Police: Body found inside Yale lab building

Source: Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Police in Connecticut on Sunday said they found what they believe is the body of a Yale University graduate student and bride-to-be hidden inside the wall of a university building where she was last seen five days before.

New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard said officials presumed the body was that of doctoral student Annie Le, although they had not yet positively identified it. Le has been the focus of a massive police search since Tuesday.

Le, 24, of Placerville, Calif., was to be married Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore. New Haven police said they have contacted her family and have assumed control of the investigation, which is now being treated as a homicide.

State police found the body at around 5 p.m. Sunday in an area of the building that houses utility cables that run between floors.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090914/ap_on_re_us/us_missing_yale_student

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So very sad. :(

Hope they catch this deviant.

Body thought to be missing Yale graduate student Annie Le found stuffed inside wall at college lab



Officers and others are on the scene at the Yale Medical Building at 10 Amistad in New Haven where Annie Le was last seen on Tuesday.




Annie Le pictured with her fiance Jonathan Widawsky. They were to marry Sunday, September 13.


:cry:

if there was construction taking place in the building.

Such a great picture of the couple.

How did the body stay hidden and not begin to smell sooner?

Such a lot of questions and no answers.

The building is a secure building on campus, meaning MOST entry and exit is by ID card. Of course, someone could have sneaked in when others were going in or out. But who would do so, with the intent of murder or other violent act against a stranger in a building where the victim was working? Probably everyone with ID card access to the building will be on the suspect list.

Is there evidence of sexual assault? If so, that probably narrows the list to only males. So many unanswered questions.

There is way too much tendency to let people tail-gate through the doors. You need turnstiles with active surveillance and visual matching of pictures with faces in order to get a reasonable level of security. You also need to enforce wearing of IDs inside the building.

:crazy:

My heart absolutely breaks seeing this photo. ;(

Too bad she wasn't armed , she could have at least defended herself

....you really missed the entire point. How sad.

I thought the point was that there's a huge disparity of force between a 4 ft. tall 90# woman and damn near any post adolescent male on the face of the planet and that if she had some realistic method of defending herself she might be a live now.

I thought women's equality was a progressive value

...so you think progressive women carry guns?

:eyes:

And as to your if she had a gun theory...

...if she had not gone to work

...if she knew martial arts

...if her fiance had gone with her

...if there had been better security

I taught martial arts for several years IME the average female (and she wasn't) couldn't beat the average male

so you think progressive women carry guns?/
And as to your if she had a gun theory...

I think progressives in general believe in equality (am I wrong?) and while I know a few progressive women who do carry guns, I never said anything about guns I said armed taser,mace, pepper spray , Kimber firearms makes a "gun" that fires CS gas pellets. There are any number of places on the force continuum between nothing and guns. The fact is that her work place denied her the right of armed self defense. That's my point what's your's?

...I'm the current chair of the Gun Owners Caucus of the Texas Democratic Party, and our vice-chair is a progressive woman who used to work for the Clinton administration. Don't let anyone tell you that progressive women do not pack heat.

:hi:

university, a person isn't safe anywhere. This is horrible.

There was a horrific rape and murder at my university (not Ivy league by any means, just good old University of Kentucky) back when I was in college in the mid-80s. A chemistry graduate student was working in the evening in one of the chemistry labs and some monster just came in off the street and raped and murdered her. It was horrible and terrifying, I recall I may have been in a building close by when it happened. It was just awful and unexpected. It turns out this guy was an employee at a fast food restaurant near campus. Evidently a young woman alone in a lab made an easy victim.

Probably some monster that was looking for easy prey.

small town in Arizona. Murdered in the middle of the afternoon in the public library.

Also apparently cameras videotape whoever goes in and out. Which I hope should make job of the police a lot easier.

I graduated from UK in 1982 and went back later for an M.S. I think the murder happened when I was between degrees. It was horrifying.

