Michelle (who's originally from the San Diego area) is half-way through a year-long accelerated nursing class. She was in class Friday night and during a break took her cell phone and keys to run to her car for something (leaving her work and other belongings in the classroom). She had been planning to drive to Reno with a friend after class. Her car was found a few blocks away. No sign of Michelle. Her phone is apparently not pinging.
The family has offered a $20,000 reward.
In a bizarre twist, about a year ago, nursing student Phuong Le (no relation to Michelle) disappeared from a mall parking lot in Fairfield, CA (about an hour away from Hayward). She was found strangled. Besides the last name and nursing connection, both women drove white Hondas.
A woman who was once friends with a missing California nursing student has been declared a "person of interest" in the case and been questioned by detectives, police said.
Michelle Le, 26, vanished on Friday on her way to the garage at Kaiser Hospital in Hayward in northern California. She is a student at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, where she was pursuing an accelerated bachelor's degree combining academic work with clinical training.
Hayward cops served a warrant over the weekend at the home of the former friend, whose name has not been released, and seized her computer and cellphone.
Police say they have issued several search warrants and formally interviewed 15 to 20 people...
...some of those questioned in 26-year-old Michelle Le's disappearance are considered persons of interest, but no arrests have been made.
Meanwhile, investigators confirmed Wednesday they had detained and interrogated a woman with whom Le had a falling out.
"We ultimately didn't have anything to go on with respect to that and we ended up having to release that person," said Keener....
I thought I heard a tease for KTVU news saying something had been found in this case. I wasn't able to watch the news. The above story is from their web site and there's nothing about it there, so maybe I misheard.
SANTA CLARA Co., Calif. -- Park rangers discovered human remains while they were performing trail maintenance in an unincorporated part of Morgan Hill on Friday, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
The rangers found bones in a shallow, dry ditch in the Uvas Canyon County Park at about 11:15 a.m., according to Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt. Rick Sung.
Sung said the remains haven't been identified yet, but he doesn't believe they belong to Michelle Hoang Thi Le, 26, a nursing student who last seen at about 7 p.m. on May 27 at Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center at 27303 Sleepy Hollow Ave.
"It's not that there isn't a chance they are from her," Sung said. "We're still looking into it."
He said it appears as though the remains may have appeared in the ditch recently, maybe in the past year. But there has been no direct evidence confirming when the remains were first in the ditch, Sung said.
Officials at the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office are assisting in the investigation.
edit to add, not her:
Sunnyvale police say the body of a Hispanic female was found inside a garbage bag in a Sunnyvale neighborhood on Sunday morning, according to police.
"Compelling evidence" found in the investigation led police to reclassify the case as a homicide, the Hayward, Calif., Police Department said in a statement released this evening.
I wonder if they found blood evidence in Michelle's car.
evidence points to her being killed in the hospital parking garage.
and it may be over some man.
Police are reportedly speaking to several “people of interest,” including another Mt. Carmel graduate, Giselle Esteban, who lived in the Bay Area, until last July, when Esteban returned to San Diego.
The two women were Key Club members at their high school in Rancho Penasquitos and both moved to the Bay Area after graduation.
Last July, Esteban returned to the San Diego area, and her former roommate Richard San Jose told 10News Esteban, a mother of a young girl, was newly divorced.
"She told me he was an unfaithful husband and that he cheated on her," said San Jose.
Esteban told KGO that she and Le had a recent falling out over a man and that Le was the other woman.
On Saturday, investigators interviewed Esteban and then released her. They still consider her a person of interest in the case, however.
According to KGO, Esteban said, "I openly hate Michelle, but I am innocent."
San Jose told 10News Esteban did not seem like the vengeful type.
"She didn't come off to me as a jealous person … to my knowledge, she was ready to go on with her life," said San Jose.
HAYWARD -- Police investigating the disappearance of Michelle Le have conducted a second search of the home of a "person of interest" -- a former friend who had a restraining order filed against her over concerns about threatening and erratic behavior three days before the nursing student vanished May 27.
The father of her child requested the restraining order against Giselle Esteban, 27, saying his former girlfriend appeared to be stalking him.
Esteban approached a television station when her Union City home was first searched May 28, saying that while she disliked Le and blamed her for ruining the relationship she had with former boyfriend, she had nothing to do with Le's disappearance.
