The location where Michelle Le was found

This is the location where Michelle Le was found.

Her skeletal remains were found off a dirt path that is north of Verona Road in Pleasanton, California.

Le disappeared under suspicious circumstances on the evening of May 27, 2011. She remained missing until September 17, 2011, when a search dog located her body in this wooded area on the western side of Interstate 680, just north of Sunol.

By that point, the police had already arrested Le's former friend, Giselle Diwal Esteban, on suspicion of her murder.

Disappearance

Le's disappearance in May 2011 immediately raised suspicions of foul play.

The 26-year-old nursing student was last seen at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center on Sleepy Hollow Avenue in Hayward at around 7 p.m. on May 27, 2011.

Her instructor realized something was amiss when she walked to her car during a work break and failed to return.

When the police checked the hospital's surveillance cameras, they found footage of the victim's white Honda CRV leaving the lot.

The following morning, the SUV was found parked on a residential street called Ponderosa Court, approximately 0.7 miles south of the medical center.

Traces of her blood were found inside the vehicle.

Surveillance footage at Le's workplace showed Esteban hanging around the parking lot that evening.

Cell tower records also revealed that the women's phones had traveled 22 miles southward toward Sunol at the same time.

Motive

Within a day or two, investigators learned about a potential motive: Esteban was convinced that Le had sabotaged her relationship with a man named Scott Marasigan, who was her ex-boyfriend and the father of her daughter.

Le and Marasigan had briefly dated in 2003 but remained friends.

Not long after, Marasigan began a tumultuous, on-and-off relationship with Esteban.

The couple had a daughter in 2005.

Esteban grew intensely jealous of Marasigan's friendship with Le, leading to regular arguments and accusations of infidelity. Marasigan repeatedly assured her that he did not have a romantic relationship with Le, but she refused to believe him.

Although the couple's relationship eventually ended, they continued to be intimate at times.

When Esteban's abuse escalated, Marasigan was awarded 80% custody of their daughter.

Roughly two months before the murder, Esteban sent Marasigan a text message in which she said, "You deserve to die for your lies, as does she."

Three days before Le's disappearance, Marasigan filed for a restraining order against Esteban due to her erratic and threatening behavior.

Over time, Esteban's hatred of Le grew so intense that she began stalking her and tracking her schedule.

The police believe that she attacked and killed Le in the parking lot at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. She then used the victim's SUV to transport her remains to the dirt road in Pleasanton.

After dumping her former friend's body in the brush, she drove the vehicle back to Hayward and parked it on Ponderosa Court.

During a search of Esteban's apartment, investigators found a shoe with Le's blood on it. There was also evidence that she had been in Le's vehicle.

In December 2011, she was formally charged with first-degree murder. One year later, she was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Discovery

Le's remains were found on September 17, 2011, after a team of volunteers began searching the wooded area. Previous search efforts had also focused on Sunol Canyon, as Le's phone had gone dead somewhere in the vicinity.

One of the volunteers was a woman named Carrie McGonigle, whose 14-year-old daughter, Amber Dubois, was murdered by a sex offender in 2009.

Following her daughter's death, McGonigle founded an organization called "Team Amber Rescue" and began devoting her time to finding missing people.

Initially, she wasn't planning on joining the search for Le due to personal reasons, but she ultimately chose to attend.

While the volunteers were waiting for the operation to begin, McGonigle's Labrador, Amber, suddenly became agitated and ran off. When McGonigle finally caught up with the dog, she found her standing beside Le's remains.