Morbid
10:00 am on September 14th, 2009
Sorry, was kind of updating the story as I went along.
LeeMouse
10:24 am on September 14th, 2009
Morbid, are you thinking of Leah Hickman?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-22-marshall-body_N.htm
akika666
10:40 am on September 14th, 2009
i’m just gonna repost what i said minutes ago on the forum right before Morbid FP’d this:
RIP Annie… i’ve spent lots of nights and weekends working in various medical school and hospital labs alone, constantly freaking myself out about my safety. but i NEVER would have been worried on a Tuesday afternoon! that poor woman, i hope she didn’t suffer much at the hands of the person who did this.
if it is true that the whole joint is covered by video surveillance, how can there be much of a whodunit here? or are there blind spots in the coverage? those access swipe cards aren’t that hard to steal or “borrow,” but video is video, no?
Coyote
11:02 am on September 14th, 2009
This story does have me intrigued, and I’m definitely interested in finding out what happened.
CassieMomma
11:09 am on September 14th, 2009
So sad, she had her whole life ahead of her.
Morbid
11:19 am on September 14th, 2009
Yes, LeeMouse, that is the story I was thinking of. Thanks you.
akika666
2:14 pm on September 14th, 2009
in addition to the Leah case, this also reminded me of the still unsolved murder of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin in 1998. It was a brutal stabby murder that happened off-campus. A thesis advisor or professor of hers was accused but I think he was never charged, or never prosecuted anyway.
akika666
2:16 pm on September 14th, 2009
he was never charged, this is a good summary.

akika666
2:27 pm on September 14th, 2009
akika666
2:38 pm on September 14th, 2009
i’m so sorry, i can’t seem to post a link, and i can’t seem to be able to edit either. i was trying to post the Jovin link
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/features/2008/12/04/a-decade-later-remembering-suzanne-jovin/
whisperswing
2:46 pm on September 14th, 2009
Autopsy results may come soon in suspected Yale student slaying NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) —

Investigators probing the suspected killing of a Yale student might have the results of an autopsy Monday on a body found over the weekend, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
The body, which has not been identified officially, has been removed from a wall in the Yale laboratory building where it was found, the source said.
Authorities might also have the results Monday of tests on blood-stained clothing found in the same building, state police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said.
Teams at a Connecticut State Police lab worked through the weekend processing and examining the clothes, which were found hidden above tiles in a drop ceiling.
Authorities have not described the clothes that were found, nor have they said whether they may have belonged to Le.
Thomas Kaplan, editor of the school newspaper, the Yale Daily News, said a Yale police official told the paper that the clothes were not what Le was wearing when she entered the building .

Police spokesman Joe Avery denied media reports Monday that investigators had a student suspect in custody. He said the reports were not true. Investigators are speaking to several people, Avery said.
The whole updated story is at http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/14/missing.yale.student/index.html
Abroad
3:45 pm on September 14th, 2009
Ack! How heart-rending. At a time in here life when she would have been excited about the future and looking forward to her life and the changes being married would bring…. and then this.
And the poor groom-to-be. He must be absolutely distraught
Dneilz
6:06 pm on September 14th, 2009
I hope the bastard that did this to her (and I bet it is a him) can’t live with himself and does what that loser who killed his wife and put her in a suitcase did…. offs himself. I feel so bad for her fiance, family and friends.
Rest in peace Annie Le.
What a sad ending.
whisperswing
10:31 pm on September 14th, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) — The

body found in a Yale University building over the weekend is that of student Annie Le, the Yale student missing for nearly a week, medical examiners announced Monday.
Yale students shocked and wary. “Only Yalies had access to that basement, and that seems to point to someone in our community being involved in this,” Kaplan said. “That’s what is so frightening.”
Yale professor said on Monday that the building has good security and only certain people can enter, let alone access certain areas. Professor Gary Rudnick, who interviewed Le when she applied for admission to the graduate program in pharmacology, said it gives him the sense that there could be a “murderer among us.”
Yale police official told the newspaper the clothes were not what Le was wearing when she entered the building.
rest is at http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/14/missing.yale.student/index.html
Dakota Valkyrie
7:11 am on September 15th, 2009
Police are focusing on a Yale lab technician who works in the building where a graduate student’s body was found Sunday as her possible killer, police sources confirmed Monday.
