Sunday was the last day of a three-day search effort to find Michelle Le, a nursing student last seen last month when she took a break from a clinical rotation at a Hayward hospital.
Following Friday and Saturday searches, Sunday volunteers will search for Le until noon, working with Le's family and the KlaasKids Foundation, a Sausalito-based organization dedicated to stopping crimes against children, Le family spokeswoman Krystine Dinh said.
Le's father spent this Father's Day searching for his daughter. He told NBC Bay Area that he never asked his daughter for a Father's Day prior to Sunday, but that if he could he would ask her to come back to him.
Marc Klaas, who helped organize the search, is also a well known Bay Area father. His daughter Polly was kidnapped and murder by Richard Allen Davis in October 1993. Polly was Klaas' only daughter. He said Sunday that there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think about Polly, adding that Father's Day is extra difficult.
On Friday over 100 volunteers formed 14 search teams hoping to find Le, 26, last seen at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Hayward on May 27 at 7 p.m. She stepped out to take a break from her clinical rotation after she had told classmates she had plans to go to Reno for the weekend.
The searches, based at a command center at 23350 Cypress Ave. in Hayward, intend to eliminate areas for law enforcement to search. The family hopes to expedite Le's homecoming, Dinh said.
The family believes she is still alive, despite Hayward police classifying the case as a homicide.
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Investigators have said they discovered compelling evidence that "points conclusively to homicide," but have not released further details.
Hayward police Sgt. Steve Brown said investigators wanted to remain hopeful that Le was alive, but "based on all the evidence, we have the grim possibility that Michelle is dead and we should prepare for the worst."
Bay City News