Since then, she has not been available for comment, and police believe she moved back to San Diego where she and Le, 26, grew up and were high school friends.
In the restraining order filed May 24, Esteban's former boyfriend described behavior that had become increasingly disturbing after he was granted 80 percent custody of their 5-year-old daughter late last year.
It describes a December incident in which Esteban threatened to shoot herself if the man did not speak to her, and indicated that he believed her to be in possession of a firearm.
The petitioner stated that in February and March, she sent him text messages at least once a day "telling me to put a bullet in my brain."
It also stated Esteban said she was having him followed,
and she "has at times accurately informed me of what I had done the previous evening."
It said that on May 24, the man's mother found Esteban had entered their home uninvited and was standing outside the daughter's room. When asked what she was doing there, she said, "I'm messing with your son," before running away.
"My mother, brother and I are very concerned that she is trying to take our daughter," wrote the petitioner. "We are also very worried because this is an increased level of harassment."
A temporary restraining order was granted, prohibiting Esteban from getting within 100 yards of the family. A hearing is set for June 14.
The former boyfriend said Le has been a longtime close friend and that Esteban is mistaken in her accusation of Le ruining their relationship.
"There's no truth to any of that," he said.
He declined to comment further on the matter.
Hayward police said they returned to Esteban's house Monday night, but added that she is one of several "persons of interest" in the case.
Meanwhile, Le's family responded to the police department, which announced Monday that it considers the case a homicide based on evidence that had been collected.
"Even though Michelle's case is a different classification and even though Hayward police have given up finding Michelle alive, our family continues to maintain hope and faith in her return," said Son Le, her father. "Until the Hayward Police Department can offer conclusive and definite proof, we will continue to believe she is alive and needs to be rescued."
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.
Arrest in case. Old high school friend arrested - Giselle Estaban. She's in custody. LE giving news conference at 2:15. Michelle's body still not found.
Blood stains belonging to Le were found on the interior of Le's car and matched those found on the bottom of a pair of sneakers in Esteban's home.
Security video from the parking garage in which Le was last seen also showed Esteban in the garage before and after Le's arrival there and led police to believe that Le was assaulted while there.
Hayward police and the FBI also tracked the cellphone movements of Le's phone and, later, Esteban's phone in the hours after her disappearance, and saw that both cellphones moved around Alameda County in about the same path and timeframe, he said.
Police said that though they believe they have solved one part of the crime against Le, they are still committed to finding Le and figuring out what happened to her.
"Today does not mark the end of the investigation," Keener said. "We will not consider this investigation complete until Michelle is found."
"Some of the questions about how [Le] met her demise may not be known until she is found," he added.
Keener would not elaborate on the relationship between the pair or speculate on a motive.
The Oakland Tribune previously reported that Esteban's former boyfriend, with whom she had a child, had a relationship with Le. The boyfriend filed a restraining order against Esteban just three days prior to Le's disappearance, citing Esteban's erratic behavior and threats of killing herself, according to the report.
HAYWARD, Calif. -- A 27-year-old woman has been charged with murder in the case of a missing nursing student, but her arraignment was postponed because authorities learned she is pregnant with her second child.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge said Thursday that Giselle Esteban needed medical clearance from doctors before criminal proceedings against her can commence. Neither Esteban nor a lawyer representing her was in court and a new arraignment date was not set....
ABC
SUNOL, Calif. -- A body has been discovered in a remote portion of Alameda County that may be connected to the disappearance of Michelle Le.
The body was discovered in a brushy, remote area near Sunol Saturday afternoon by a volunteer working with a search team organized by Le's family.
Alameda County investigators sealed off access to the crime scene. The area has been previously searched by Hayward police.
"Today, one of the search party members did discover remains," said Lt. Roger Keener with the Hayward Police Department. "Right now that's all we know. There is nothing that indicates gender with the remains. The body is decomposed."
Authorities say DNA tests will need to be conducted to positively identify the body. The Alameday County Crime Lab technicians are on the scene to collect evidence.
Ten days ago, police arrested Giselle Esteban in connection with Le's murder. Le disappeared from the Hayward Kaiser hospital where she was a student at the end of May.
I have a feeling this is Michele. I really hope so for her brother Michael's sake, and all of those that love and miss Michele.