The Yale employee, who is involved in animal testing, has been under law enforcement’s microscope since before the body of Annie Le was discovered stuffed in a mechanical chase in the basement of the 120,000-square-foot building at 10 Amistad St.
He had scratches on his chest, which drew police attention, the sources confirmed. He also took, and failed, an FBI-administered polygraph exam, they said, and at some point during questioning invoked his right to have an attorney and stopped answering questions.
[...]
Source
Dneilz
11:43 am on September 15th, 2009
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/15/2009-09-15_cops_set_to_reveal_yale_student_annie_le_cause_of_death_hope_to_make_arrest_tues.html
Details of Yale student Annie Le’s murder to be revealed Tuesday as police close in on arrest
Dneilz
11:44 am on September 15th, 2009
I am so glad… it sounds like they know who it is and they will be making an arrest very soon
whisperswing
4:23 pm on September 15th, 2009
Autopsy Results Of Yale Student Withheld
Police Say No Arrests Imminent

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Connecticut medical examiner is withholding autopsy results on a Yale graduate student at the request of prosecutors.
New Haven police said they’ve interviewed about 150 people in the case but do not expect to make an arrest Tuesday.
New Haven police Officer Joe Avery said that contrary to published reports, police do not expect to make an arrest Tuesday in the death of 24-year-old Annie Le.
“You guys made up the fact that we had somebody in custody, the media in general,” Avery told reporters outside the police department Tuesday. “We’re talking to a lot of people.”
Rest is at http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/20908800/detail.html
rebel450
5:53 pm on September 15th, 2009
This must be a real let down for the college and the community. I am sure they are doing everything possible at this point, to bring this killer forward quickly.
cockroach
6:59 pm on September 15th, 2009
I feel for her family as I do for everyone touched by evil.It might have been an attempted rape and from what I have heard about Annie, she would have fought back, first with words then with might. But at less than 5 feet and only 90 pounds, she had no chance. However I must say, it’s good to be me. I’m too fat and ugly, no one would even attempt to touch me. I am no rapists dream whether it’s the power or the sex. Sometimes us trolls have all the luck.
Rockin Ma
8:31 pm on September 15th, 2009
official says New Haven police have identified a “person of interest” in the death of a Yale University graduate student, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The state official has firsthand knowledge of the police investigation into the death of Annie Le, 24, the bride-to-be whose body was found in a university lab the day she was to get married on Long Island, the AP reported.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation in Le’s killing is ongoing. A New Haven police spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment, the AP said.
After saying it would release autopsy results amid reports that police were zeroing in on a lab technician as a suspect, the Connecticut medical examiner’s office Tuesday said it would not release Le’s cause of death just yet.
A spokeswoman for the state chief medical examiner’s office said it was withholding the time of death and cause of death – at the request of Connecticut State Police and New Haven police – for “investigative purposes.”
Earlier Tuesday, a New Haven police spokesman did not deny there was a suspect, but he did take issue with media reports that a suspect was in custody. Newsday is not among the media organizations to report that a suspect is in custody.
“You guys made up the fact that we had someone in custody,” Officer Joe Avery said, adding the investigators are “talking to a lot of people.”
The New Haven Register has reported that detectives were focusing on a lab technician who works in the building where the body of Le was found Sunday, the day she was supposed to marry a Huntington man at a Syosset catering hall.
The newspaper reported that the technician had failed a polygraph test and had scratches on his chest, possibly indicating a struggle.
At a meeting of medical school students and teachers Monday, Yale president Richard Levin said police have narrowed the number of potential suspects to a very small pool because building security systems recorded who entered the building and what times they entered, the Yale Daily News reported Tuesday. He said the appropriate people are being monitored, the newspaper said.
Police have said that Le’s killing was not a random act and that no students are believed to be involved in the death.
The state’s chief medical examiner ruled Le’s death a homicide Monday but declined to say how she died, citing the pending police investigation.
Police are analyzing what they call “a large amount” of physical evidence, but have not gone into detail.
The killing took place in a heavily secured building accessible only to students and university employees. Le was last seen entering the building five days before her body was found. It was the first killing at Yale in a decade.
