"Person of Interest" Released in Annie Le Case

All the talk about a laboratory technician as a person of interest in the case of the murder of Annie Le, a 24-year-old pharmacology doctoral student originally from Placerville, CA, seems to have some sort of validity. While police said yesterday that they didn't anyone targeted yet, they released a lab technician today after collecting DNA samples from him and searching his apartment.

Raymond Clark, a 24-year-old lab technician, left police custody with his lawyer at about 3 AM Wednesday. To be clear, Clark has not been charged in Yale student Annie Le's death. Her body was found stuffed behind a wall Sunday in a Yale laboratory building where both she and Clark worked. However, Police are calling him a "person of interest."

According to reports, police began staking out Raymond Clark's apartment on Monday, a day after the discovery of Annie Le's body hidden in the basement of a research building at Yale's medical school. She had vanished last Tuesday, Sept. 8. Surveillance videos showed her arriving, but not leaving the building.

Raymond Clark shares the apartment with his fiancee, Jennifer Hromadka. The couple is engaged to marry in December, 2011, according to reports of the couple's incomplete wedding Web site, since taken down. Middletown is about 20 miles north of New Haven, CT.

Originally, officials had promised to release an autopsy report on Annie Le's death on Tuesday. However, prosecutors blocked release of the results, concerned that releasing it could hinder the investigation.

Annie Le's body was found Sunday. Her remains had been stuffed into a wall recess where utilities and cables run between floors. Sadly, Sunday was the day she was supposed to be wed to Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky in New York City. Police have ruled him out as a suspect.

Police State No Suspect IDed Yet in Annie Le's Death

While some media outlets reported last night that police had identified a lab technician as a possible suspect in the death of Yale student Annie Le, police on Tuesday denied that they were close to an arrest.

In fact, the police seemed somewhat upset at the media speculation over a possible suspect. Annie Le, a 24-year-old pharmacology doctoral student originally from Placerville, CA was last seen on Tuesday of last week. Hers was the body found inside the wall of the same lab building she worked in.

Because of the security around the lab, which includes approximately 75 surveillance cameras as well as passcard access, some have labeled Annie Le's murder an "inside job." This could be the reason that some outlets have jumped to the possibility of a lab technician being a suspect in the Yale student's death.

New Haven police officer and spokesman Joe Avery said the following:

"You guys made up the fact that we had somebody in custody, the media in general. We're talking to a lot of people."

Ouch.

The state's chief medical examiner on Monday ruled Le's death a homicide. Autopsy results with a cause of death were expected to be released Tuesday afternoon.

Annie Le's death is the first killing at Yale since the still unsolved December 1998 death of Yale student Suzanne Jovin. The 21-year-old senior was stabbed 17 times in New Haven's East Rock neighborhood, which is located about 2 miles from campus.

Annie Le's Murder Likely an Inside Job: Police

Annie Le, the 24-year-old pharmacology doctoral student originally from Placerville, CA last seen on Tuesday of last week, has been identified as the body found inside the wall of the same lab building she worked in. The body was found in the wall chase, a deep recess where utilities and cables run between floors.

At the same time, police sought to calm fears on the Yale campus. Although police are unwilling to publicly name a suspect, NBC News reported that police have identified a student as a suspect in the killing, and that the suspect had defensive wounds and failed a polygraph test. The suspect has not been formally charged, but neither has he been released.

Police are emphasizing that it was not a random act, but a targeted one, and that thus others on campus should be calm and feel safe. In terms of the "inside job" theory, as the building where the body was found is accessible to Yale personnel with special passcards. Additionally, approximately 75 video surveillance cameras monitor all doorways.

The lab building where Annie Le was found was closed on Monday so police could complete their investigation. When the building reopens, there will be extra security both inside and outside.

Police found Le's body about 5 PM Sunday, the day she was originally to marry Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky on Long Island. Police have said Widawsky is not a suspect and helped detectives in their investigation.

The university planned a candlelight vigil for Monday evening.

Body of Annie Le Believed Found in Lab Building Wall

Police report that they have found what is believed to be the body of Annie Le, the missing Yale University post-graduate student last seen Tuesday. They found the body inside the wall of a same lab building where she was last seen five days before.

The body has not yet been positively IDed as Annie Le, 24, who was also scheduled to be married on Sunday to Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky in New York City. However, officials presume the body to be that of Le.

The body was discovered at around 5 PM Sunday, by state police. It was in an area of the building that houses utility cables that run between floors.

Annie Le, a pharmacology doctoral student originally from Placerville, CA, was last seen Tuesday morning in the lab building, and used her passcard as well. Surveillance video showed her arriving around 10 AM, but no footage of her leaving was found, despite some 75 surveillance cameras operating around the complex. Her purse with her ID, money, and credit cards were found in her office.

Given lack of footage of her leaving, it's likely this is Annie Le's body. It would explain why she had not been seen leaving the lab building.

The Yale Daily News on Saturday quoted an anonymous New Haven Police Department official as saying bloody clothes were found in a ceiling at the laboratory building. New Haven police said they have contacted her family and have assumed control of the investigation. It is now being treated as a homicide.

Police have stated that Jonathan Widawsky, Le's fiance, is not considered a suspect. They added that he is assisting in the investigation.