Inside the Mind of Giselle Esteban

Giselle Esteban, 27 has been accused of murdering Michelle Le, 26. Le went missing on May 27, 2011 and was found in a shallow grave in the Sunol-Pleasanton wilderness on September 17, 2011. Esteban was indicted on December 14, 2011 and entered a plea of not guilty. In November of 2011, Giselle gave birth to her 2nd child. Her trial date is set for September 17, 2012. (Kurhi, 2011). Using a bio-psychosocial approach, we are trying to understand why she thought, acted and felt the way that she did. One can consider, what was the biology of her mind, the psychology of her motivation, and the social aspect of her memories? Here we consider the possibilities of what causes a person to terminate another human’s life?

Esteban 3 Giselle and Michelle were friends at Mt. Carmel high school in San Diego. Eventually, they relocated to the bay area. Giselle lived in an apartment in Union City. She was involved with a man named Scott Marasigan and their relationship resulted in a daughter who is now about five years old. Scott was awarded custody of their daughter and a restraining order, to prevent Giselle from having access to either Scott or their daughter, on May 24, 2011, just 3 days before Michelle disappeared. Giselle has accused Michelle and Scott of having an affair. Michelle was a nursing student at Samuel Merritt University Kaiser in Oakland, California and worked for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward, California, where her white Honda CRV was last seen leaving during her break on May 27th, 2011. Esteban was seen on video surveillance during this time frame. DNA matching Esteban was found on a stain in the Honda that was owned by Michelle Le. A detective from Hayward named, Fraser Ritchie, indicated in the Hayward Daily Review, newspaper on December 30, 2011, that