Inspector Ritchie News Today

I sent a message out. us know where they thought we should be looking. and when we pressed them, "why this is inspector ritchie of the should we be looking there? hayward police department. why should we be looking there?" they finally said, "well, you need to get ahold of me because thats where the cell right now. towers take us." >> yeah? >> i got the response within >> reporter: michelle le, it turns out, went on a strange several minutes saying that "my journey on the evening of may phone is...

Keith morrison: ritchie listened to giselles tone careen from aggrieved, to furious, to threatening-- all in less than a minute. this was far from the subdued woman he had met back in may. it was apparent that she was a violent person. did you ever have any concern about scotts safety? yes. and we advised scott that. if it is giselle, you have to be concerned for your safety as well. and he might well be a target. yeah. keith morrison: esteban, it was clear in the recording, had become fixated o...

That michelle would possibly be. keith morrison: but that didnt happen. not to say, though, her behavior wasnt suspicious. remember the vigil the le family held a week after michelles disappearance? the one attended by giselles ex-boyfriend, scott? it turned out, giselle was there too-- sort of. the tracking device showed giselle circling the block as michelles family pleaded for help. and later, it showed her driving past scotts house. why? ritchie was all but sure now giselle had something to ...

By entering this break room. and then at 5:30 in the evening, when the campus is closed, she gains access through the back door using that electronic key card. same swipe card. yes. throughout the campus, there are-- in the classrooms and in the hallways-- theres cameras. and it shows giselle walking around with a lab coat on, her glasses up, and shes going around turning on computers. keith morrison: weird. yeah. keith morrison: giselle can also be seen with a class roster stolen from an instru...

Youre not going to tell us why. >> reporter: ritchie understood the familys anger. but as far as he was concerned, he had a murder investigation on his hands and that meant the family had to be kept in the dark. >> theres certain procedural things that we have to keep close to us, that we cant put out there. because we have to maintain evidence, we have to maintain the custody of certain information. and its of evidentiary value to us that if we dont have the suspect in custody, that the only pe...

>> the same sort of response received by michelles friends and family, who had now decided based on those weird text messages that michelle had been kidnapped. but as far as inspector ritchie was concerned, just about anything was possible. >> i kept an open mind. i didnt know whether michelle voluntarily went missing for whatever personal reasons she had or if this was a stranger abduction or if this was an abduction from somebody that she knew or she just left with a friend. >> did anybody say...

Hardly the sort of place a detective would expect to get a hot tip in a murder case. but thats exactly what happened. it was the priest who called the police. wound up talking to the inspector at the time, fraser ritchie, and told him a story about an odd encounter with a young woman who came to him seeking solace of some kind. it was actually outside of an office, in a patio area. then he asked her, several times, do you want to go into the confessional. she said, no-- so thats why he was able ...

Were communicating with someone who had abducted michelle, and so their mission was now clear. michelle didnt just need to be found. michelle needed to be rescued. >> its a time-critical situation. every second you that waste is a second that shes hurting. we had to find her. >> reporter: saturday afternoon, 18 hours after michelle vanished, michael and a group of michelles friends met with inspector fraser richie at the hayward police department. >> we had about 10 or 15 family members and clas...

Ritchie felt he may have answered that question when he found, on the passenger seat of michelles car, a little piece that would end up fitting into a very large puzzle. we found a identification card from the samuel merritt nursing school that michelle was attending, but it was not michelles. there was no reason for that to be there. keith morrison: the name and face were plainly visible on the card, partially wedged into the seat cushion as if somebody had left it there by mistake. so ritchie ...

Of the use of the card at that moment in time and at this place. and then, of course, itd be watched by a security camera at the same time. in fact, you cant go anywhere in this building without being seen by security cameras. the security team of the nursing school did the same thing. they just looked for the computer record of the key card being used, and they pulled up the security video from that moment and that place. and voila-- there was their thief. so i had him-- had them send me the st...