Le Family Hopes Searches Will Bring Closure

After more than three months of searches, vigils and rallies for missing nursing student Michelle Le, family members appear to be coming to terms with the grim possibilities of her disappearance.

During a Friday search party at Lake Chabot in Castro Valley — the first search since — family members told local media that their emphasis on bringing Le home safely has now become a search for closure.

“The focus is still on bringing her home for a proper memorial, and a proper goodbye,” Le’s cousin Krytine Dinh told Inside Bay Area.

Le, a 26-year-old San Mateo resident, went missing May 27 during a break from her clinical rotation at the Hayward Kaiser hospital. Friends said she went to grab something from her car, which was parked in a garage at the facility. She never returned.

Last week, Giselle Esteban, 27, a former friend of Le’s, was arrested and charged with her murder

At a press conference after Esteban’s arrest on Sept. 7, police investigators announced that DNA evidence, surveillance footage, cell phone records and other pieces of evidence have led them to believe Esteban was "responsible for Michelle's demise.”

Esteban is scheduled to enter a plea in court Monday.

Though no motive has yet been given, Esteban told KGO-TV reporters shortly Le went missing that she openly hates Le after the two had a falling out some years ago but that she had nothing to do with her disappearance. She also accused Le of ruining her relationship with her child’s father.

Esteban’s ex-boyfriend told Patch in a previous interview that he and Le have been close friends for nine years and that Esteban’s accusations are untrue.

The ex-boyfriend just three days before Le went missing, citing increasingly bizarre behavior that includes stalking him, threatening to shoot herself and entering his home uninvited.

While the arrest pushes the investigation of Le’s disappearance forward, police have still not found Le’s body or a murder weapon.

According to Inside Bay Area, Dinh could not disclose details about the case but said there is “very strong, compelling evidence.”

Search efforts will continue Saturday at 8 a.m. at 25350 Cypress Ave. in Hayward and last until 5 p.m. Search locations will be announced the morning of the searches.

Dinh told reporters that she and Le’s brother, Michale Le, will continue to see this case to the end.

"There are three stages," Dinh told Inside Bay Area. "There's fighting for Michelle, there's closure, and there's justice. We won't have closure until we find her — right now we're still fighting for her."