'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Michelle Le was a 26-year-old nursing student who went missing and was later found brutally murdered. It was later revealed that she was murdered by a once close friend of hers called Giselle Esteban.
The NBC series Dateline explores the chilling details of her murder. Episode 16 of season 21 of the series, titled Vanish, uncovers how and why Giselle Esteban killed Michelle, who used to be one of her closest friends. Giselle Esteban's act has been described as one motivated by jealousy.
Who killed Michelle Le and why?
Giselle Esteban was arrested and convicted for murdering Michelle Le. The two were close friends at one time, but Esteban came to view her as a romantic rival after discovering Michelle dated the father of her child, Scott Marasigan.
After graduating from San Diego's Mount Carmel High School, Esteban, 28, and Le lived close to one another in the San Francisco region. The trial later indicated that this friendship ended when Esteban started to believe Michelle and her former partner, Scott Marasigan, were having intimate relations. She believed that Le was the reason for their breakup. Scott Marasigan later stated in court that he and Le dated for one month in 2003 but never got intimate with each other.
During the trials, Scott Marasigan had revealed that Giselle Esteban had grown increasingly antagonistic towards him and Michelle over the years. She had reportedly even asked him to completely cut off Michelle from his life, even though they had nothing romantic going on between them.
Scott received the following text from Giselle Esteban on March 2, 2011:
‘Michelle has dug her own grave by being a home wrecker and wh***… She won’t be an issue for much longer.’
The detectives said they had enough proof to convict Esteban of the crime. According to Hayward police, Le's DNA was found on one of Esteban's shoes, and there were traces of Le's blood inside Esteban's vehicle. She was spotted at the crime scene in a surveillance film both before and after Le disappeared.
Who helped Giselle Esteban in the murders?
Giselle Esteban planned the murder of Michelle all on her own. During the trial, an FBI computer expert testified that Esteban conducted approximately 300 searches for Le's name. She also looked up information on how to break locks, deadbolts, and doors, how to cause a heart attack covertly, how to follow someone without getting caught, and how to deal with extremely toxic gases like carbon monoxide and potassium chloride.
She eventually murdered Michelle in the car park of the hospital where she used to work and dumped the body in a nearby canyon.
Where was Michelle Le's body found?
When Michelle Le went missing, her family put out several billboards searching for her and even offered a reward if anyone found her. Many of the missing person's groups joined the campaign. The seventh search team found decomposing human remains in a remote canyon area on September 17, 2011. On September 19, 2011, the Alameda County coroner's office verified the identity of Michelle Le's remains.
Watch the re-airing of the series Dateline on NBC for a complete look at the story of Michelle Le and Giselle Esteban.
