Grand jury transcripts show slain Michelle Le was subject of suspect’s growing hatred [The Daily Review, Hayward, Calif.]

Dec. 31--OAKLAND -- Grand jury transcripts released Friday present an increasingly angry Giselle Esteban sending profane and threatening text messages in the months before the slaying of her former friend, nursing student Michelle Le.

The documents also reveal evidence that Esteban, 27, had tried to gain information about Le just days before she disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward on May 27. Esteban was indicted Dec. 14 on a murder charge in Le's death.

According to the 470-page transcript, Esteban stated that Le had "dug her own grave" and "would not be around much longer" in text messages sent to Scott Marasigan, the father of Esteban's child, who was also a friend of Le. Prosecutor Butch Ford told the jury that Esteban believed that Marasigan was having an affair with Le, and could not be convinced otherwise.

"No matter how many times Marasigan denied an affair, Esteban refused to believe him," Ford said. "And she became fixated."

Esteban, of Union City, wanted Marasigan to "Cut (Le) out," -- to break off all relationship, and if he did not, "punishment would be swift," Ford said.

Ford said Esteban became "so enraged that she began essentially to hunt down Michelle."

Ford said prosecutors would prove to the grand jury that Esteban successfully carried out her plan, finding information on Michelle's routine and then she "attacked Michelle in the parking lot, threw her body into her own car, drove to

a makeshift grave and buried her body."

Marasigan testified that he dated Le for two or three weeks several years ago, but they never had a sexual relationship.

The Fremont resident said he began to save all text messages from Esteban to protect himself. He said he had previously faced domestic violence charges after what he described as Esteban's suicidal behavior -- including pulling a knife and threatening to stab herself in the stomach while she was pregnant with their daughter -- ended with her accusing him of abuse.

The relationship grew increasingly rocky after November of last year, and the text messages grew more hostile. Esteban frequently called Le a "whore" and asserted that both Le and Marasigan had "dug their own graves."

And during a conversation with Esteban that Marasigan recorded on March 18, she said, "you will be honest with me regarding her. Otherwise, I will take your life and hers. ... You deserve to die for your lies, as does she. And you will if you do it again. This is your last and final warning."

The lies referred to, Marasigan testified, a medical procedure that Le had more than five years ago and wanted to keep secret. When Esteban found out through another acquaintance that Marasigan had been withholding that information from her, she kept bringing it up, he said.

Esteban began attracting attention among the staff at Samuel Merritt University Kaiser in Oakland, the site of the nursing program where Le, who lived in San Mateo, was enrolled.

One staff member testified that Esteban showed up at her office to inquire about programs and after her visit, a security badge was missing. The employee later identified Esteban as the woman who gained access to to offices and was caught on camera going through files. The missing badge was later found in Le's car.

Another employee received an "odd call" around the same time from someone claiming to be an instructor and asking for the names of students doing their clinical rotation at the hospital, as well as their schedules.

"I told her, well, if you are the skills lab instructor, you would know that," said the witness.

Also, Le's instructor testified that immediately after she went missing, the instructor went to search the garage for her white Honda CRV. After the instructor had looked around for a while, she said she saw a white CRV drive up a ramp, then make an abrupt U-turn and quickly leave the parking structure.

Hayward Detective Fraser Ritchie testified that he questioned Esteban. She acknowledged she had been at Kaiser to sign up for prenatal insurance and said she saw Le at a distance on an overhead pedestrian bridge. Under questioning by the detective, her story changed. After initially denying that she spoke to Le, she later said that because she wasn't taking her medication, she suffered blackouts.

Other evidence included Le's missing cellphone, which prosecutors said Esteban brought to an Apple store and had its memory erased the day after Le disappeared. Records show the phone's memory was cleared -- and the password reset -- by someone named "Giselle Marasigan."

Numerous people received messages from Le's cellphone that same day. Most stated she was "on the way to Reno," which was her plan before she went missing, and that she knew people thought she was missing and she was "putting out fires right now," or that her battery was dying and not to text her any more.

"We know Giselle was in possession of what might be described as her most hated enemy's cellphone," Ford told jurors.

Le's phone was later found under a back seat floor mat in Marasigan's car.

Marasigan testified that he believes Esteban stole his extra set of keys when she stopped by his house in March and "feigned a scene." Those keys were never recovered.

Esteban gave birth in November, while in custody, and told a television station shortly after Le's disappearance that Marasigan is the father of her second child.

In the transcripts, Marasigan acknowledges that he had been intimate with Esteban during what he described as an "off-and-on" post-breakup period, but he knew of at least one other person who may have fathered the child.

The testimony did not have further information on how Le died, other than that a considerable amount of Le's blood -- including a "dinner-plate sized pool" -- was found in the parking garage, along with some of Le's hair. More blood was found in her car. DNA matched Esteban to a stain on the steering wheel and turn signal of Le's car, and Le's DNA was matched to a stain on Esteban's shoe.

Weeds and foxtails were found stuck to the undercarriage of Le's SUV, which was found at side street near the hospital a few days after Le disappeared. Le's body was found in a makeshift grave in the Sunol-Pleasanton wilderness area on Sept. 17.

"You can tell from the evidence presented that (cause of death) may never be determined," Ford told jurors. "But that's not required to prove that somebody died."

Esteban is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 20 for her arraignment.

Contact Eric Kurhi at 510-293-2473. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.

Feb. 10: "I hope you find what you are looking for in someone as disgusting as her. I wish I had a kid with a better man."

Feb. 17: "Cut her out for our family's sake. It's the only thing that will convince me you are trying to be better. Otherwise be prepared to be held accountable for your bad actions and decisions."

Feb. 18: "If you aren't sorry for anything you have done with that whore and are not willing to make things right for (our daughter's) sake, then no, I'm not sorry for the consequences your actions have brought on you both. You have dug your own graves."

Feb. 25: "FYI, you pushed me into insanity with you putting whores before your own family. You should have loved (their daughter) and I more, but you loved sex and attention more. Those two are exactly what you are going to get now. You reap what you sow."

Feb. 26: "And you can't protect anyone. Your whore will get what she deserves, too."

Feb. 26: "Get rid of your whore. Block her out. Otherwise you bring your own hell on you and all you love."

Feb. 28: "I was loving and open and took care of you and Michelle, and you two lied to me, not once but three times. It's only fitting you pay for your mistake. So will she."

March 2: "And Michelle has dug her own grave by being a homewrecker and a whore. She won't be an issue for much longer."

March 17: "FYI, she won't pass her mid terms."

May 29, two days after Le's disappearance: "Where's Michelle?"

follow the Text messages

The following are text messages sent earlier this year by Giselle Esteban, suspected of killing Michelle Le. The texts were sent to Scott Marasigan, the father of Esteban's child. Esteban believed he was having an affair with Le.

Former friends

Suspect held long-standing grudge against woman she saw as rival.

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