing for her daughter took place.
She and Le went to school together at Mt. Carmel High School, in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Penasquitos.
Hayward police say they believe Le, 26, was murdered by someone who is “not a stranger,” based on forensic evidence collected from Le’s car and from the Kaiser parking structure where it was originally parked. Police also cite information collected during interviews, examination of evidence gathered via search warrants, review of video footage from the garage and other locations, and examination of Le’s cell phone records.
“Every interview, every piece of evidence, every statement, every analysis, every evaluation we have before us, causes us to make different turns in the road,” Hayward police Sgt. Steve Brown told Patch last week. “It’s a really, really complex investigation.”
Le, a San Mateo resident, was last seen on May 27 about 7 p.m. at the Kaiser facility, where she was conducting clinical rounds while attending nursing school at Samuel Merritt University.
She had planned to meet a friend and drive to Reno after finishing her rotation at the medical facility, but left during a break and did not return, according to Hayward police.
Although police are treating the case as a homicide, Le’s family has not given up looking for her. Le has black hair, brown eyes, is 5-foot-6 and was last seen wearing white nurse’s scrubs. Anyone with information about Le’s disappearance is asked to call Hayward Police at (510) 293-7000.