Le's family is coming to grips with reality after holding out hope for more than two weeks. The yellow ribbons are still up in Le's neighborhood in Suisun City, even though all hope was lost earlier on Monday.
"The Solano County coroner confirmed that the deceased female found in Napa was Phuong Le," said Fairfield police investigator Darin Moody.
Le was the youngest of seven children who emigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1994.
"She liked working hard and she was a very nice person," said Le's sister Nam Le.
Police say they identified the 25-year-old victim through fingerprints, but a bracelet and watch found on the recent nursing school graduate's body also helped confirm her family's worst fears.
"But I don't know why this happened to my sister like that," said Nam.
"We saw her come and go and it's tough. I'm kind of choked up about it," said neighbor Jeff O'Connell.
On Friday, Le's body was found in Napa County along Highway 121 between Fairfield and Lake Berryessa. She was last seen, in the parking lot of the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Fairfield on April 25. Police are withholding the cause of Le's death because that's knowledge only the killer would know.
"I wouldn't classify it as well on our way to making an arrest. I will say we have information that we're moving forward on," said Moody.
Police are asking for any information, even if it may not seem important because it can help create a timeline to confirm the whereabouts of the potential suspects.
"We know she's dead right now, but she's always alive in our hearts," said Le's brother Dinh Le.
What makes this a difficult case is that Le appears to have been a pretty straight-laced person with no history of drug use or crime. She was just a young woman who lived with her parents and spent a lot of time studying and taking care of her family members.
The coroner has determined a cause of death, but police are not releasing the information. They currently have no suspects or persons of interest.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Fairfield Police Department at (707) 644-7867 or Crimestoppers at (707) 428-7600.