The police had to use blueprints to find the spot. The fact that the killer knew about it suggests that he/she had intimate knowledge of the building. I'd be looking at the janitors, maintenance people, IT staff, and anyone else responsible for building infrastructure. If they clear, move on to anyone else who has worked in the building for a while.

The odds that your average predator could sneak in, kill her, and stuff her in such a hard to find spot is rather slim.

I don't think it's likely to be someone random off the street.
The building is secure, also videotapes show who goes in and out. Police knew she went in but never saw her coming out. Now it's clear why.

. . .I thought of all these deductions as you have. . .we're sure to see a similar story on SVU soon no doubt.

To continue, I'd say it was definitely an employee/construction crew person who knew all the nooks and crannies, one being where this poor woman was left.

In fact, how bold for such evil during a weekday morning-afternoon (she entered at 10 am Tuesday!) and in spite of there being 75 surveillance cameras.

So I'd say the creep exited using the rooftop by jumping to the next building when least observable.

Then, there was initial talk of police wanting to question her professor/advisor who abruptly canceled his classes same day she went missing. Sounds very fishy to me.

Whatever. . .I am very saddened to hear of her likely death. . .on the very day she was to marry. . can't be any more heart-wrenching for her finance and family.

;( ;( ;( ;( ;(

I don't see how anyone could have jumped off the roof unless they can fly.

I'm just making suggestions. . .postulating. . .here's a photo of the building, Amistad Hall:



And on this Yale Medical School web map, Amistad Hall is next to a parking garage and a Nursing School Building, 100 Church Street South:

http://business.yale.edu/map/medicine.html#reset

Also, apparently a fire alarm was pulled around 1 pm that Tuesday, so was that how the creep cleared out the building so he could hide her body and then exit whatever way in all the movement of people leaving? Here's the link to the fire drill detail:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/10/2009-09-10_yale_grad_student_annie_le_disappears_5_days_before_wedding.html

It wasn't a kind of alarm one can pull.

Link? Or were you there and had to evacuate?

My link above says "pulled."

It was said there.
Here is the link:
"No one pulled an alarm. Rather, “a human being open up a device that let the steam up,” the way steam on a stovetop can set off an alarm at home, they said."
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/09/it_doesnt_sound.php

. . .this murder had to be premeditated as well as fueled by passion because 2 facts seem to be potential causes or motives for the killer:

1--Annie Le wrote a critical article about Yale's crime rate in February, 2009 (link here):

http://bbs.yale.edu/images/B10_1.pdf

2--Annie Le was about to marry today 9-13-09

The article could have enraged some one losing a position or promotion.

Her marriage could have enraged some other person enamored with her.

Motives such as these = premeditated passionate killing.

I'd really be shocked if this was a random act of violence. I don't think the campus is anymore endangered. This murder seems to be very revengeful.

So back to the steam that set off the alarm. . .police should interrogate all involved with the steam incident and hopefully the motives I list above are what police are thinking, too!

Geeez. . .I hope they get 'em fast because I find this whole tragedy to be very haunting.

I really don't know how someone could set the alarm off on purpose using an autoclave. Yet it seems like a very peculiar "coincidence" that it went off the same day the girl went missing and later on was found in the wall of the building.

Most autoclaves that I've seen are about the size of a microwave and really don't let of a huge amount of steam

*sigh*

He said the body was found about 5 p.m. Sunday in a chase - a vertical space used for ducts, pipes or wires - in the basement of the building at 10 Amistad St. in New Haven. It was discovered on the same day Le was to be wed in Syosset.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/cops-body-found-hidden-in-yale-building-may-be-annie-le-1.1444964

It definitely had to be someone familiar with the building.

Another life of love, promise, and contributing taken away.

That poor woman. What a loss.

As others have pointed out, she was supposed to be married today.

horrible

The universe of suspects is probably small, and it's likely the police already have a prime suspect. The suspect may be aware that the police are watching for any sign of intent to flee, and is staying put to avoid tipping them off. The police will quietly build the case, then make an arrest when there's no chance of an acquittal.