Police found Le’s body about 5 p.m. Sunday, the day she was to marry Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky of Huntington, referred to on her Facebook page as “my best friend.”
The couple met as undergraduates at the University of Rochester and were eagerly awaiting their planned wedding in Syosset.
Police have said Widawsky is not a suspect and helped detectives in their investigation.
Widawsky’s temple, Temple Beth El in Huntington, released a statement Tuesday saying its community was “heartbroken.”
“Our deepest heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with Jonathan and the Widawsky and Le families,” the statement said. “We seek to be supportive of all involved, and we appeal to everyone to be respectful of their need for privacy during this difficult time.”
No one has answered the door at the Widawskys’ gray, ranch-style home in Huntington.
“He is a very nice young man,” next-door neighbor George Mayer said Monday of Widawsky, 24, who is working toward his doctorate in physics. “His family, they’re all just wonderful people – very, very nice people.”
Rockin Ma
8:40 pm on September 15th, 2009
On Tuesday, investigators descended in large numbers on the home of a Yale animal research technician who lives in an apartment in Middletown, about 20 miles from the New Haven campus. Le worked for a Yale laboratory that conducted experiments on mice, and investigators found her body stuffed in the basement wall of a facility that housed research animals.
It was unclear whether the technician was the “person of interest,” and whether police were giving the same attention to any others who had access to the lab where Le worked. Detectives have questioned more than 150 people, many of them believed to be connected to the busy medical research building where Le was a rising star.
Officials had promised Tuesday to release an autopsy report that would shed light on exactly how Le died. But then prosecutors blocked release of the results out of concern that it could hinder the investigation.
Investigators usually have reasons for keeping information secret during a criminal probe, said David Zlotnick, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.
Secrecy helps police confront possible suspects with little-known evidence about a crime and makes it harder them to fabricate a cover story.
“Having that information secret or private helps the investigators know, first of all, what buttons to push on the person, and it makes sure they haven’t tainted the investigation,” Zlotnick said.
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/national/dpg_Annie_Le_Yale_Student_fc_20090915_3509326
jenjenjen
9:12 pm on September 15th, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Sources have identified the person of interest in the killing of a Yale Graduate Student as Yale lab tech Raymond Clark.
Sources told Eyewitness News that police are investigating 24-year-old Clark as a person of interest in the death of Annie Le.
Clark, a Yale lab technician, had defense wounds on his chest and had failed a polygraph test, sources said.
Clark formerly lived in Branford, but moved out of town four years ago. Members of the Branford Police Department told Eyewitness News that they were contacted by members of the New Haven Police Department regarding a resident that used to live in town.
Sources have told Eyewitness News that Clark now lives in Middletown with his girlfriend. Police sources confirmed to Eyewitness News that New Haven police were conducting surveillance at a Ferry Street address in the city.
The name on the mailbox at that address is “Ray Clark.”
The manager of the apartment complex told Eyewitness News that no one has seen Clark since Thursday.
“We didn’t know what was going on, we saw cops all around here,” said neighbor Sana Cotten.
Sources told Eyewitness News that Clark was inside his apartment Tuesday night. No search or arrest warrants had been issued for Clark or his apartment on Tuesday.
According to the Yale University directory, Clark works as a lab tech at the Animal Resources Center.
The remains of 24-year-old Le were found inside a wall the basement area of a Yale lab on Amistad Street on Sunday, Le’s would-be wedding day. The area where Le’s remains were found is used to store animals used for research.
Le was working in the Amistad Street building as a graduate student in pharmacology. The office where Clark worked is very close to where Le was performing her graduate work.
Students told Eyewitness News that the area is secure and that key cards must be swiped twice to access the area.
Le had been missing since Tuesday, when she was last captured by some of the school’s 70-plus surveillance cameras entering the lab.
The medical examiner identified the remains as Le’s on Monday, and said the release of the cause of death would be delayed to assist in the investigation.
A listing on a wedding Web site lists a wedding date for Clark and his girlfriend for Dec. 20, 2011. Neighbors said the girlfriend was seen moving things out of the Middletown apartment on Monday, but that she brought take-out food into the home on Tuesday.
