Murder of Michelle Le

Michelle Hoang Thi Le was a 26-year old nursing student at Samuel Merritt University, who disappeared on May 27, 2011 from the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward, California. Le's car was found the next morning around 9 a.m. parked on Ponderosa Court, about half a mile from the medical center.

The disappearance received widespread media attention and eight volunteer search efforts were organized by Marc Klaas whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered in 1993. A variety of missing persons organizations joined in the searches. The eighth search found a body on September 17.^[1]

A former friend of hers, Giselle Esteban 27 from Union City, California was arrested on September 7 and was charged with her murder, although a body had not yet been found. Authorities said that they had DNA evidence in the form of blood stains found in Le's car and on Esteban's shoe, and also that security video footage confirmed Esteban's presence in the area at the time Le disappeared.^[2]Esteban blamed Le for ruining her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had a child, but denied any involvement in Le's disappearance.

On September 19, 2011 the Alameda County Coroner office positively identified human remains found in Niles Canyon on September 17^[3] to be those of Michelle Le.^[4]

References

1. ^ Lee, Henry K. (September 18, 2011). "Michelle Le search turns up body in Sunol Canyon". San Francisco Chronicle: pp. A14. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/17/BA551L61TM.DTL. Retrieved September 20, 2011. 
2. ^ Kurhi, Eric (September 14, 2011). "DNA evidence, surveillance footage led to arrest in Michelle Le case". San Jose Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18886763. Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
3. ^ "Michelle Le case: Items found in area near decomposed remains". Los Angeles Times. September 19, 2011. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/michelle-le-case-items-found-around-decomposed-body.html. Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
4. ^ Dolak, Kevin; McLaughlin, Erin (September 20, 2011). "Michelle Le Case: Missing Nursing Student's Body Identified". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/US/michelle-le-case-missing-nursing-students-body-identified/story?id=14561246. Retrieved September 20, 2011.