Were they signs that michelle was trapped, reaching out for help . One of the things i was so angry about was that nothing made sense. Moment by moment. Take a look at this. Date line was there for every turn. Theres blood wiped across here. Was michelle missing or murdered . Was this the key . I will take you on a threat, a voice seething with hate and rage. You deserve to die for your lies. Its your last and final warning. What happened to michelle . This case is not going to be over until we get her home. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Tonight Keith Morrison with vanished. Theyre watching us. They know where we are. How we shop. How we play. What we do. Who we love. Electronic eyes, the sticky pixel fingerprints follow us almost everywhere and the weird fractured, personal diary they write remains forever. Of course, its meaningless, most of it. Meaningless, that is, until its not. Until its terrifying. The San Francisco bay, may 27, 2011. 6 55 p. M. , a young Nursing Student named michelle le walks across a foot ridge to the parking lot. Shes not supposed to be here. For reasons unknown and without permission, she has left her post at the hospital. Here she works to her white honda crv, just out of camera range. Then 7 17 p. M. , here is her honda leaving the garage. But why . Why then just an hour or two before the end of her shift . Good questions. Questions about to engulf a whole family. Why that day couldnt she have stepped out and gone to another campus that day and avoided this whole thing . Why did it have to happen to our family . Why did it have to happen to michelle . But it did. Much you will see by the electronic beeps and bites and pixels. Just enough to make it a truly puzzling mystery. Enough to not quite know what happened to michelle le. One of the things i was so angry about was that nothing made sense. Nothing made sense. Especially this. Same night. 8 56 p. M. Michelles nursing instructor, annoyed, baffled, worried by her absence, takes a Security Guard to the parking lot to look for her car. 9 05 p. M. , michelles car reenters the garage. The 06, it arrives on the third floor. They wave frantically. The car stops, backs up, races down the ramp. Out of the garage. But why . Alarmed, the nursing instructor calls the police. And the next morning 400 miles south in san diego, michelles cousin christine was awakened by a text from michelles former boyfriend. And he messages me, he goes hey, we dont know where michelle is. Have you heard from her . Try calling her. So i looked at his message, i was like oh, my gosh, what did michelle do this time. Shes out, having fun. Shes a funloving person. Shes always out with her friends. Getting lost sometimes. So we thought i honestly didnt think much of it at the time. I read the message and i like rolled over back in bed. Michelle, after all, could look after herself. Had been looking out for christine for years. She was just 26 but seemed somehow older than that. The eldest of a clan of 15 cousins who grew up together with very little except each other. And michelle was smart and studious, attractive, the leader of this very active pack. Strong Loving Center of the family, a mother figure to her younger brother, michael. Michael, who was the next person to get the call from the ex boyfriend. Where was michelle . I go yeah, yeah, you know exboyfriend trying to get ahold of michelle. So i didnt pay it any mind. But just in case, i wanted to see if she was okay. I checked on her facebook rec t recently and she had plans to go to tahoe with friends. I sent the friends Facebook Messages just to make sure she was okay. Michael went to work, didnt think much more about it. But then he got another call, this time it was that nursing instructor. She was trying to be composed. She told me the story of how she went out to the garage looking for michelle. She said she saw what matched the cars description taking off and probably want a game anymore. Then christine was calling michelles cell phone. She didnt pick up. Thats when i had this feeling where something might have been wrong. After she didnt pick up a few times. At 9 30 a. M. , 12 hours after michelle was reported missing, police found her car. It was parked outside this apartment building. Just a few blocks from the hospital where michelle was last seen. Odd. Hayward Police Inspector was called in to have a look. The car was locked. It was secured. So thats why we believed that michelle was possibly somewhere around here. But we had no clue where to start looking. They could see through the tinted windows, it looked fine as if michelle had probably left the car here, herself. All morning, a flurry of worried phone calls went back and forth among michelles friends and family. What should they do . It was chaotic, but we werent thinking the worse at the time. Still in san diego, christine along with her aunts, uncles, cousins began packing for the eighthour drive north to San Franciscos east bay. Brother michael was attending college at uc berkeley and he rushed over to nearby hayward to join michelles friends and fellow students who were handing missing posters outside the hospital parking garage. Had anybody seen her . We all wanted to find her. We didnt think anything bad happened to her. Where was she . They hammered her iphone with more than 100 calls and text and heard in this box. Nothing. Then 12 45 p. M. , 15 hours after michelle was last seen, finally a text from her phone. Im not missing. It read. My phone has been acting crazy. It deleted everything. All these texts have killed my battery. Michelle sent a flurry of reassuring text toss