The girlfriend’s parents told Eyewitness News that the reason no arrest has been made in connection with the case is because police are awaiting the results of forensic tests on clothing.
Eyewitness News attempted to contact Clark Tuesday, but he did not answer his phone.
jenjenjen
9:15 pm on September 15th, 2009
There is a photo of him on the link too.
Guess his wedding is canceled too?
MadeaBecBec
10:30 pm on September 15th, 2009
Police were looking for Clark, who was not home Tuesday, as swarms of cops descended on his apartment about 20 miles from Yale’s campus.
Clark did not show up for work – and neither did his sister, brother-in-law or fiancée, all of whom work in the same lab and have the same job.
Neighbors say they saw Clark and his girlfriend, Jennifer Hromadka, leaving with suitcases on Sunday around the time cops found Le’s body.
“I saw them leaving this weekend with travel bags like they were in a hurry,” said a 35-year-old neighbor who lives in the same apartment building.
She and another neighbor said the couple climbed into the backseat of a Ford that had two adults in the front.
“I thought they were going on vacation,” the neighbor said.
Mmmmm, the plot thickens….
Source-NY Daily News
MadeaBecBec
10:37 pm on September 15th, 2009
Maybe they should be interviewing Jennifer……
mr.darcy
10:42 pm on September 15th, 2009
Cockroach…didn’t you ever see Silence of the Lambs?
Dneilz
10:56 pm on September 15th, 2009
Here is what I believe is their myspace page. (jennifer and “Ray Ray”
http://www.myspace.com/jenniferhromadka
Dneilz
11:02 pm on September 15th, 2009
I think this might in fact be Jennifer’s brother.
http://www.myspace.com/inkman5000
Dakota Valkyrie
11:11 pm on September 15th, 2009
Yale lab technician Raymond Clark, 24, was taken away in handcuffs tonight after more than a dozen police and FBI agents stormed a Connecticut apartment building where he lives.
Clark had emerged earlier today as a person of interest in the probe into the sensational slaying of brilliant university grad student Annie Le, sources said.
Authorities executed a “body” search warrant, which allows them to gather DNA samples.
Cops had descended on the apartment building in which he lives with his girlfriend in Middletown, Conn., about 20 miles outside of the university campus in New Haven, keeping it under surveillance and pulling over cars arriving and leaving, questioning drivers.
Meanwhile, the Hartford Courant reported tonight that Le was asphyxiated.
[...]
A source close to Clark’s family confirmed to The Post that he was the person who failed a polygraph test administered by authorities and that he also was the one with scratches on his chest — two key points that law-enforcement sources have made about one person they are looking at.
“He did not pass the polygraph test. … But of course, they don’t always run true anway, especially when you’re nerved up asking so many questions,” the source said.
The source added that, “Of course, he had scratches on his arm — from his cat.”
The source said Clark, who the family calls “Ray Ray,” had been working at the university building that morning along with his sister and her husband, who also are lab technicians. Clark’s girlfriend is a lab techie as well.
Article
Dneilz
11:24 pm on September 15th, 2009
Thanks DV…. good news. I hope they got the right guy We’ll see
Dneilz
12:29 am on September 16th, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/hc-annie-le-autopsy-yale-student-murdered-death-b,0,5415802.story
Video of him being taken away by the po po.
whisperswing
1:27 am on September 16th, 2009
Police seek DNA from Yale worker in death of studentStory Highlights
NEW: Police get warrant to take DNA from Yale employee in slaying probe.
HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) —

Police said Tuesday night they have a Yale University employee in custody in connection with the killing of Yale student Annie Le.
The body of Annie Le, 24, was found in the wall of a Yale University laboratory building Sunday.
A judge has issued a search warrant and a body warrant on Raymond Clark, 24, said New Haven, Connecticut, Police Chief James Lewis at a news conference.
The search warrant allows for an examination of his home, Lewis said. The body warrant allows police to collect DNA from Clark, who will be arrested if he does not comply, Lewis said. Results of DNA tests could take a day or longer, according to Lewis. Others have voluntarily given up their DNA samples, he said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Yale technician’s home in Middletown, Connecticut, was the scene of a large police presence.
