Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I used circle just as an example — what I happen to be working with is a shape. With your clue, I found this...
#include <LinearHandlers.h>
static BentleyStatus CreateShapeElement (
EditElementHandleR eeh,
ElementHandleCP templateEh,
DPoint3dCP points,
size_t numVerts,
bool is3d,
DgnModelRefR modelRef
);
Which is just what I need, and helps to jettison obsolete cargo from MDL.