Suspect's pregnancy delays arraignment in Michelle Le murder case
(CBS/KPIX/AP) HAYWARD, Calif. - Giselle Esteban, the woman charged with killing 26-year-old California nursing student Michelle Le, missed her first court date Thursday because she is pregnant and suffering from unspecified medical issues.
Pictures: Missing Calif. nursing student
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gary Picetti said Thursday that Esteban was seeing doctors and needed medical clearance before any criminal proceedings against her can begin, reports CBS station KPIX.
Prosecutors on Thursday formally charged Esteban, 27, with the murder of Le. Police believe Esteban, a former friend of Le's from high school in San Diego, attacked Le in a Hayward hospital parking garage more than three months ago.
Le disappeared on May 27 from Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center. She left the medical center around 7 p.m. that day, telling a classmate she was going to her car during a break, Hayward police spokesman Lt. Roger Keener said. She never returned and was later reported missing.
Her Honda SUV was found the next morning around 9 a.m. parked about half a mile from the medical center, Keener said. He said blood was found in the vehicle and it was later determined to be Le's.
At a news conference at Hayward police headquarters on Wednesday, Keener said footage from security cameras at the Kaiser Permanente parking structure showed that Esteban was present around the time of Le's disappearance.
Additionally, he said, evidence found inside Le's car indicated that Esteban had been in the vehicle. Cellphone records show from wireless tower activations that Le and Esteban traveled along the same route leaving the area just after Le disappeared, he said.
Police served a search warrant at Esteban's house on May 29 and found a pair of athletic shoes that contained Le's DNA, Keener said.
Hayward police investigators said in a probable cause statement filed in court that even though Le's body hasn't been found, they think she is dead because her financial records and social networking sites haven't had any activity since she went missing.
Keener said Esteban and Le went to high school together in San Diego and also came to the Bay Area together to attend the same college. However, Keener said that at some point they had a "falling out."
Esteban told a news outlet shortly after Le disappeared that the falling-out had to do with Esteban's former boyfriend but Keener said investigators haven't confirmed that.
Esteban's ex-boyfriend had obtained a restraining order against her at some point before Le was killed, according to Keener.
Complete Coverage of Michelle Le on Crimesider