Investigators have collected about 150 pieces of evidence, reviewed about 700 hours of video and interviewed more than 150 people, some twice, Lewis said. They have yet to arrest anyone in Le’s slaying, whose body was found Sunday in a basement wall of a medical research building off campus.
A senior police official that spoke with CNN disputed Yale University President Richard Levin, who had indicated that the suspect pool would be a “limited number” of people who had been in the basement the day Le disappeared.
“We know everyone that was in the basement … and we passed that on to police,” Levin said. “There is an abundance of evidence.”
But the police official, whom CNN is not naming because of the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation, said investigators believe dozens of people could have had access to that area of the building. Watch how Le’s body was found »
Le, 24, disappeared September 8. She was last seen on surveillance video as she entered the four-story lab at 10 Amistad Street, about 10 blocks from the main campus. After going over hours of tapes, authorities said they had not found images of her leaving the building.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/connecticut.missing.yale.student/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
Wonder
1:57 am on September 16th, 2009
asphyxiated – I need to bring an opinion about the bloodied clothes, if she fought for her life and scratched him, He, Ray Clark, stuffed his clothes into the drop ceiling what did he wear out of there, It will be interesting to know how many staff members of the 67 employees were in that area (were they all gone to lunch wtf Ray Clark’s g/f sister and bro in law works there too, seems that students would get these jobs over outsiders, wonder what they pay cage cleaners wonder if the 3/4 of them will be fired or continued to be employed), also would like to hear about when and what time they show him leaving the building using his access card –
with the assistance of a cadaver dog, discovered her fully clothed body. her body was stuffed into a barely 2-foot-long crawl space. She was wearing the same clothes seen in a video of her entering the building last week
Police had to remove part of the wall in a laboratory to get access to the crawl space. The source said that evidence recovered from the crime scene indicated that Le was killed in a different room in the basement and then moved to a second room where the crawl space was.
The source said that only someone with intimate knowledge of the layout of the laboratory would have been able to access the crawl space.
The source said that tiny droplets of blood were found in one of the laboratory rooms where police now believe that the slaying took place. The blood is being analyzed at the state forensic laboratory. Authorities also are trying to determine if Le was sexually assaulted.
Because there is limited access to the research laboratory, investigators were able to determine relatively quickly who was in the building when Le disappeared. Le was last seen about 10 a.m. Tuesday morning entering the building. She never left.
When asked what led police to Clark, Lewis said, “We narrowed it down to who had access to this building and who was in what room and where.”
Clark, 24, a 2004 graduate of Branford High School, worked as an animal technician for the expansive Yale Animal Resources Center, which “provides for the daily care of all animals used in research at Yale (95 percent of which are rodents),” according to Yale’s website.
The center, which is accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, coordinates the procurement of research animals, houses animals at multiple sites around the campus, and offers various scientific services to researchers, including breeding, tissue collection and analysis, animal restraint during experimentation and euthanasia.
In a recent school directory, the center had 67 people employed as animal technicians
wtg DD, is ahead of Nancy Grace on this update. Thanks
Guess his wedding is canceled too?
lol ummmm that is a long engagement, guess takes longer these days to save up all the cash it cost to have your dream wedding.
I think this might in fact be Jennifer’s brother.
http://www.myspace.com/inkman5000
according to age (46) could her daddy or uncle.
defenestratethis
2:09 am on September 16th, 2009
Jeeze..you’d think a lab technichian would think more about covering his tracks.
Wonder
2:29 am on September 16th, 2009
Neighbors say they saw Clark and his girlfriend, Jennifer Hromadka, leaving with suitcases on Sunday around the time cops found Le’s body.
“I saw them leaving this weekend with travel bags like they were in a hurry,”
of course I laughed ~ now just wondering, monday jennifer was removing things, tues brought in take out food. seems like they had a change of heart, ray clark was picked up at his apartment on Tues.
and then I laughted again,

Clark did not show up for work – and neither did his sister, brother-in-law or fiancée
Now I will just be waiting for the arrest of the others for tampering whatever it is they are guilty of.
Thanks now that I seen the myspace pic, this could jennifer opening the door greeting Annie. http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/national/dpg_Annie_Le_Yale_Student_fc_20090915_3509326
can someone tell me whats annie carrying?
