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East Bay Nursing Student Murder Suspect Gives Birth, Delays Plea

HAYWARD (CBS SF) -- The woman accused of killing nursing student Michele Le in the East Bay earlier this year appeared briefly in court Friday but did not enter a plea, according to prosecutors.

Giselle Esteban, 27, is accused of murdering Le, a 26-year-old San Mateo woman who was attending Samuel Merritt University in Oakland when she disappeared from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Hayward in May.

Le's body was found in an unincorporated part of Alameda County between Pleasanton and Sunol on Sept. 17.

Esteban, a Union City woman who was pregnant when she was arrested on suspicion of the murder, has had several previous court hearings postponed because of medical issues related to her pregnancy.

She gave birth recently while in custody, according to Alameda County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Teresa Drenick, who did not have any further information on the child or the birth.

Esteban appeared in Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward on Friday but her entry of a plea was continued to Jan. 6, Drenick said.

Esteban had attempted previously to fire her defense attorney, Andrea Auer, but a judge denied her motion in October.

Esteban remains in custody without bail.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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