No one ever got charged with that.
So I am afraid to say you might be way too optimistic. Although one hopes the present case will be easier to solve because it took place in a secure building while Jovin was killed off campus.

Sounds like her professor was railroaded (not charged).

IT seems to me that this case could be solved by examining every single tape from the security cameras in minute detail. Somebody had to enter the building, whether with an ID card swipe or by following someone else in. Is there any other way of someone getting into that building? Even tho I live in New Haven I have no idea about the security systems in these buildings...

So you check the videos for the person wearing those clothes and check the videos for that person in different clothes and you have your suspect.

fire evacuation. If it were me, I'd try very hard to merge into a group of people exiting the building so the cameras could not detect me.

It will be interesting to hear what the coroner says, ie how Le was killed.

although there might be some good footage where you have to swipe in.
we had a grizzly murder here, and they had video of the guy leaving the building, but it was such crappy quality that it was worthless. it gave them a basic idea how big the guy was and all, but no way his face was recognizable.

leave them at the scene. Obviously if the clothes do belong to an assailant, it should be an easy crime to solve. Right of the bet you know the size of your suspect and whether he is a man or a woman.
And even if there are no videos, other people should be able to recognize the clothing someone was wearing that day.

men's clothing, just to throw the police off...

I know, I think I've been watching too much TV...

so it sounds extremely premeditated.

The other possibility is that he somehow left the building naked, but I'd say the chances of that are slim to none.

I'm sure investigators are testing those bloodied clothes for possible DNA links to the murderer. Even a hair with a bit of root can supply that DNA.

While in college I worked in a lab as an assistant to one of the professors. I always had a change of clothes in the labs closet. You don't know how many times you spill things that can ruin your clothes if you don't immediate rinse them, even while wearing lab coats.

Of course, there is the work out clothes many folks carry with them or the cover alls that could have been maintained in the basement for the folks who do maintenance or have to crawl in the chase.

test but refused to provide details.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/body_found_in_lab_student_fails_otQy7CdsFB6VSiQfCisUxH

40 years and no one was ever arrested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_aardsma

Through all the many years I studied in that library (through undergrad and grad school), I thought of Betsy almost every time I went back into those creepy book "stacks," where she was killed. After 40 years, that part of the library is STILL dark and scary.

I can't help but believe this was related to the upcoming wedding.

My heart breaks for her fiance and her family.

Someone wanted desperately to deny this woman her wedding day and someone who knew the building very well. ALSO, someone who knew she'd be going to that building on that day and planned accordingly...this is premeditated murder for sure...

It could have been something that just got out of hand. I know that new buildings or recent builds have a chase - how else to you think the pipes are repaired, the IT wires/phone wires run, the duct work attended to?

I know that the basement is the place where access to most building concerns would be located. It wouldn't be hard to find the chase = they are generally locked, like any doorway to a maintenance area of a public building.

Premeditated murder would have occurred off campus, away from card swipes and videos.

Yes, that could be, I guess. Perhaps a rejected suitor could have followed her to that building and tried to persuade her not to marry her fiance...the bloodied clothes will tell more of the story, because if they are the killer's clothing, how would he be able to get out of the building w/o causing some kind of attention? Just speculating here, of course...

accessible by just anyone with a Yale ID. I mean, the chemicals available in labs can be used for all sorts of wrong doings (meth - bombs, etc). So I think whoever killed her had access to the lab and the police have a pretty good list to work with.

:cry:

Very sad for her family. :(

NEW HAVEN, CT - ABC News has learned police at Yale University have identified a suspect in the presumed murder of Placerville graduate student Annie Le, 24.

According to a news producer in New Haven, the suspect failed a lie detector test and has retained an attorney. The suspect is said to have evidence of defensive wounds that could have been suffered during a struggle.

Police in Connecticut on Sunday said they found what they believe is Le's body inside the wall of a university building where she was last seen five days earlier. She was planning to be married Sunday.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=66856&catid=2




Suspect in custody, per Pat Brown, criminal profiler, FB