MadeaBecBec
3:05 am on September 16th, 2009
Wonder, Here’s this:

At 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, a fire alarm sounded in the building. The special agent in charge of the FBI in Connecticut, Kimberly Mertz, said at a press conference Saturday that the alarm was caused by a release of steam from a laboratory hood. She said it was possible that the steam was intentionally released by a person.
Others left during this time, not Le, according to surveillance, the alarm may’ve presented the opportunity…
I truly wish this hadn’t happened, Such potential in a young person is rare, she might have found the cure for all cancers or altheimers, etc., an all around great lady, ethical in her professional as well as private life, Annie seemed as close to a perfect person as a human could get and damn the evil snot that took her from the rest of us! I grieve for her loved ones, I feel heartbreak for her death, I could never grasp what they must be feeling. Especially, Widawski, Will he ever be able to smile or love another??
The posted quote is here:Yale Daily News
MadeaBecBec
3:18 am on September 16th, 2009
It looks like a Cat, yellow tabby, maybe?? I don’t think the investigators have said what Le was carrying. When I first saw the photos, on the news, that’s what I thought of, but couldn’t figure why Le would have a cat at a lab, then hearing about all the research on animals there, I am pretty sure that is a cat.
Dneilz
6:26 am on September 16th, 2009
wow, jennifer and Ray canceled their myspace account….
jenjenjen
9:51 am on September 16th, 2009
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/09/alleged_annie_l.php
Annie Le Target Had Previous Police Run-In
Six years before New Haven police questioned a lab technician in connection with an investigation into the murder of a Yale graduate student, he had to answer to Branford police about a dispute with a different young woman.
New Haven police Tuesday night served two search warrants on the technician in connection with the murder last week of 24 year-old Yale pharmacology graduate student Annie Le at a Yale medical building. Cops discovered Le’s remains inside a basement wall on Sunday, the day she was to be married.
The target was a Yale animal lab technician who at the time of the murder worked in the same building in which Annie Le did experiments. He lives in Middletown. He was raised in Branford. Police took him into custody late Tuesday night to obtain DNA samples. He was later released.
On Sept. 29, 2003 he was a senior at Branford High School when Det. Ronald Washington responded to a report of a dispute. The dispute was between the (now) lab tech and a female student.
“The two are in a relationship which [the girlfriend] wishes to terminate and [the male] does not wish to end it. [The male] did attempt to confront [the student] on this date and also wrote on her locker. The school will handle this incident concerning the locker and at the time of this report, [the lab tech] was advised to have no contact with” the female student.
The detective wrote that subsequently the girlfriend came with her mother to the station to speak to him.
She “wished to tell me of an incident that took place, however, did not want it
pursued by this Department,” the detective wrote. “She stated that she had been having a sexual relationship with [the male] and that at one time [the male] did force her to have sex with him. The relationship did continue after that incident, however she is unsure of what he may do as a result of the break up.
“She was advised to contact this Department if he should make any contact with her and we would pursue criminal charges if the investigation warrants it. [The girlfriend] would not give any formal statement regarding the forced sex. It should be noted that [the male’s] parents were also contacted by this Detective and advised of the situation.”
No arrest was made because the young woman decided not to press charges.
whisperswing
2:40 pm on September 16th, 2009
Yale student strangled to death, medical examiner’s office says HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) —

Yale University graduate student Annie Le, whose body was found Sunday in the wall of a basement lab near the campus, was strangled to death, a spokesman for the Connecticut medical examiner’s office said Wednesday.
Earlier, a Yale employee was released from police custody after investigators detained him Tuesday night to collect DNA, said a spokeswoman for the city of New Haven.
Police took Raymond Clark, 24, into custody after obtaining a search warrant for his home and a body warrant that allowed them to collect DNA samples as authorities probed Le’s death.
The student’s body was discovered in the basement wall of an off-campus medical research building on the day she was to have been married.
Clark, a technician, could have been arrested if he declined to provide DNA samples, but he was released after complying, said Jessica A. Mayorga, a spokeswoman for the city of New Haven.
Police vehicles were parked outside Clark’s home Tuesday in Middletown, Connecticut.