This is local to me and I participated in an early search and have supported the subsequent search efforts. The suspect in custody is guilty as hell, imo. I felt this from the first week when she said to the media that she "openly hates Michele, but she didn't kill her". Who openly hates someone over a guy when the woman is presumed dead? If you weren't involved and/or psychotic, you'd feel bad for hating the person in the first place, imo. Then, the suspect's record of stalking and entering the boyfriend's house (necessitating a RO) was released and that was all she wrote for me.
I wish Michele were alive, but she's not. So, I hope this is her body and prosecuting the psycho ex-friend and any accomplices can move forward. Michele and her family deserve swift justice. This was a senseless crime of jealousy, imo.
HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- The young woman suspected of killing nursing student Michelle Le made her second court appearance in Hayward Monday. At the same time, the Alameda County Coroner's Office is still trying to determine whether a body found in a wooded area near Pleasanton-Sunol Road over the weekend is Le. Cell phone records show her in that area when she disappeared. Complete DNA analysis could take weeks, but an ID based on dental records could be done fairly quickly. A source has told ABC7 that preliminary information about the bones show they belong to a woman.
Two days after human remains were found near Pleasanton, accused murderer Giselle Esteban appeared in a Hayward courtroom, charged with murdering Le. Pregnant with her second child, 27-year-old Esteban did not enter a plea, but was appointed an attorney who asked for more time to review the case.
"All I can say at this point is that I've just met Ms. Esteban and so I really don't have anything substantive to say at this point," defense attorney Andrea Auer said.
HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- The young woman suspected of killing nursing student Michelle Le made her second court appearance in Hayward Monday. At the same time, the Alameda County Coroner's Office is still trying to determine whether a body found in a wooded area near Pleasanton-Sunol Road over the weekend is Le. Cell phone records show her in that area when she disappeared. Complete DNA analysis could take weeks, but an ID based on dental records could be done fairly quickly. A source has told ABC7 that preliminary information about the bones show they belong to a woman.
{SNIP}
I went to your link and found this update:
Police confirm body found is Michelle Le
Updated at 10:18 PM PST 9/19/2011
HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- The Hayward Police Department has confirmed that the body found on Saturday in Niles Canyon is in fact that of missing nursing student Michelle Le. The cause of death is still unknown.
HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- The young woman suspected of killing nursing student Michelle Le made her second court appearance in Hayward Monday. At the same time, the Alameda County Coroner's Office is still trying to determine whether a body found in a wooded area near Pleasanton-Sunol Road over the weekend is Le. Cell phone records show her in that area when she disappeared. Complete DNA analysis could take weeks, but an ID based on dental records could be done fairly quickly. A source has told ABC7 that preliminary information about the bones show they belong to a woman.
{SNIP}
I went to your link and found this update:
Police confirm body found is Michelle Le
Updated at 10:18 PM PST 9/19/2011
HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- The Hayward Police Department has confirmed that the body found on Saturday in Niles Canyon is in fact that of missing nursing student Michelle Le. The cause of death is still unknown.
Michelle's family initially expressed some frustration with Hayward PD, but they quickly pulled together and supported LE's efforts. The family was really amazing in working to keep Michelle in the public eye and teaming up with search orgs to locate Michelle. I think Marc Klaas was very effective working with this family and getting the parties to work together effectively.
The family released the following statement tonight:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hayward, CA (September 19, 2011) –
Tonight, our family has been notified that this weekend, we have found Michelle.
We want to acknowledge the numerous parties who have helped us spread her story and bring her home to us, including the Hayward Police Department, the KlaasKids Foundation, Team Amber Search and Rescue, and our dedicated and loving volunteers.
We want to specifically thank Inspectors Ritchie and Coffey for their outstanding support and work with us from the beginning.
Please note that our family members will not be able to speak extensively on the case and we are not involved with any speculation between any or all of the parties and individuals. We ask for privacy and respect during this difficult time, as we are grieving and preparing a memorial service for her – a proper goodbye.
Any questions related to the criminal case should be deferred to the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
Thank you for your support, prayers and thoughts. Our family has greatly appreciated, and would be at a loss, without the help of so many people and volunteers.
Please continue praying for and supporting Michelle as our family begins the journey to ensure justice in her honor.
We will keep in touch regarding details for public vigil for Michelle
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