friends and family. Im fine, she wrote. Just taking it easy. So that exboyfriend texted her back. His phone number she knew almost as well as her own. The response from michelle . Who is this . Uhoh. When we come back, did michelle really send that text . If not, then could she have been kidnapped . Police thought maybe so or maybe she just left. I had asked, is it possible that she could just be out there all stressed out . They said yes, its possible. But soon, Police Questions about michelles friends leads them closer than they know to the key to the case when vanished continues. The only thing anyone really cares about is that first day. Everyone will be stylin their faves. Love that but ill be bringing it every day, cause i went to jcpenney. I know, right . Thats what im talking about. They have so much great stuff. Oh, sweet anyway, whats your first day strategy . [ female announcer ] doorbusters friday 3 00 to close, saturday 9 00 to 1 00. Come find your first day look at jcpenney. With new all natural lean cuisine honestly good. Its frozen like youve never seen. Theyve stripped down to only natural ingredients. Why . What were you thinking . 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Clean its queen to make it funny. He doesnt get it. [ male announcer ] its not complicated. Better is better. And at t is the nations fastest, and now most reliable 4g lte network. Cell phones buzzed and chirped all afternoon that day after michelle le vanished from the watching web. Certainly, her iphone hadnt vanished. One creepy text after another popped up in the phones of her friends, her cousins, her brother. I just needed some time without anyone. I had a bad night last night. I dont really want to talk to anyone right now. But then, after three hours of that, the texts stopped just as suddenly as they had begun. The last one simply said im sick. So strange, so out of character. To michelles family and friends, it seemed obvious, someone had michelles phone. Someone who was not michelle. The more that they went its all like it was becoming sinister. Having the text back that it was michelle was terrifying. What does it feel like to go through that . Its hard to put into words. Living nightmare, i think is the closest thing. Strange way, as chilling as these messages were, they gave michelles friends and family some hope. It seemed obvious they were communicating with someone who abducted michelle. So their mission was now clear. Michelle just didnt need to be found. Michelle needed to be rescued. Its a Time Critical situation. Every second that you waste is a second that shes hurting. We had to find her. Saturday afternoon, 18 hours after michelle vanished, michael and a group of michelles friends met with inspector fraser richie at the Hayward Police department. They had about 10 or 15 family members and classmates and friends at the police department. Responsible she was, how out of character this would have been for her to just get up and leave. Did you try to call michelle or anything . Yes. Get a response . Yes. I sent a message out, this is inspector richie of the Hayward Police department. You need to get ahold of me. I got the response within several minutes saying that my phone is dying, i need to find a charger. Im having car trouble. 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. As far as inspector richie 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 an abduction from somebody that she knew or she just left with a friend. Did anybody think she flipped out and stressed out as they say and left . I had asked, is it possible she could just be out there all stressed out and they said yes, its possible. Inspector richie also asked if michelle had any enemies or problems with exboyfriends, for example . The only problems she seemed to have with anyone was with Giselle Esteban. One of her best friends from high school. Not just michelles friend. Friend of the family. Giselle was a fixture around the house. Spent hours with all of those cousins. After high school in 2002, the two friends both moved to San Francisco to attend college and thats where giselle fell in love and got pregnant, moved in with her boyfriend scott and then broke up with him three years later. The trouble came when michelle stayed friends with scott with that boyfriend after the breakup. That just didnt sit well with giselle. Though really it wasnt such a big deal. Just to cover all the bases, late saturday night, richie dropped in on giselle to ask what she knew. Were hear about michelle le. Who . Michelle. Oh, god, what about her . She wasnt seen last night from her work. In talking to her friends and such, we understand that you guys had a tumultuous relationship. A tumultuous relationship . She was my best friend who i started talking to her and asking her questions about her relationship with michelle and if she could provide any information where she would be. Giselle said she had no idea. Besides, they werent seeing each other these days, so she wouldnt know. Then just due diligence, that night richie sent another team of detectives to speak to giselles exboyfriend, the father of her baby who they were interested to learn now had sole custody of the child. Listening to him, talking to him and the relationship with him and his daughter and his family, things like that, he didnt seem to be the person that the type of person that could lie, that would lie. By sunday, 48 hours after michelle appeared in that ghostly video at the parking lot, her large extended family began arriving from san diego and meeting with the police. Thats when detectives began to understand, michelle a