Investigators have collected about 150 pieces of evidence, reviewed about 700 hours of video and interviewed more than 150 people, said Chief James Lewis of the New Haven Police Department. He described the search and body warrants in a news conference Tuesday night.
A senior police official disputed Yale University President Richard Levin, who had indicated that the suspect pool would be a “limited number” of people who had been in the basement the day Le disappeared.
“We know everyone that was in the basement … and we passed that on to police,” Levin said. “There is an abundance of evidence.”
But the police official, whom CNN is not naming because of the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation, said investigators believe dozens of people could have had access to that area of the building.
Le, 24, disappeared September 8 and was last seen alive on surveillance video as she entered the four-story lab at 10 Amistad St., about 10 blocks from the main campus. Authorities said they had not found images of her leaving the building. Watch a timeline leading up to Le’s death »
The police official said that investigators were unlikely to make any arrest until DNA evidence is returned from analysis and that the investigation could take days or weeks.
Authorities have not released information on what DNA evidence may have been found, although investigators said earlier that bloody clothing was found hidden above tiles in a drop ceiling in another part of the building.
Police have not described the clothes that were found, nor said to whom they might have belonged. Teams of investigators at a Connecticut State Police lab worked through the weekend processing and examining the bloodstained garments.
But Thomas Kaplan, editor in chief of the Yale Daily News, said a Yale police official told the college paper that the clothes were not what Le was wearing when she entered the building.
On Sunday, New Haven Police spokesman Joe Avery said that Le’s killing was not a random act, but would not elaborate. Watch a report on the police saying the killing was no random act »
Le, a student in Yale’s pharmacology program, was to have been married Sunday on New York’s Long Island to Jonathan Widawsky, a Columbia University graduate student.
Le was from Placerville, California, and seemed to have been aware of the risks of crime in a university town. In February, she compared crime and safety at Yale with other Ivy League schools for a piece for B magazine, published by the medical school.
Among the tips she offered: Keep a minimum amount on your person. When she walked over to the research building on September 8, she left her purse, credit cards and cell phone in her office.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/16/connecticut.missing.yale.student/index.html
whisperswing
5:08 pm on September 16th, 2009
According to other students (this was on Inside Edition so take it with a grain of salt) they are reporting the motive was b/c “she was mean to the lab mice” she used in her experiments.The mans girlfriend said then same thing ,they had talked about it last week,but keep in mind its a tabloid show.
Rockin Ma
5:57 pm on September 16th, 2009
The girlfriend of the Yale technician questioned in connection with the murder of bride-to-be Annie Le felt compelled to defend him once before.
In a series of rambling blog entries posted in May 2008, Jennifer Hromadka shot down “rumors” about her relationship with Raymond Clark, 24.
“My boyfriend, Ray, if you don’t know him, has no interest in any of the other girls at YARC as anything more than friends,” Hromadka wrote, referring to the Yale Animal Resources Center. “To anyone that thinks otherwise, you might be a bit dillusional and may need to take some medication for it.”
Hromadka, 23, described her live-in beau — who works in the same Yale lab as her boyfriend — as a gullible but loving guy who has eyes for no one but her.
“He is a bit naive, doesn’t always use the best judgement, definitely is not the best judge of character but, he is a good guy,” Hromadka said.
“He has a big heart and tries to see the best in people ALL THE TIME! Even when everyone else is telling him that the person is a psycho or that the person can’t be trusted, he thinks everyone deserves a second chance. and has a hard time hurting peoples feelings and it takes him getting burned to learn. We are not broken up nor were we.”
Hromadka, 23, flatly rejected any suggestion that Clark had ever strayed.
“This rumor of a ‘fling’ is probably the most stupid thing I have ever heard and really is not even worth going into detail about,” she wrote.
“If you know what I am talking about u can probably (if you have half a brain) come to the conclusion that its all a load of BS.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_person_of_interest_raymond_clarks_fiance_jennifer_hromadka_has_defended_him_befo.html#ixzz0RJELysSe
Rockin Ma
6:07 pm on September 16th, 2009
The deep scratches came to light as the Connecticut medical examiner released Le’s cause of death to be strangulation, or it was officially described as “traumatic asphyxia due to neck compression.”
