Yale Killing Not a ‘Random Act,’ Police Say By JAMES BARRON and LYNNLEY BROWNING NEW HAVEN — The police in New Haven believe the apparent slaying of a Yale graduate student “doesn’t appear to be a random act,” a police spokesman said, suggesting that she had been singled out. The spokesman, Officer Joe Avery, said the police had no suspects and no one in custody. “We’re not questioning anybody,” he said. The police believe a body found in a laboratory building near the Yale Medical School on Sunday night was that of a Annie Le, a 24-year-old graduate student. She disappeared last week. Surveillance video showed her entering the building around 10 a.m. Tuesday. None of the cameras trained on the building showed her leaving. The case raised new fears about security on the main Yale campus, where even Ms. Le had weighed in on personal safety. In February, she wrote an article for a student magazine with tips on how to avoid becoming a crime victim. “I always take precautions,” said Megan Quattlebaum, 28, a third-year law student. “New Haven is a city. It has city problems.” But Leslie Tung of Kalamazoo, Mich., whose daughter has just entered Yale, said it would be “terrifically misguided to be walking around consumed by fear.” “I don’t think you can worry about living in a college setting, or else you stop living,” he said. He said he was not worried about his daughter. “She knows to lock her door and be careful,” he said. Ms. Le’s absence was first noticed on Tuesday, after her purse — with her identification, her cellphone and some money — was found in her office, in another Yale building a few blocks away. Investigators watched hours of video from dozens of cameras around the building and saw someone matching her description — a young woman in a bright green T-shirt and a brown skirt — going in. The body was found on what was supposed to have been her wedding night. The discovery ended a six-day search for Ms. Le, whose disappearance began with speculation of a runaway bride but quickly gave way to near-certainty that a crime had been committed. Ms. Le was seen on surveillance video entering the lab building, Amistad Hall, a half-dozen blocks south of the Yale campus, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, but there were no images of her leaving the building. Her disappearance recalled a troubling case from December 1998 that has never been closed: the stabbing death of Suzanne Jovin, 21, a Yale senior whose body was found in a neighborhood not far from the campus. Ms. Le had done her undergraduate work in bioscience at the University of Rochester, where she met Jonathan Widawsky, now a graduate student at Columbia University. They planned to be married on Sunday at a catering hall in Syosset, N.Y. They had invited more than 160 guests. Mr. Widawsky was not considered a suspect and was said to have cooperated with the police in New Haven. By Thursday, Yale officials said that more than 100 law enforcement officials were looking for Ms. Le. A $10,000 reward was posted for her whereabouts. By Friday, family members had canceled the wedding. On Saturday, the police reportedly found bloody clothes above ceiling tiles in the lab building, though other reports said the clothes were not the same ones Ms. Le was last seen wearing. On Monday, Officer Avery, the police spokesman confirmed that clothes had been found in the ceiling but would not say if the police knew whose they were. On Sunday, the search appeared to have moved to a waste-processing facility on the industrial fringe of Hartford where trash from much of New Haven, as well of the rest of the state, is burned to generate electric power. Officials did not say if they had found anything there. But investigators, armed with blueprints of the new four-story building on Amistad Street that houses three of Yale’s research programs, continued searching every literal nook and cranny of the building for clues. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/nyregion/15yale.html?hp Who could have killed her? A friend or a foe?? I find it odd with the timing and all. The fire alarm went off on that very day too with no apparent reason. For a Tuesday (NOT even a weekend), I am surprised no one was around to help or see anything. The death kinda scared me a bit because my younger sis is still in college now. You would expect "YALE" to have high security in place at all time especially after what happened at Virginia Tech. Any crazy people/student can start a killing spree. I don't expect a college town to be safe like it used to be (it was when I was in college) but I definitely expect security to be tight in a university building especially in a lab facilities.
its sucks to be a commuter, but im glad im away from the dangers that could happen in college no suspect, so it really is hard to knw who could have done the murder. Those who dont seem to be the killer is most likely to be the real killer LOL poor lady....
Annie was my best friend in my later years of elementary and middle school. That was a long time ago, I know, and we haven't talked in about a decade, but it still doesn't mean I wouldn't be hurt by her gruesome murder. I have been hoping that she is found safe since I heard of her disappearance. Each time I read that her body was found stuffed behind a wall, it just drives me insane to imagine how painful her death must have been. All I want to know now is who did it and why. This was a planned attack. The fire alarm was said to have been one that goes off from a steam released by chemicals or whatever and NOT one that is pulled like typical ones. That makes sense. But because of this, they do not believe it is related to the case. I think that is totally wrong. To have been able to have access to the building and certain rooms inside, you need special IDs and clearance. The murderer must have known that an alarm would go off with the release of some steam and did that to either murder or hide it. It is definitely a staff or student. Oh and according to reports I have read, they have been questioning a student who has "defensive marks and failed 2 polygraph tests."
Man, everyone always thinks, "It will never happen to me," but things do happen >_< good luck and be strong
Wow .. hope you're alright. I guess at least now, there's some sort of closure to the families with the finding of the body and narrowing of the search of suspects. I expect the police to nail this case simply because this happened at Yale secured research facility where only limited members get access to the lab. If they can't break this case fast, then it's obviously show only two possibilities - corruptions and cover-up by the university or the incompetence of the New Haven police force.
Yeah .. I read the news alright. They found the body and stated the cause of death - asphyxiation. Just waiting for the break in the case. I don't understand what could have motivated the "killing".
Here's a photo of the suspect My guess is a psycho coworker with a crush/obsession, which would explain the motivation behind strangling her to death. That was probably his last attempt to keep her from marrying.
Oddly enough, I get a feeling that there is an accomplice in this case. The fact that a false fire alarm went off on the same day of the incident, his family members and fiancee work in the same building, and that he walked out of the building and on with life for the five days after Le's murder signal to me that someone is helping him by stalling time either for him to get out and run away. If anything, I believe the all those related people should be questioned as well. Whilst these related people may not have committed the act, they might have helped him in some way despite knowing the truth. Anyway, I am glad and relieved that the case is somewhat solved. I feel sad for Annie's mom who worked so hard as a single mother to raise her well; now has to deal with the brutal death of her only daughter.
