Yale Lab Tech Raymond Clark III Arrested in Annie Le Murder

We already knew that Raymond Clark III, a 24-year-old Yale lab technician had been investigated in the Annie Le case, and released yesterday by the police, though labeled a "person of interest." Thursday police arrested and charged him with her murder.

Annie Le is the 24-year-old pharmacology doctoral student originally from Placerville, CA, whose body was stuffed in a research building wall after she was killed by traumatic asphyxiation. Her body was found on Sunday, on what was to be her wedding day to Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky.

Police arrested Raymond Clark at the Super 8 hotel in Cromwell, about 25 miles north of the Yale campus. Clark had been staying there since he was released early Wednesday by police.

Police would not comment on a possible motive, but called the an example of "workplace violence." New Haven Police Chief James Lewis said:

"It is important to note that this is not about urban crime, university crime, domestic crime but an issue of workplace violence, which is becoming a growing concern around the country."

Categorizing the crime as "not domestic" is interesting. While the fact that the crime occurred shortly before Annie Le's wedding day led some to believe it may have been a crime of passion, saying it was not a domestic crime would imply there was not an element of unrequited love in the incident.

Raymond Clark is the only person publicly named by New Haven police in the case. Annie Le's aforementioned fiance has been ruled out by authorities. Police served four search warrants this week to compare DNA taken from Clark with evidence collected at the crime scene on the Ivy League campus and from Clark's Middletown, Conn., apartment, where he lived with his fiancee, Jennifer Hromadka.

Police had theorized the crime was an "inside job" as the laboratory where Le was last seen on Tuesday required passcard access and had some 75 security cameras. Clark, his fiancee, his sister and his brother-in-law all work for Yale as animal lab technicians.

Annie Le's Death a Result of Traumatic Asphyxiation: Coroner

Connecticut's chief s medical examiner said Wednesday that Annie Le, the 24-year-old Yale University graduate student whose body was found stuffed inside a basement wall, died of traumatic asphyxiation. What, you may ask, is that?

While implying that there was a strangulation component to Annie Le's death, the term traumatic asphyxiation add precision. Traumatic asphyxiation or, as it is sometimes called, crush asphyxiation is characterized by severe compression of the thorax or the chest. One could imagine pinning someone down, such as putting your knee on their chest or throat while strangling them.

Another name for traumatic asphyxiation is compressive asphyxiation. constrictors such as boas or pythons kill their prey via compressive asphyxiation.

The medical examiner did not elaborate on any signs of sexual assault, stopping with the finding of traumatic asphyxiation. Dr. Wayne Carver's office released the results three days after Le's body was found in a Yale medical school research building, on the same day she was originally set to be married. Carver had previously termed Le's death as a homicide.

Earlier Wednesday, police released a Yale University animal research technician, Raymond Clark, from custody. They had collected DNA samples and searched his apartment, as well as questioning him in Le's killing. Police have not charged him, but named him a "person of interest."

Raymond Clark and his fiancee, Jennifer Hromadka, were both animal research technicians in the same lab where Annie Le worked. People have been quick to judge the two, and Hromadka wrote on her MySpace page, before it was taken down:

"Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I'm not perfect and I don't live to be, but before you start pointing fingers make sure your hands are clean!!"