Birthday Celebration Turns Into Vigil for Missing Nurse Phuong Le

(April 30) -- It was supposed to be a birthday party as well as a celebration to mark 25-year-old Phuong Le's successful completion of nursing school. Instead, Le's family held a candlelight vigil today, five days after she mysteriously disappeared.

At around 4 p.m. Sunday, Le left her family's home in Suisun City, Calif., and drove to a Barnes & Noble store in Fairfield where she liked to study. Police say she was last seen in the bookstore's cafe at around 8:30 p.m.

When Le didn't arrive home by midnight, her brother Huong Le went searching for her. In the bookstore parking lot he discovered her white 1997 Honda Accord, its back windows rolled down, with her purse, backpack, wallet and cell phone locked in the trunk.

Le Family

Nursing student Phuong Le was last seen at a Barnes & Noble store on April 25.

"The first thing that came to mind was that she got kidnapped," he told KCRA news.

On Wednesday, Fairfield police launched an official investigation into Le's disappearance. Her family, who are immigrants from Vietnam, have been doing everything they can to assist police: passing out fliers at the gym where Le regularly worked out, providing DNA samples and even starting a Facebook page to try to help generate tips on her whereabouts.

Though they try to keep hope alive, they say they believe something terrible has happened to Phuong Le.

"We're really sure somebody strange passed by, saw her in the car and kidnapped her," Dinh Le, another brother, told ABC News. "That's the only way she is missing."

At a press conference Thursday, Fairfield police said they do not know for certain whether Le was kidnapped or simply disappeared on her own.

"We're exploring both avenues. ... We're just trying to find her," Fairfield police Lt. Darrin Moody said.

Two weeks before her disappearance, Le had passed the NCLEX exam, clearing the way for her to get a nursing license, and had started looking for work.

At 7 p.m. today -- the day Le turned 25 -- family, friends and concerned residents met on the lawn at the Fairfield campus of Solano Community College, where she had been a student, and lit red candles in her honor. It was not the gathering they had hoped for.

Phuong Le is 5 foot 3, and weighs approximately 105 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with tips or information on her whereabouts can call Fairfield police at 707-428-7345.