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Police identify Yale lab technician Raymond Clark as a person of interest.Sources also said investigators are finding evidence that the pint-sized scientist who only weight 90 pounds put up a fierce struggle with her attacker.
Blood splatter were found on a laundry cart and a bead from her necklace was found on the floor of the basement lab where she was killed and stuffed into a wall panel.
ABC News has also learned that Clark sent a text message to Le early Tuesday, Sept. 8, requesting a meeting to discuss the cleanliness of research mice, with which Le was working and the cages of which Clark cleaned.
The medical examiner’s report came just hours after police took DNA samples Clark and searched his apartment looking for clues.
Clark was released this morning and police have not issued a warrant for his arrest.
Clark, a 24-year-old technician at the Yale lab where Le’s body was found Sunday, was taken into custody by police about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on a warrant that allowed detectives to take DNA samples. Clark, who is not a Yale student, cooperated and was released around 3 a.m. today, Avery said.
Police confirmed Wednesday that an additional warrant to search Clark’s car was also served.
“He’s not under arrest. We can’t hold him,” said New Haven Police Department spokesman Joe Avery. “He was only made to comply with the warrant.”
Law enforcement sources said Clark failed a polygraph test when first brought in for questioning.
At a press conference Wednesday evening New Haven Police Chief James Lewis said Clark had cooperated with police but since retaining an attorney could not be questioned further.
Lewis refused to comment on whether there was a relationship between Clark and Le beyond working together in the same building. He would not speculate as to a potential motive.
The chief would not confirm whether Le had been a victim of sexual assault.
Clark is being monitored by the police. Authorities continue to question other people in the building but, they have not served search warrants against anyone else.
“We’re still in the process… We don’t want to be accused of tunnel vision… We’re still making sure who was in that building,” said Lewis.
Lewis said Clark was handcuffed during the execution of the warrants because investigators were gathering DNA evidence from saliva, hair and fingernails and did not want anything tampering.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/annie-le-suspect-raymond-clark-released-giving-dna/story?id=8588970
Athena
6:59 pm on September 16th, 2009
Wow. Hromadka not only sounds like a dingbat, she’s probably a nightmare girlfriend. I’d be pissed if my boyfriend made a statement to the press that I’m naive, with poor judgment and a bad judge of character.
Dneilz
10:35 pm on September 16th, 2009
She was suffocated according to this source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/16/national/main5315515.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines
solange822001
12:18 am on September 17th, 2009
The stupid girlfriend who made that myspace post a year ago is a freaking idiot. When you start hearing rumors that your boyfriend is cheating on you, you better shut up and keep your eyes open. They are now saying Clark stalked and raped a girlfriend in highschool. Let’s face it, most likely this guy did it.
I dont buy the rumors of the whole thing being over the mice cages (he had sent her a message about the cleanliness), I think he made some sort of sexual advance towards her and she rebuffed him or threatened to report him. What gets me is how I go to work every day, in a building that you need a badge to enter, with guards at all entrances, patroling outside, etc., cameras everywhere, and I assume Im safe. I imagine Annie Le felt the same way. How could she have imagined this would happen during the day, right there in that building. This whole case is beyond surreal, it just makes me ill. Especially the fact that her body was down there for what, 3 days or something? How could they not find it right away? Im sure they have a good reason, it just seems strange that no one smelled anything or searched better that first day…
solange822001
12:30 am on September 17th, 2009
I saw in an article a pic from Annie’s highschool, she was voted most likely to be a genius or something like that. Beautiful and smart.. Im telling you, this guy was infatuated with her or something of the sort, this had nothing to do with mice…
Dneilz
6:09 am on September 17th, 2009
Ray Clark…. Linked by DNA!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_report_police_nearing_arrest_after_dna_linked_raymond_clark_to_annie_le_murder.html
Police were gearing up to arrest Yale lab technician Raymond Clark 3rd early Thursday after his DNA was linked to the murder of grad student Annie Le, the New Haven Register reported.
Sources told the paper cops were obtaining an arrest warrant for Clark, and New Haven police scheduled a news conference for early this morning…….
(More at the link above)
Dneilz
7:33 am on September 17th, 2009
PRESS CONFERENCE at 8am Eastern.

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