it felt like it was becoming. sinister? having this person text back as michelle, it was just extremely, extremely terrifying. what does that feel like to go through that? it s hard to put into words. living nightmare, i think, is the closest thing. keith morrison: in a strange way, as chilling as these messages were, they gave michelle s friends and family some hope. to them, it seemed obvious theyn who had abducted michelle. and their mission was now clear, michelle didn t just need to be found, michelle needed to be rescued. it s a time critical situation. every second that you waste is a second that she s hurting. we had to find her. keith morrison: saturday afternoon, 18 hours after michele vanished, michael and a group of michelle s friends met with an inspector for hayward county at the time, fraser ritchie. we had about 10 or 15 family members and classmates and friends at the police department. they were all talking about how responsible she was, how
moms take nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine. keith morrison: michelle le had been missing for weeks, no break in the case at all. and then, just before we sat down for an interview with a private investigator named michael frame, his phone rang with a tip from an inmate who claimed to know where michelle could be found. so who do you think is involved
so every day was precious, said her brother michael. and every day that passed a missed opportunity to find her. you know, she was always looking for me. and so i this was my time to do everything i can to look out for her, to make sure that the hell that she was going through she wouldn t have to go through a day longer. so you must have this sense that any day now we ll find her and we ll bring her back and everything will be ok again. every day we were hoping that today was the day. you know, every day. keith morrison: it was obvious, as we talked to michael, the intensity of his devotion for michelle. the reason for that? he told us a story about their mother. our mom was pretty much our superhero. she worked long hours as a nurse practitioner and she was an incredible mother to us. she was so loving. she would always tell us stories and stories about what? one that we always loved was one called the woman on the moon.
and it s a vietnamese love story about if you look really hard enough that the shadows of the moon looks like a woman with long, flowing hair. at the same day of the year she would come down looking for the one that she loved. but ultimately, she was trapped on the moon to watch over him. keith morrison: folklore is the kind of reality that is like armor for a child, it protects in a time of terror. michael was 11 when his mother learned she had breast cancer, but she did not tell him. she protected him from the worst of it, both he and his 14-year-old sister, michelle. and so when the cancer finally took her life it came as a shock. she died december 1, 1999. and we had just seen her for thanksgiving maybe about a week ago. keith morrison: now alone, michael and michelle were taken in by krystine s family. she told me a story about how after her mom passed away
and michelle was smart and studious, attractive, the leader of this very active pack. a strong, loving center of the family, a mother figure to her younger brother, michael. michael, who was the next person to get the call from the ex-boyfriend. where was michelle? and it s like, well yeah, yeah, you know, ex-boyfriend just trying to get a hold of michelle. so i didn t pay it any mind. but just in case, i wanted to see if she was ok. so i checked on her facebook recently. and she had plans to go to tahoe with some friends. and so right before gong to work i just sent those friends facebook messages just to make sure she was ok. keith morrison: michael went to work, didn t think much more about it. but then he got another call. this time, it was that nursing instructor. and she was trying to be composed. and she told me the story of how she went out to the garage looking for michelle. she said she saw what matched the car s description taking off. and saw that it wasn t a game anymore,