little. How kind she was and bright and selfreliant. Very much like this young woman, fong le. Also vietnamese american and 20something Nursing Student and also living in the San Francisco area who 13 months earlier also disappeared. There was a lot of similarities obviously. Shes the same age category, same ethnicity, same profession. Even the same last name. Was a pattern developing . Coming up police look into the possible connection between those student nurses and a meeting between police and michelles family goes badly. We were horrified. When dateline continues. [ male announcer ] monopolys back at mcdonalds this summer and the food you love is serving up fantastic prizes. Like red box movies. A chance to win a Million Dollar prize on a big mac. [ cheers and applause ] plus beaches Luxury Resort vacation packages. So pull up a chair. Were serving up more monopoly fun at mcdonalds. It was april 30, 2010, just over a year before the disappearance of michelle le. It was close. Perhaps 50 miles away and it was so coincidental. Another young Nursing Student, almost the same age, same ethnicity, even the same last name, vanished from this Shopping Mall parking lot. Her name, phuong le. They couldnt find her. Several weeks later, we got a call from a neighboring county saying that they had a body out in the woods that somewhat matched the description of our missing person. It was indeed phuong le. That was by no means the end of the investigation. To this day were trying to identify who, in fact, killed her. During that memorial day weekend in 2011, when the disappearance of a woman named michelle le. He wondered, was this a break in his case . When you have somebody who looks almost the same, the same name, same circumstances, its a real bizarre coincidence. Michelles family also heard about phuong le. When they met with the police 48 hours after the disappearance, they asked the dreadful question, could michelles case be connected to the other murder . They brought that up. Thought they might be linked. We brought that up with the Hayward Police. They said, we looked into it, but we dont think theres a connection. So then there was a wash of relief. The detectives also told the family they found michelles car, that it was lost appeared undamaged. To the family that was good news. It meant to them that michelle must be alive, held somewhere. Though during that sunday meeting, the police gave the impression they still had no idea what happened to michelle. They asked us a lot of questions, about her relationships, her friendships and they told us they were working on it. We just keep asking them, probing them for more information. They said we cant tell you much. Your level of frustration must have been pretty high. It was sky high. The le family had the impression that they werent taking the case seriously at all. Michelle is an adult. So we felt if shes an adult and shes not a child, maybe she wasnt being prioritized. What was it like leaving that meeting . It was chaos is probably the number one feeling. We didnt have a place to stay. We were hotel hopping. We were just waiting around most of the time sitting in the hotel. You were blind. You know, you didnt know we had no idea where to go, what to do. The family couldnt understand why the police were moving so slowly. In their minds, michelle was being held against her will. A week went by, saturday, june 4th, eight days after her disappearance. Her family held this vigil near the place where her car was found. We wanted the fbi to get involved and all this. We were just making a lot of noise. Quietly attending was scott. The young man the police questioned earlier. Giselle estebans old boyfriend, the father of her child. Two days later, monday, june 6th. The family was called back to the Police Station for an important meeting. The police had a chance to search michelles car and the status of her case had been changed from missing person to homicide. And the family felt blind sided. They said, i think you have to get comfortable with the fact that your sister is probably dead. We were horrified. And just like that, the information door closed. The Hayward Police told the family, it was a Murder Investigation now. So department policy, they could reveal nothing more. And therefore, couldnt or wouldnt tell the family why they thought michelle was dead. But without hearing an explanation or seeing any evidence, how could the family believe the police . Now, they simply wouldnt accept what the cops had to say. It was horrible. We were really angry. Because, okay, you want to make it homicide. Youre not going to tell us why. Richie 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. There are 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. If we dont have the suspect in custody, the only people that know about it is the suspect and us. In the absence much of official information, the le family, at least the younger members, decided the only option was massive publicity and an appeal to the public for whatever help they could offer. That was the kid, the cousins, family elders were deeply reluctant to share their grief with strangers. They didnt want her story out there, publicized like we had made it. They didnt why . Its very private. It was such a fine line between how much do you giveaway about your own familys misfortune to do good for michelle. In asian families when youre younger, youre supposed to be very respectful of the hierarchy in the family. Youre not supposed to boss anybody around. But i was just livid. I was so angry. The elders new far more about survival than most people ever do. They were boat peop