Crime & Safety
Michelle Le's Family to Host Community Vigil
A public memorial service is planned at the Samuel Merritt University's Oakland campus on Sept. 27.
Family members of Michelle Le are inviting the community to remember the life of the nursing student whose disappearance and death have touched the hearts of people throughout the nation.
Le’s body was found on Sept. 17, nearly four months after she went missing from a Kaiser hospital in Hayward.
The community vigil will be held at Samuel Merritt University, Oakland Campus from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, according to a Facebook event page created by Le’s cousin and family spokeswoman Krystine Dinh.
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Le, a San Diego native and alumna of San Francisco State University, was a San Mateo resident who was taking nursing courses at Samuel Merritt at the time of her disappearance.
On the event's page, Dinh said the vigil “is our chance to thank her loved ones, the community and other key people for their help in our cause.”
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“Michelle is well-loved, compassionate, and serves as an inspiration to all those whose lives she touched. Beautiful inside and out, Michelle wanted to strive for a selfless, giving life where she would have been able to help those in need,” Dinh said in the statement.
The Le family remained hopeful and persistent in finding Le in the months before the discovery of her body. Their priority was to bring her home.
Prior to a two-day search in which Le’s remains were found, the family openly expressed their hope to find Le in order to have “” for her.
Le’s remains were found by volunteer Carrie McGonigle, the mother of Amber Du Bois, a 14-year-old San Diego area girl who was missing for a year before her remains were found in a remote area. She had been kidnapped and murdered.
Le was last seen around 7 p.m. on May 27. Shortly after her , Hayward police deemed her disappearance
On Sept. 7, a Union City resident , 27, was arrested. She has since been . Esteban is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 28.
Police said lots of compelling evidence led to Esteban’s arrest, including Le’s DNA on Esteban’s shoes.
to learn more about Le's disappearance.
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