RANCHO PEÑASQUITOS (CBS 8) - An ex-boyfriend described a person of interest in the Michelle Le murder investigation as violent and vindictive Thursday.
A vigil was held in Hayward Thursday night, where the nursing student vanished nearly two weeks ago. Police say she was murdered and her ex-friend Giselle Esteban has been questioned.
The two went to high school together in San Diego and had a falling out over a man.
"Very vindictive.... revengeful... she liked to be in control a lot," Esteban's former boyfriend, Cole Gabaldon.
For almost a year, Normal Heights resident Cole Gabaldon dated and lived with Giselle Esteban, the woman police have identified as a "person of interest" in the Michele Le murder.
"I have seen her violent."
The couple met in the summer of 2009 and moved in together that September, along with Esteban's then-three-year-old daughter.
Over time, Gabaldon says Esteban's behavior proved disturbing.
"Extremely jealous…very vindictive..."
After one spat, Gabaldon says he was barred from his own home.
"Got home...the doors were locked...the locks were changed...I couldn't get inside the house."
The final straw for Gabaldon is when, he says, following another disagreement, she attacked.
"She was already asleep when I got home. I woke up and she was on top of me trying to strangle me."
Gabaldon says he finally had to legally evict Esteban to force her out.
Nursing student Michelle Le was first reported missing in late May in Northern California and this week, Hayward police officially re-classified her case a homicide.
Le and Esteban had once been close friends, but had a falling out over a man with Esteban accusing Le of being "the other woman" and openly admitting she "hates" Le.
At a candlelight vigil Thursday night, Le's family held out hope.
Meanwhile, neighbors who know Esteban's family in Rancho Penasquitos say they are withholding judgment.
"Shocking... Really shocking... I cant imagine... They're just really very kind people... Really nice people... I just can't imagine anything like that happening."
Also withholding judgement is Gabaldon himself.
"I don't have all the evidence so I would hate to point fingers. If you ask me if she's capable of it, I would say yes. Did she do it? I don't know because I don't know all the facts of the case yet."